Apple Seeds Third watchOS 9 Public Beta

[MacRumors]

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 9 update to its public beta testing group, allowing non-developers to experience the new watch software ahead of its fall release. The new beta comes two weeks after the second beta, and it corresponds to the fifth developer beta.

The watchOS 9 update can be downloaded after upgrading your iPhone to the public beta version of iOS 16. After installing iOS 16, the proper watchOS 9 profile from Apple's beta software website must also be installed.

The software can be accessed by going to General > Software Update in the Apple Watch app on iPhone. To update, ‌Apple Watch‌ needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌iPhone.

watchOS 9 expands the sleep tracking feature to add sleep stages, allowing the watch to track when users are in REM Core, or Deep sleep, plus it supports a Medications app for managing and getting reminders for medications, vitamins, and supplements.

There are four new watch faces, including Lunar, Playtime, Metropolitan, and Astronomy, and the ECG app supports AFib History for tracking how long a person has been in atrial fibrillation.

Custom workouts have been added to the Workout app, and there are fitness improvements for runners, triathletes, and swimmers. Other new features include a CallKit API that allows VOIP calls to be answered on Apple Watch, Apple Watch Mirroring for controlling the Apple Watch with an ‌iPhone‌, Quick Actions for doing more with a double pinch gesture, and updates to the Reminders and Calendar apps.

More on everything that's new in the watchOS 9 update can be found in our dedicated watchOS 9 roundup.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Third watchOS 9 Public Beta

 

[TheAustrianGuy]

Not seeing it. Yet?
Got a permanent notification dot. Would very much like this to be solved.

Edit: Found the issue - the beta profile had vanished. Reinstalled the profile, it‘s working now.
I wonder what else the watch lost in the last two weeks…

 

[ericg301]

how's the battery life?

 

[PrecisionGem]

The previous beta watch update caused a lot of issues with complications disappearing, phone calls not ringing on the watch and other things. Hopefully this one will correct these.

I wonder what all those people at Apple doing? It seems that the software released these past few years is way less stable than what was released long before that fancy donut shape building. Do they ever test what they are releasing?

 

[jpaterson69]

Not seeing it. Yet?
Got a permanent notification dot. Would very much like this to be solved.

Edit: Found the issue - the beta profile had vanished. Reinstalled the profile, it‘s working now.
I wonder what else the watch lost in the last two weeks…

Thanks for posting this mate, I just noticed my profile wasn’t there either 👍🏻. iPad and phone have been no problems. Hopefully this version will fix my moving calories, since about 18th last month it has dropped from regular 400-500 calories to less than a hundred so I can never close this ring now, other rings are fine. Did you see any calories count issue at all!. Cheers.

 

[ericg301]

The previous beta watch update caused a lot of issues with complications disappearing, phone calls not ringing on the watch and other things. Hopefully this one will correct these.

I wonder what all those people at Apple doing? It seems that the software released these past few years is way less stable than what was released long before that fancy donut shape building. Do they ever test what they are releasing?

beta software be beta software.

 

[PrecisionGem]

beta software be beta software.

But I think this is worse than beta software. As a user, I shouldn't find 6 things wrong within a few minutes of use. Don't you think the developers should try basic functionality before releasing it as beta software. In the past it wasn't this bad. I think Apple has lost it's focus.

 

[xDKP]

But I think this is worse than beta software. As a user, I shouldn't find 6 things wrong within a few minutes of use. Don't you think the developers should try basic functionality before releasing it as beta software. In the past it wasn't this bad. I think Apple has lost it's focus.

Weird. I have really few issues with my S7 on the betas

 

[ericg301]

But I think this is worse than beta software. As a user, I shouldn't find 6 things wrong within a few minutes of use. Don't you think the developers should try basic functionality before releasing it as beta software. In the past it wasn't this bad. I think Apple has lost it's focus.

It's not a linear process. They may have earmarked beta 3 to work on certain features knowing that they would break other things until beta 4.

When you install beta software on your devices, you are taking the risk that some parts may not work. Now if your issues persist once it ships to the public, then your complaints are justified. But to expect polished software at beta 3/4 is just wishful thinking and shows of lack of understanding of the beta process.

 

[cvam1985]

Just wanted to say that “pride” looking watch face is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. What’s the point of having something tell you the time if it’s so squiggly blurry that you can’t even make out the numbers? Hideous

 

[chickeneaster]

But I think this is worse than beta software. As a user, I shouldn't find 6 things wrong within a few minutes of use. Don't you think the developers should try basic functionality before releasing it as beta software. In the past it wasn't this bad. I think Apple has lost it's focus.

That's the main point of trying out the bets; to see the bugs and notifying Apple of them so they can fix it before the public release. As said before, if there 6 bugs within the first few minutes of the public release then what you're saying has merit

 

[jeffjank33]

how's the battery life?

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not. But my battery was draining pretty quickly.

After unpairing and not restoring from backup, battery seems good now.

 

[Nicholas Head]

I don't know if ya'll just auto-post these or what, but the next Apple Watch public beta version is not out, that I can tell.

 

[ericg301]

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not. But my battery was draining pretty quickly.

After unpairing and not restoring from backup, battery seems good now.

No asking seriously. I don’t want to install it on my watch is battery life sucks and I can’t downgrade.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Just wanted to say that “pride” looking watch face is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. What’s the point of having something tell you the time if it’s so squiggly blurry that you can’t even make out the numbers? Hideous

It's slightly better if you turn background off so it's a black background but yeah they really dropped the ball this year. Wish everyone could use the Nike one. It's a lot better but only available on Nike edition.

 

[Denzo]

Not seeing it. Yet?
Got a permanent notification dot. Would very much like this to be solved.

Edit: Found the issue - the beta profile had vanished. Reinstalled the profile, it‘s working now.
I wonder what else the watch lost in the last two weeks…

Thanks for this. Same here. Side note my watch sometimes goes into theatre mode and I have to restart lately ?!

 

[ufomism]

beta software be beta software.

WatchOS 8 is buggy too... My watch wont display the time in apps (music, workout, etc) 90% of the time. Notification center will often get stuck. Screen will often stop working, have to restart the watch to get it back.

Love the Apple Watch but software has been a major let down.

 

[kb2755]

I had to reinstall the profile as well. Must have lost it after Beta 1, I definitely missed Beta 2 and went straight to 3 yesterday.

I do wish these articles weren’t copy/paste and actually said what’s new in each version. Kind of annoying trying to dig through identical news and roundup articles.

 

[fullfast]

Now this is a bit weird, have gone to upgrade watch OS to 9 beta today and shows beta 5 not 3 ?????

 

[unfunfionn]

It's been mostly fine for me except location services not working most of the time. The weather widget just displays Loading Weather Data and if I open maps, it shows a current location dot but never loads the map itself. Sometimes the weather widget works randomly but mostly not. Toggling location off and on doesn't fix it.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Just wanted to say that “pride” looking watch face is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. What’s the point of having something tell you the time if it’s so squiggly blurry that you can’t even make out the numbers? Hideous

You better watch what you say about certain watch faces. I have gotten banned for a few days for mentioning certain watch faces. I think if you say positive things about that face that's ok.