watchOS 4 Bringing New Watch Faces, Apple News, Updated Music App & Gym Equipment Support

[MacRumors]

Apple has announced new features for watchOS 4, including major updates coming to Workouts, Activity, Music, all-new watch faces, and "GymKit," which provides a seamless connection between Apple Watch and gym equipment.

New Activity upgrades will deliver intelligent coaching and tailored encouragement to each user, with Apple Watch notifying users every morning when they're close to earning an Achievement. Suggestions on how to improve to match the previous day's activity levels will also be surfaced.

The new Siri watch face, which provides 'the most relevant information throughout the day'​

As the day nears an end, Activity will also be able to tell users exactly how long they should walk to close their Activity Rings, and new unique Monthly Challenges will be designed directly for each user's goals.

"Apple Watch is the ultimate device for a healthy life and is now more intelligent than ever with watchOS 4," said Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer. "We've created a truly individualized experience with the smartest Activity and Workout apps, the Siri watch face that shows you the information you need when you need it and we're seamlessly bringing users their favorite music right on the wrist."

Apple has updated the Workout app to include auto-sets for pool swim workouts, as well as new motion and heart rate algorithms for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts. The company said that users doing back-to-back workouts, like anyone training for a triathlon, will be able to combine multiple workouts into one linked-together data set "to capture overall calorie and time measurements."

With GymKit, Apple said that customers will be able to use certain cardio equipment at Gyms to pair their Apple Watch directly to treadmills, ellipticals, indoor bikes, and stair steppers from brands like Life Fitness and Technogym. With a simple tap, the Apple Watch will speak with the equipment, and vice versa, including data on calories, distance, speed, floors climbed, incline, and pace.

A new Siri watch face will bring up information and will dynamically update based on time of day, daily routines, and showcase pertinent data from apps like Activity, Alarms, Breathe, Calendar, Maps, Reminders, Wallet, and Apple News, for which there is now an Apple Watch app. A redesigned Music app on Apple Watch will automatically sync to My New Music Mix, My Favorites Mix, and most listened to music, giving users a better music-listening experience with watchOS 4, particularly with AirPods.

Additionally, watchOS 4 will bring along new Toy Story watch faces and support for person-to-person payments in Apple Pay. For more information on watchOS 4 and its features, check out Apple's website.

Article Link: watchOS 4 Bringing New Watch Faces, Apple News, Updated Music App & Gym Equipment Support

 

[xDKP]

Pretty sad that these seem to be the only new watch faces. Soooool many possibilities :-(

 

[Johnny907]

I noticed Precor was absent from that list of supported machines. Awesome. Guess which company makes all the fitness equipment in my gym?
Yup.

 

[buzlink]

Is this going to be tied to iOS 11? Does this continue support for the first generation Apple Watches? Really would like to see some updated faces.

 

[44267547]

Pretty sad that these seem to be the only new watch faces. Soooool many possibilities :-(

I too was hoping for some more sophisticated watch faces, similar to an Hermes square watch face. The Siri watch face seems promising. But I don't care for the other added watch faces.

 

[honglong1976]

Seriously, no sleep tracking?

 

[xDKP]

Seriously, no sleep tracking?

Saving that for Series 3

 

[frumpy16]

I was hoping to be able to export workouts to the rest of the fitness universe (either directly with sites like Strava or at least to be able to export .gpx/.tpx files) with the update. I find the Apple Workouts summary to be lacking for my run tracking. I guess I'll stick to my Garmin or the Strava app.

 

[arnotron]

Saving that for Series 3

You've got to charge your watch at night, so it does not make sense to use it for sleep tracking

 

[Juiceboy]

Did they make it easier to skip tracks yet? Andy podcast support?

 

[honglong1976]

You've got to charge your watch at night, so it does not make sense to use it for sleep tracking

I can use my watch for two days and track sleep twice with third party apps before a charge is needed. So no excuse! I suspect they will use it as a feature for series 3.

or they will launch a new product which tracks sleep (sleep pod ?)

 

[frumpy16]

You've got to charge your watch at night, so it does not make sense to use it for sleep tracking

No, not really. The battery does pretty well now. And if I put it on the charger while I shower it's pretty much good to go.

 

[agsystems]

Is this going to be tied to iOS 11? Does this continue support for the first generation Apple Watches? Really would like to see some updated faces.

Yes - in the keynote they say "across all watches"

 

[chickenwingfly]

Pretty sad that these seem to be the only new watch faces. Soooool many possibilities :-(

Waiting for Apple to open up the faces library so one can have custom made ones like

I'm sure it will come as a special feature on the iWatch 3rd Gen. Exclusive since it features hardware 30x faster than 2nd Gen that makes it possible. Then jailbroken and available on 1st and 2nd Gen iWatches 1 week later by a group on cool folks.

 

[BuddyTronic]

I was hoping to be able to export workouts to the rest of the fitness universe (either directly with sites like Strava or at least to be able to export .gpx/.tpx files) with the update. I find the Apple Workouts summary to be lacking for my run tracking. I guess I'll stick to my Garmin or the Strava app.

I agree, they should definitely free up the data - .gpx. It's in there, so....

You can do a "show all data" from the health app, but I mean, come on, give us the data Apple.
[doublepost=1496721115][/doublepost]

Did they make it easier to skip tracks yet? Andy podcast support?

skip tracks, yes. Also multi playlists. More bezel control, which is good for when you are on the run.

No podcast stuff mentioned.

 

[44267547]

Yes - in the keynote they say "across all watches"

So I assume this will likely be the last year for the first generation Apple Watch being supported. And if that is the case, four versions of watchOS is actually fairly good for device that will be approaching three years old by the debut of watchOS 5.

 

[xDKP]

No podcast stuff mentioned.

And this is a major mystery - why don't they release a simple companion app for the iPhone podcast app? Might not need a keynote like yesterday but come on?

 

[recoil80]

Did they make it easier to skip tracks yet? Andy podcast support?

I didn't read about Podcast support and it is something I'd really like to have on the Watch.
And still no 802.1X support, I didn't find it on the release notes. Using the watch on an enterprise network is just not possibile

 

[The Game 161]

Siri Watch face is a good idea and some of the features for fitness also are very good.

 

[satchmo]

Anyone else feel this watchOS 4 is a bit underwhelming?
Seems more like a minor update not worthy of a full 4.0 designation. Perhaps they're holding stuff back for Series 3 in the fall.

 

[harriska2]

Is anyone using their watch to unlock their iphone? If so, what are your experiences with it?

 

[arnotron]

I can use my watch for two days and track sleep twice with third party apps before a charge is needed. So no excuse! I suspect they will use it as a feature for series 3.

or they will launch a new product which tracks sleep (sleep pod ?)

Okay - my first generation Apple Watch is at 40% after a day of use. With out any workouts started this day. So daily charging is a must.

 

[honglong1976]

Okay - my first generation Apple Watch is at 40% after a day of use. With out any workouts started this day. So daily charging is a must.

Sounds like your battery is starting to loose power. I get nearly 3 days without any issues.

 

[Eliottjames]

Is anyone using their watch to unlock their iphone? If so, what are your experiences with it?

I haven't heard about this before, is it a new feature?

 

[Tinmania]

Okay - my first generation Apple Watch is at 40% after a day of use. With out any workouts started this day. So daily charging is a must.

So? When I still had my 1st gen I had similar battery life at the end of the day. But it still made it through a night of sleep tracking, and then tracking my morning run. I charged it while getting ready for work.



Mike