A milestone moment will be up for the Apple Watch this year — watchOS10. Here are a few things you can look forward to in the update to the operating system.
WIDGETS AND MORE WIDGETS
Apple Watch’s software will receive an upgrade with new widgets and redesigned apps to show more information at a glance. It marks a substantial shift in how users interact with the Watch and it can also be a reminder of the Siri watchface introduced a few years ago in watchOS 3. Widgets will be able to gather contextual information throughout the day, like medication reminders, calendar alerts and so on. This will make it easier to access information without having to dive into an app. Many of the Apple Watch apps — like Weather, Stocks, Home, Maps, Messages, and World Clock — too are receiving a more glanceable look, so there will be better utilisation of screen real estate. The World Clock, for example, now has a dynamic background that moves with a sunrise-sunset bell curve accessible using a finger drag. Then Activity includes full-screen views for each of your Movement rings: Move, Exercise, and Stand.
NEW WATCH FACES
Two new watch faces are coming — a colourpalette themed one and another featuring the Peanuts characters Snoopy and Woodstock. Lately, Apple has given Peanuts a new lease of life with its Apple TV+ shows around the muchloved characters.
CYCLING AND HIKING
Two activities will have a special focus — cycling and hiking. Cyclists can now pair their Apple Watch with cycling computers and other specialist output monitors using Bluetooth to get a new metric, functional threshold power (FTP). They can split their performance into FTP zones, which is somewhat like Heart Rate Zones. For hikers, the compass will generate emergency waypoints based on the last place you got reception, that is, a Cellular Waypoint. And if you are in the US, you will get topographical maps of your routes without having to download GPX files.