Alongside the announcements of iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur, Apple also announced WatchOS 7 today during WWDC 2020. The new iteration of watchOS comes with mostly expected changes, including native sleep tracking and watch face sharing.
Native Sleep Tracking
First let’s talk about sleep tracking. After using multiple third party apps all this time, you will now be able to use sleep tracking natively. The watch will track sleep by tracking how you’re moving, along with some ML to figure out if you’re asleep. When tracking sleep, the display will be turned off, and you can tap on it to view the time.
You will also be able to choose between a regular ringing alarm or a taptic alarm in the morning. Moreover, the Health app on your iPhone will have an updated sleep section that shows all these metrics.
Updated Complications and Watch Face Sharing
WatchOS 7 adds a new capability to complications. While apps can only have one complication on a watch face, WatchOS 7 lets a user put as many complications from a single app as they like. This way, you can customise your watch faces for specific activities that you’re interested in doing. Speaking of complications, the selection screen has also been redesigned in WatchOS 7.
You can now also share your watch face with others via messages, or even through social media. Moreover, WatchOS 7 lets you download watch faces from third party apps, or even from websites.
New Workout Modes
The Workout app in WatchOS 7 is getting new workouts. This includes a new dance workout, functional strength training, and cooldown. Meanwhile, the Activity app has also been redesigned, and renamed to ‘Fitness’. This will also show up on your iPhone with the same name.
Handwash Detection
Also being added to Apple Watch with WatchOS 7 is handwash detection. With this, the Apple Watch automatically detects when you’re washing hands and starts a 20 second timer. This is to ensure that you wash your hands for the proper amount of time.
WatchOS 7 will get a public beta in July, for the first time ever, and a stable release will follow later in the year.