Apple
It ’s no mystery that the Apple Watch is a wild wearable . If you own an iPhone and need a smartwatch , it ’s often arduous to find a reasonnotto bribe one . From the first-class hardware to the nifty fitness trailing and slick package , there ’s just so much to like . It ’s why I ’ve tire out an Apple Watch for the last few old age .
Apple recently announcedwatchOS 11as the next bighearted package update for the Apple Watch , and head into Apple’sWorldwide Developers Conference ( WWDC ) 2024 , we were n’t expecting all that much from it . However , what we get is — in my opinion — one of the most exciting watchOS updates in a while . As a longtime Apple Watch wearer , I ’ve never been more excited to have one on my wrist .
Fixing one of my biggest Apple Watch issues
We ’ll start with the biggest changes in watchOS 11 — and the things I ’m in person the most worked up about : Apple ’s new health feature . There are a lot of dissimilar health / activity update in watchOS 11 , but there are four specific 1 I ca n’t waitress to get my hands on .
First , activity ring now feel like they were plan for humans rather than practise robot . WatchOS 11 now provide you to pause your Move , Exercise , and Stand rings whenever you want . Are you feel under the weather condition ? On an overnight flight to Paris ? Dealing with an injury ? Whatever the reason is , Apple makes it easy to pause your halo for a daytime , a week , or however long you want .
The other part of this is that your activity ring are much more customizable than ever . Now , watchOS 11 allows you to set ring end for specific days of the week . For example , you may want to burn 800 calories Monday through Wednesday , 500 gram calorie on Thursday , 800 on Friday , and 600 on Saturday and Sunday . Whatever specific goals you require to stumble , you’re able to give each day its own .
This is all fantastic . One of my self-aggrandising beef with the Apple Watch has been how rigid its natural process tracking is . The tintinnabulation system is simple and easy to understand , but it not report for life ’s unexpected moment has always been its Achilles ’ cad . I want to close my rings as often as I can , but I ’m not going to go for a runnel or hit the gym if I ’m campaign a cold or pass all day on a plane .
With watchOS 11 , that ’s no longer go to be an yield . If something happen and you ca n’t close your gang , just hesitate them for however long you need to and go on with your Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . And , no , pausing your doughnut wo n’t cause you to lose advance toward any streak or awards . These two small change have singlehandedly fixed one of my main annoyances with the Apple Watch , and I could n’t be felicitous about it .
More robust health insights
Along with making your action goals more attainable , watchOS 11 also adds some really worthful health insights to the Apple Watch . One way it does this isthrough the young Vitals app . When you wear your Apple Watch to seam , it tracks your heart rate , respiratory rate , blood oxygen , wrist joint temperature , and eternal sleep duration . Vitals takes all of this subsist data and presents it in a clear , easy - to - understand way so you may get a quick snapshot of some of your body ’s most importantvitals(pun intended ) .
moreover , the Vitals app will allow you fuck if your health data is in bloodline with your consistence ’s normal levels or if something might be incorrect . If two or more vital organ are out of their normal range of a function , you ’ll get an alert so you’re able to see what may be travel on . These alerts will also be accompanied by context to help explain what could be causing your dead body to be out of whack — such as any medicinal drug you ’ve taken , if you ’ve had any alcohol , etc .
The other thing I ’m really looking forwards to is the newfangled Training Load feature film . Part of the existing Fitness app on the Apple Watch , Training Load lets you see how hard you ’re been working out . The white line show up your physical exercise intensity over the last month , while the colored line evince your workout strength for the past week . This lets you see if you ’re staying in line with your exercise unremarkable , if you ’re pushing yourself more than usual , or if you ’re slacking off . Similarly , you now record an endeavour military rank at the close of each physical exercise ( on a exfoliation from 1 to 10 ) to indicate how hard you pushed yourself , and that ’s used to help build your Training Load .
Is this a lot of additional health data point ? Yes . Will some mass chance it unhelpful or a bit consuming ? Potentially . Personally , I ’m over the lunar month that Apple added all of these dick .
Sleep tracking on the Apple Watch is fine , but it does n’t do anything interesting with its health data . Activity rings are great for their simpleness , but they are n’t helpful for seeing deeper insights into your activity . Vitals and Training Load change both of those things .
The Apple Watch has always been first-class for casual natural action trailing , but it leaves a lot to be desired for anything beyond that . Thanks to these new feature film , it ’ll now provide wellness data I ’d expect to get from an Oura Ring or a Whoop . As someone who really wish the data I get from those other vesture , the Apple Watch feels like it ’s turning into a robust wellness - tracking machine rather than a simple activity tracker . Count . Me . In .
The Apple Watch feels exciting again
While the health / natural process variety have me most unrestrained , a couplet of other updates have also caught my optic . After contribute whatchamacallit last year with watchOS 10 , they ’re picking up some coolheaded new trick in watchOS 11 . Widgets can now mechanically seem when your Apple Watch think you ’ll find them helpful — such as showing a rain widget if it ’s going to start rain down soon or an Uber convenience if your ride is come . If your Apple Watch discover that a Song dynasty is play , it can even show a Shazam widget so you may chop-chop identify the song . It sounds a pile likethe AI smarts Nothing teased for the Nothing Phone 3 , except you do n’t have to wait until 2025 and buy a new telephone set to apply them .
Widgets are also interactional in watchOS 11 . you’re able to bug a home base app widget to control smart home machine without opening the app , select a specific exercise with a new Workout widget , and more .
Double Tap is also get some much - needed love . Now , you could tap your finger to scroll through any app . Apple is also launching a new Double Tap API so third - political party apps can do all sort of new cool thing with it . There ’s also the Translate app for the Apple Watch , which brings terminology interlingual rendition correct to your wrist . It ’s all very cool stuff that I ca n’t wait to get my deal on .
I could keep rattling off other new characteristic in watchOS 11 , but the inherent theme here is that I ’m truly excited about what ’s on the purview . I ’m excited to have my action goals be more sustainable . I ’m excited to have deep insights into my workout act and overall health . I ’m excited for my widgets to be smarter than ever . I ’m frantic to use Double Tap more .
I do n’t dislike wear down my Apple Watch , but sometimes , it does find like I ’m coasting along with it and wear down it just for the sake of wearing it . The new feature make out in watchOS 11 sound like meaningful addition that will really make me desire to engage with it more . They go like things that will make me delirious to strap on my Apple Watch each morning rather than doing it out of function . It ’s not easy to stir up that level of excitement , but Apple did it , and I ’m thrilled about it .