Apple Unveils WatchOS 10 With Widgets, Mental Health Tracking Abilities

Apple unveiled its newest wearable operating system—watchOS 10 at WWDC today. The latest iteration of watchOS brings redesigned apps, a new Smart Stack to display relevant widgets, and new watch faces. It adds new metrics and Workout Views as well. Further, it allows users to automatically pair an Apple Watch to Bluetooth-enabled cycling accessories, such as power meters, speed sensors, and cadence sensors. With watchOS 10’s new Maps capabilities, hikers can see trails and trailhead info directly from their wrist. Apple Watch is also getting support for mood and emotion tracking capabilities with the latest update. The watchOS 10 update will be available for developers in beta version today, while a public release is expected later this fall.

With redesigned interface and apps, watchOS 10 provide new ways to navigate and access content quickly. Apple Watch apps like Weather, Stocks, Home, Maps, Messages, World Clock, and others, now utilise more of the display. Apple has revamped the Activity app on Apple Watch and the Fitness app on iPhone to monitor daily movement.

The watchOS 10 adds Widgets, but instead of cluttering up the home screen, they will be available through a Smart Stack. Turning the digital crown will open the widget stack and users can scroll through them for quick data. The side button can be used to access the Control Center and a double-click of the Digital Crown reverts back to any apps used recently. This time, Apple is adding two new watch faces — Palette and Snoopy — to its wearable. The former display time in different colours using three distinct overlapping layers. 

For fitness enthusiasts, watchOS 10 brings new cycling features to the Apple Watch. The cycling workout will be shown as a Live Activity on iPhone. Besides, Apple has also optimised Workout Views for the display size of the iPhone. The latest update enables Apple Watch to automatically connect to Bluetooth-enabled cycling accessories, like power meters, speed sensors, and cadence sensors. 

Apple has introduced new features for hikers too. watchOS 10 will show a Last Cellular Connection Waypoint —the last place with cell reception — and the Last Emergency Call Waypoint to estimate the route the device had the last connection to any available carrier’s network. Apple Maps will begin displaying a new topographic map with contour lines, hill shading, elevation details, and points of interest in the US. Users can also search for nearby trails and trailheads.

With WatchOS 10, Apple is also starting to pay attention to users’ mental wellness. With the Mindfulness app in the latest version of the operating system, wearers can log their momentary emotions and daily moods. Users can scroll through the Digital Crown through different shapes to choose how they are feeling and describe their feelings.

Meanwhile, with the assistance of an ambient light sensor, Apple Watch can now measure the time spent in daylight. This detail will appear in the Health app on iPhone or iPad. Kids can use Family Setup to pair their Apple Watch to their parent’s iPhone units. 

Alongside iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS 14, and watchOS 10 Apple today announced tvOS 17 as well. The latest software brings FaceTime to the Apple TV. It comes with a new Control Center and adds Dolby Vision 8.1 support. With tvOS 17, Apple TV 4K users can initiate calls directly from Apple TV through the FaceTime app, or start calls on iPhone or iPad, and hand them off to Apple TV.