Apple reinvented its Apple Watch when it introduced watchOS 3. In a heartiest effort to make the Apple Watch experience better, Apple removed things which did not work and, basically, kept its focus on a couple of things that actually did – fitness tracking and notifications. While the previous version of watchOS gave Apple a focused approach for its smartwatch, the latest watchOS 4 takes the evolutionary process further. So, let’s dive into watchOS 4 features and explore the new OS from Apple.
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What’s New In watchOS 4?
The new OS comes with some design improvements. In fact, the design has been improved for almost all those features that Apple had introduced in watchOS 3 and the new design really makes these watchOS 4 features better in use. A meaningful upgrade is given to everything be it the Dock, Control Center or workout app. And there are some new wonderful watch faces introduced as well.
10 Best watchOS 4 Features
So, without any further delays, let’s take a look at some of the best watchOS 4 features that come with the latest iteration of watchOS. Here they are.
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Siri Assistant Watch Face
The watchOS 4 comes with an intelligent Siri Assistant watch face. Atop this watch face, you’ll be able to find Siri orb that animates and is actually your Siri shortcut. Under that orb, you can find cards’ list that is arranged quite intelligently depending on data that Siri and your Apple Watch has. You can find stuff like travel times, your appointments, etc. here.
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Toy Story and Kaleidoscope Watch Faces
Just like Disney watch face, it’s now time to have your favorite characters from Toy Story – Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jesse – right on your Apple Watch. Waking the watch up will also show you a small animation too.
Another crazy addition is the Kaleidoscope watch face. True to its name, this watch face brings some colorful and interesting kaleidoscope effects on analog watch face. You can check the animation by spinning your watch’s digital crown.
You can two types here – Radial and Facet. In fact, your own images can be used for creating the effect. And whenever you’ll wake the screen of your watch for checking time, there’s slight animation on watch face as well.
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New Dock
watchOS 4 comes with a redesigned dock and the new design helps it fit into the cards metaphor of the new watchOS. It now lists the apps in vertical orientation and swiping up/down will allow you to scroll through the apps. Another option for that is to use Digital Crown.
The default sorting of apps is according to their recent use. It is also possible, however, to switch to the Favorites view using Watch app. It gives you the same layout that you had enjoyed with watchOS 3. From here, you can be able to add the apps and reorder them on the dock.
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App Launcher Gets A List View
If you found that Honeycomb app launcher confusing, you can liberate yourself from that now with the latest watchOS 4 features. You can force touch app launcher to get all the options for switching to the List view. In case, if you don’t have too many apps on your Apple Watch then you can be able to better launch them using list view whenever the need be.
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Workouts App Gets A Redesign
A major redesign is given to workouts app in watchOS 4. Quite a few annoyances from the app are fixed now. Firstly, you get a changed stacked cards look for workouts list. And, tapping on a particular workout launches it immediately. You don’t really need to select any goals anymore.
While performing a workout, it is possible to swipe left for controlling the media playing at the moment, which really sounds cool though. A new design is also given to workout screen as well and there is chunkier text on the screen now.
It is also possible to decide on and perform multiple workouts now. Another new option allows for those High Intensity workouts as well. You can also connect your Apple Watch directly to any gym equipment that is NFC enabled.
That’s quite a lot of changes, isn’t it?
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Activity Notifications Get More Personalized Now
watchOS 4 comes with more personal and contextual activity notifications. Now they will take that job of making you close the rings every day. There will be notifications telling you exactly how much you’ll have to walk for closing the Move ring. When your goals are met, you see a fiery animation on full screen. You will also get some monthly challenges from the updated activity app as well. And, these challenges are actually based on the performance you gave in last month.
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Auto Sync Available For Playlists In The Music App
The Music app that comes with your Apple Watch is now updated with the auto sync feature and it synchronizes your playlists that are played the most directly to your Apple Watch. So, even when you don’t have your iPhone with you, only your Apple Watch and Airpods can give you a great activity in the leisure time. All you have to do is to browse your favorite playlists on your Watch and enjoy your favorite music. It is also possible for you to select albums, playlists and artists from using Watch app and opt to sync them to your Apple Watch.
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Apps Getting Core Bluetooth Access
With watchOS 4, you also allow your apps to have Core Bluetooth access. So, what does this actually mean? Well, it means that your accessories will now be able to talk to your Apple Watch directly when the two are in range. So, you don’t need to take the iPhone route for this. It means that if you are using some device for glucose monitoring, all your live stats will be available on your Apple Watch without any kind of delays whatsoever.
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Flashlight Addition To Control Center
Control Center in watchOS 4 now comes equipped with Flashlight. There are three different modes on offer. The first mode makes your watch screen to serve as a flashlight. When this mode is activated, you just have to turn your Watch away to light it up.
It appears to be quite a handy feature to have on your Apple Watch. You don’t have to fumble into your iPhone the next time you need to use the flashlight. You can simply swipe on your Watch and tap it to have what you want. And, if you have a habit of sleeping with the Apple Watch right there on your wrist, you’ll really find the feature quite helpful when you have to wake up to answer nature’s call in the midnight. You won’t have to look around for your phone to use the flashlight anymore.
Swiping on Flashlight view on your Apple Watch will also allow you to turn the flashing mode on. This mode can be used while running at night, for instance. The third and final mode gives you access to dark red flash which can be useful for reading at night.
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Person-To-Person Apple Pay
Quite similar to what we have in iOS 11, Apple introduces Person-to-Person Apple Pay feature in Apple Watch too. You’ll have to use Messages app for that. You can now receive money and pay using Apple Watch. Payments that you receive are stored in Apple Pay Cash Card and you can use it for making any online payments, purchasing desired apps and even for transferring money to the bank account you have.
So, if you always have your Apple Watch with you and you use it on regular basis, you’d really find the changes pushed through watchOS 4 quite welcoming. We have discussed only ten major features that the new watchOS is coming with and, in fact, you’ll be able to reveal much more than that once you will have it on your Watch.
If you want to try the watchOS 4 beta before having the final version, you can have it right now. But if you think that it’s worth the wait then let the final release of watchOS 4 come to the scene before enjoying all the great new watchOS 4 features that Apple has introduced for Apple Watch users.