Tag: watchOS 9

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iOS 16 and WatchOS 9 coming out on September 12

At its ‘Far Out’ fall hardware keynote event earlier today, Apple revealed its latest iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro lineup, alongside the second-gen AirPods Pro, Watch SE, Watch Series 8 and Watch Ultra.

However, amid all the excitement of the event and new releases, some of the software updates coming to Apple devices may have been glazed over. Buried deep inside the iPhone 14 lineup and the Apple Watch preview news releases is the date when the public would be able to download iOS 16 and WatchOS 9.

Right at the bottom, where Apple mentions the ‘Pricing and Availability’ footnotes, both the iPhone 14 Pro news release and the Apple Watch Ultra news release mention that iOS 16 and WatchOS 9 would be available as a free software update on Monday, September 12th.

It’s worth noting that both iOS 16 and WatchOS 9 betas have been available for a while. However, Apple will release the public builds of both operating systems on September 12th.

iOS 16 can be downloaded on the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max and the iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd gen).

On the other hand, to download WatchOS 9, you’ll need an Apple Watch Series 4 or later.

It’s worth noting that we still do not know when macOS Ventura will be released for the public, and the same goes for iPadOS, which Apple recently delayed to some time in October.

Learn more about WatchOS 9 here.

Learn more about iOS 16 here.

Check out our coverage of the ‘Far Out’ event here.

Image credit: Apple

Source: Apple

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Health Canada reportedly approved watchOS 9 AFib History feature

Back at WWDC 2022, Apple unveiled a new watchOS feature called ‘AFib History.’ Set to arrive later this year with watchOS 9, AFib History can help track the frequency of arrhythmia in people diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

However, often when Apple and other companies announce health features like this, there’s a delay in bringing them to Canada as they have to get regulatory approval. This time around, it looks like AFib History will be good to go at launch in Canada — it has already received approval.

As reported by MacRumors, a Health Canada regulatory filing approved AFib History for both the Apple Watch and iPhone (unfortunately, at the time of writing, the health products database appeared to be down).

MacRumors notes that Canada appears to be the second country to approve the AFib History feature after the U.S. The States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared AFib History after validating it in a clinical study. Moreover, Apple previously said AFib History on Apple Watch had an average difference of less than one percent in weekly measurements when compared to an FDA-cleared reference device.

AFib History looks like it will be a particularly useful health feature for people with atrial fibrillation. It’ll help track when a person’s heart shows symptoms of AFib, time spent in AFib, and the time of day or week when AFib was most active. Plus, Apple says all the data can be shared with doctors via a PDF.

It’s also very nice to see Canada among the first to get a new feature like this, rather than waiting months after launch for approval.

The watchOS 9 update will likely arrive in the fall (probably September) alongside the company’s new Apple Watch and iPhone models. Currently, watchOS 9 is available in beta.

Source: Health Canada Via: MacRumors

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Apple Watch Series 3 will not receive the watchOS 9 update

Apple revealed its Series Watch 3 five years ago, and now with watchOS 9, the phone is being put to rest. watchOS 9 will not support the Series 3, which means the Watch SE will take over as Apple’s budget Apple smartwatch.

However, at this moment, the Watch Series 3 costs $249 CAD and the Watch SE starts at $369, so hopefully the price changes.

Oddly, the Watch Series 3 is still available to purchase at the Apple Store despite lacking watchOS 9 support. This might change when the operating system update launches this fall.

watchOS 9 developer beta is now available, and the public beta will be available starting July, but that won’t be available for Apple Watch Series 3 users.

watchOS 9 brings expanded sleep tracking, expanded women’s health functionality, more information about atrial fibrillation, a medication reminder app, new workout types, tracking metrics and more.

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Apple adds new Watch Faces, sleep monitoring and medication tracking to WatchOS 9

At its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2022, Apple unveiled WatchOS 9 with a range of new features to keep you fit and healthy.

For starters, Apple showed off four new watch faces coming with WatchOS 9, including ‘Metropolitan,’ ‘Playtime,’ ‘Lunar Calendar and ‘Astronomy face.’ Additionally, the front-end bring a new Siri UI and banner notification for some of your favourite apps with WatchOS 9.

On the fitness side of things, Apple revealed that three new running form metrics are coming to the Workout app, which makes use of the Apple Watch’s accelerometer and gyro to establish your running form, ground contact time and stride length to determine whether you’re wasting energy while you’re running or not. In addition to the running form, the watch will also be able to detect your heart rate and categorize it into zones to determine your running intensity, and whether you need to slow down, take a rest or pick up the pace.

The fitness app will be available to all iPhone users running iOS 16, so you can track steps, flights climbed, estimate your total calories burnt and even you can share your results with friends without owning an Apple Watch.

To help keep you healthy while you’re not working out, Apple has also updated the Sleep app to help users learn more about sleep stages. The Watch uses the heart rate sensor and the built-in accelerometer to determine which sleep stage you were in at what time at night, including REM, Core and Deep sleep stages.

Additionally, Apple is also adding features to help people diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AFIB). With WatchOS 9, users would be able to track the time your heart shows symptoms of AFIB, time spent in AFIB, the time of day or week when AFIB was most active and the ability to share a PDF of your AFIB history directly with your doctor. According to Apple, it expects to “receive FDA clearance for AFIB soon.” It’s unclear when or if the feature will make its way to Canada.

Bolstering the Watch’s ability to keep you healthy, with WatchOS 9, users will now be able to keep a record of their medications, with alerts to notify you when you need to take a specific medication.

More to come…

Image credit: Apple

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watchOS 9 will bring new Watch Faces, low-power mode to Apple Watch

watchOS 9, the next version of Apple’s wearable operating system, could bring several new features to the Apple Watch.

According to Bloomberg’s often-reliable Mark Gurman, Apple plans to add a low -ower state to the Apple Watch that will allow it to use more features when its battery is almost depleted, including running specific apps. Power Reserve mode currently only lets Apple Watch wearers view a small digital clock.

Gurman goes on to say the Apple Watch will get new workout types, tracking metrics during workouts and expanded sleep tracking with watchOS 9. Other additional features include expanded women’s health functionality, more information about atrial fibrillation, and a medication reminder app that Bloomberg says has been in the works since 2019.

Finally, the report says that Apple plans to refresh several of its older Watch Faces with new ‘Complications’ and, of course, introduce new Faces, just like it does with every watchOS update. Several of the tech giant’s older and more popular Watch Faces haven’t been updated with the Apple Watch’s more recent Complications system, so this move makes sense on Apple’s part.

It’s likely watchOS 9 will be revealed at WWDC 2022 in June during the conference’s keynote on June 6th. Apple will also likely reveal iOS 16, macOS 13, tvOS 16 and more at its all-digital developers conference.

In the same report, Gurman mentions that blood-pressure tracking and blood sugar monitoring are likely still several years away from release.

Source: Bloomberg