The Apple Watch is the most popular watch in the world – not the most popular Smart watchThe most popular The clock. With the annual watchOS update every year older models get better, its success is no small feat.
We hope to release watchOS 9 this fall, along with a new Apple Watch Series 8. But Apple will probably unveil watchOS 9 and its flagship new features at WWDC Keynote on June 6, followed by a few months of beta-testing.
While there are a few small rumors about what to expect, we have our own ideas for what we want to see. Here are some things we hope Apple will announce when it unveils the next generation watchOS.
A good low power mode
The Apple Watch already has a low-power mode called Power Reserve, but it’s very basic. It lasts four times as much energy but makes your watch useless for anything other than checking the current time. The good news is, a more powerful low-power mode may actually come along. A Bloomberg report states that it is on the card for watchOS 9, although we do not know how it will work.
A good low power mode, that’s not it Pretty much So useless, what do we want. It can turn off things like heart-rate monitoring, mostly accelerometer functions, as well as third-party apps, while still displaying a full clock face and notifications, for example. This will probably make the battery last 48 hours instead of 72, but for those who are going to stay away from the charger for a long time, it will be a better option.
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Custom watch face
Rumor has it that watchOS 9 will update and refresh some existing faces, which is certainly needed but not enough. We’ve been looking for a custom watch on the Apple Watch from the beginning, and Apple hasn’t done that yet. There are many issues with copyright and IP resolution, but there are also many opportunities!
Instead of giving developers free rein to make and sell watch faces, I imagine a kind of “facekit” framework and developer toolkit. Much like WidgetKit, it will provide developers with adequate girdle to preserve the Apple Watch experience, as well as provide standard fonts, interface elements, animation templates and more to create an Apple-like look. But like widgets on iOS, developers will still have enough freedom to create great and unique faces.
Good sleep tracking
Finally, slip tracking was added to the Apple Watch in watchOS 7, and watchOS 8 made it even better by adding the ability to track your breathing rate while sleeping.
But the Apple Watch is still not a great sleep tracker. Apps like Autoslip do a better job of automatically detecting when you’re asleep and tracking when you’re fast asleep. I would expect a simpler interface from Apple than most third party slip tracking apps, but I want a better, clearer insight into what I’ve got. Good Sleep, just how much I got. Along with the Fitbit-powered Pixel Watch along the way, the Apple Watch will require better native slip tracking — and is a great way to get started with WatchOS9.
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A health app
How come there is no health app in Apple Watch yet? Half of the health app data seems to come from the Apple Watch! There are health-related apps like Heart Rate, Cycle Tracking and ECG, but no app to browse your overall health data in one place.
An Apple Watch health app probably needs to be a little more concentrated than what you have on your iPhone, but it will still be effective to see your daily health metrics and trends. Apple can take another page from Fitbit here, which has a nicely organized Today dashboard to show the total of your daily activities. But anything that lets you view your stats without bouncing across multiple apps would be a great improvement.
A note app with powerful Siri support
Apple Watch still has no note app. It is understandable that Apple would think that we do not want to take more notes on that platform — text entry is like a slow pain.
But how nice it would be to raise your wrist and say, “Hey Siri, take a note …” and ask Siri to create a new note, synced with your other devices via iCloud, with a dictation and an attachment to what you’re saying. As voice recording? Apple can even automatically tag any notes created on your watch to make them easier to find.
And of course, there are times when it can be good To read A note on your watch too. Like the iPad’s calculator app or the Mac’s weather app, why doesn’t the Apple Watch have the basic Note app and Apple is about to add one.