Apple has announced that it is ending support for the original watchOS SDK and original Apple Watch 1.0 apps, which required a phone to even open. From June 1st, Apple will require developers of new Apple Watch apps to use the native SDK, which came with watchOS 2. The requirement was posted on the Apple Developer news page last night.
The Maps app for the Apple Watch is set to receive a useful upgrade with new features with the upcoming watchOS 2.2 release. Currently in beta, the upcoming software update adds the Nearby search features in Apple Maps as well as quick navigation buttons for travel directions to home and work addresses.
‘There’s a new software update awaiting Apple Watch owners. watchOS 2.1 is now available through the Watch app on iPhone. The update includes Arabic language support for Siri plus other bug fixes and improvements. Full change log below.
Tapbots is out with Tweetbot 4.1 for iOS, bringing Tweetbot to the Apple Watch for the first time. The update follows the massive Tweetbot 4.0 launch at the start of October which included a redesigned iPad version plus iOS 9-specific features and more. The new Tweetbot 4.1’s Apple Watch app is made for watchOS 2 and lets users compose new tweets, view recent activity, respond to mentions, and view profiles. Tweetbot for Apple Watch also enhances the way notifications look with a richer, custom appearance.
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We haven’t seen an awful lot of Apple Watch fitness apps update for watchOS 2 just yet — which lets faster native apps take advantage of sensors like the heart rate tracker — but Runkeeper is out with its iOS 9 and watchOS 2 update today.
Because Runkeeper 6.2 lets Apple Watch users track heart rate with the wearable’s built-in sensor, the app now lets you track runs with it directly on the watch without having to bring your iPhone. You’ll still need the iPhone if you want to track location as Apple Watch doesn’t have built-in GPS, but with a pair of Bluetooth earbuds and Runkeeper 6.2 you can track runs and listen to music using just Apple Watch.
Previously run tracking without iPhone required using Apple’s Workouts app. The updated Runkeeper for iOS 9 and watchOS 2 includes a few other changes as well including an interesting music analytics feature for workouts:
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Alongside updates to iOS and OS X, Apple has released watchOS 2.0.1 with a whole host of changes and bug fixes. As well as including the new emoji character set like Apple’s other operating systems, watchOS 2.0.1 includes bug fixes for poor battery life, stalling software updates, Calendar event syncing and much more.
It has also seeded developers with the Gold Master release of tvOS for Apple TV. We’ll update with any changes …
Apple delivered a major upgrade to Maps in iOS 9, OS X El Capitan, and watchOS 2 with the addition of transit directions in select cities, and now its rolling out additional cities and transportation methods to bolster that feature. In addition to expanding transit, Apple has found a new partner in Canada to provide rich local business data for use in Maps.
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Fantastical 2.5 is out now with new multitasking features for iOS 9 on iPad, a 3D Touch app icon on iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, a native Apple Watch app on watchOS 2 with its own watch face complication, and much more. Both the iPad and iPhone plus Apple Watch updates are available for free for current Fantastical 2 customers. The new versions come just two weeks after Split View in Fantastical hit the Mac with OS X El Capitan. See the new features in action below:
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Sleep tracking accessory maker Beddit is out with a new watchOS 2 app for Apple Watch today. Because Beddit offers a dedicated sensor for tracking your sleep duration and quality each night, Apple Watch is able to charge overnight as needed and still present sleep data in the morning. Thanks to hardware access granted to native software, Beddit’s watchOS 2 app lets Apple Watch double as a sleep tracker during the day for measuring naps and creating silent alarms. Just as Beddit’s watchOS 2 app is hitting the App Store, Beddit’s Smart Sleep Tracker is coming to Apple Stores around the world and apple.com for the first time starting today…
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Apple has officially released iOS 9 and watchOS 2 to the public and today we’re getting into a rundown and our first impressions of the new features that come along with these updates. If you’d like to find out more about the top features in iOS 9 you can check out our full rundown here. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.
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It seems I’m not the only person to have experienced issues upgrading my Apple Watch to watchOS 2. After swearing at it for its insistence that it needed both more than 50% power and to be on charge (it refused to play even when on 100% power), it finally agreed to update itself and then stalled overnight during the ‘Verifying’ stage.
Starting again, the update then crashed the watch. Rebooting the Watch didn’t fix it, nor did rebooting the iPhone and starting the process again. What did fix it? Read on…
After slightly missing the originally announced release date due to a last-minute bug, the watchOS 2 software update is now available for downloading through iOS 9’s Watch app and installing on your Apple Watch.
watchOS 2 comes just six months after the Apple Watch officially launched, and what Apple is labeling as a full successor to watchOS 1 feels a lot like a more polished version of what it likely had in mind from the start. It incorporates a few features first shown off last September and even includes fixes for a few common complaints over the original software.
The big story with watchOS 2 is support for native apps, which launch quicker and have more access to hardware, but there’s several small changes within the update worth discussing as well. Let’s explore:
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Apple first showed off the next-generation software for its smartwatch earlier this year, revealing that it would allow the wearable devices to run native applications directly on the watch, vastly improving performance and allowing apps to interact with the watch hardware in new ways.
Following a significant delay due to a critical bug, watchOS 2 is out now and can be downloaded for all Apple Watches through the companion app on the iPhone. The update seems to have an new build number, indicating that, like iOS 9, it was updated after the GM build was seeded to fix whatever issue held up release.
While a lot of the new watchOS 2.0 update will be familiar, there are some new features throughout the update that will help make your life with the Apple Watch even easier. Check out the video below from 9to5’s Dom Esposito for a rundown of some of the best new additions.
Apple has officially released iOS 9 and watchOS 2 to the public and today we’re getting into a rundown and our first impressions of the new features that come along with these updates. If you’d like to find out more about the top features in iOS 9 you can check out our full rundown here. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.
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Unfortunately, it seems that watchOS 2 has been delayed and will not be releasing today as discussed in the podcast.
Apple has reportedly discovered a critical flaw in watchOS 2 and decided to withhold the update to fix it, pushing back today’s scheduled release. The issue may remind users of a similar predicament with HealthKit applications at the launch of iOS 8 last year.
With both iOS 9 and watchOS 2 set to be released tomorrow, Apple has already started releasing third-party app updates that take advantage of the new features in each software update. watchOS 2 for Apple Watch introduces native apps that run faster and have access to sensors, and iOS 9 introduces new split-screen multitasking and deeper Spotlight-integrated search capabilities. There are some of the watchOS 2 and iOS 9 apps we’re already starting to see hit the App Store:
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Apple released a gold and rose gold Apple Watch Sport plus a new fall collection of Sport bands today, and inside the watchOS 2 software update due out next week is a variety of Sport band-matching color options. These new colors let you personalize the watch face with many more choices than the current software version. Check out each new color below:
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Spigen already created one of the most minimal and affordable Apple Watch charging stands with the Apple Watch Stand S330 — a design that fits right in next to an iMac, and works with both open and closed bands. But then Apple announced watchOS 2 and Nightstand Mode, which will will turn the Apple Watch into a proper alarm clock during charging, but only when it’s positioned on its side with the Digital Crown and side button facing up. Spigen’s new Apple Watch Night Stand S350 ($20) offers an even more minimal design with Nightstand Mode support, and an especially budget-friendly price. Check out my impressions below…
After a series of relatively small beta-to-beta updates, Apple’s release today of the fifth beta of watchOS 2.0 contains a series of legitimately interesting new features. One of the additions is a brand new Timelapse watch face featuring the Eiffel Tower in Paris, bringing to six the total number of time-lapse videos, as well as a considerable change in Timelapse’s behavior.
Apple has also added a new option to keep the screen awake for 70 seconds after it’s tapped (versus a default setting of 15 seconds), and a new Quick Play feature to speed up music playback through a connected iPhone. More details on what’s new in watchOS 2.0 Beta 5 are below…
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Apple is continuing to fine tune the upcoming watchOS update for Apple Watch ahead of the software update’s release this fall, and now registered developers can test their apps against the latest build as watch OS 2 beta 5 is now available.
The watchOS 2 update allows developers to build native (read faster) apps that do not rely as much on the iPhone for processing power, third-party complications or widgets for the watch face, and closer access to hardware like heart rate sensor data and more. For consumers, watchOS 2 adds new features like Nightstand Mode, using photos or albums as a watch face, and various app refinements.
The last watchOS 2 beta notably added support for colored complications including Activity with increased legibility on certain watch faces including Utility and Modular. We’ll explore the latest watchOS 2 beta to find other new changes coming this fall, and let us know if you discover any differences between the last beta as well.
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Apple is now allowing developers to test more iOS 9 features with an update to its beta distribution app TestFlight. The updated version enables developers to test faster, native watchOS 2 apps for Apple Watch, including newly gained access to more sensors and custom watch face complications. The update also lets developers test some iOS 9 features like App Thinning, which allows users to download larger chunks of apps as needed to preserve local storage, for the first time.
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As Apple continues to develop watchOS 2.0 for Apple Watch ahead of its release this fall, the company has released watchOS 2 beta 4 to registered developers today for testing the operating system update on Apple Watch.
The upcoming OS update includes a ton of improvements to the platform including support for native apps, third-party complications, new watch faces including using your own photos, a clever Night Stand mode for using the watch as a miniature alarm clock, and several refinements to apps and features like Digital Touch and Siri.
The previous beta included improvements to battery life and Notification Center bugs that plagued earlier betas plus Apple Music support, but Apple ID setup and Apple Pay were disabled for the pre-release software betas. We’ll dig in to the latest beta version and update with notable changes discovered.
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When Apple released the first beta of watchOS 2.0 last month following WWDC, users were surprised to learn that there was no way to downgrade from the beta build to the more stable Watch OS 1.0.1. Users tried a variety of different methods, but were ultimately left with one option: send their Watch into Apple and allow them to do the restore. With today’s launch of watchOS 2.0 beta 3, Apple has officially confirmed that there is no way to downgrade to an earlier version of watchOS without sending your device into Apple.
Apple today has released the third beta of watchOS 2 to developers. The company released the second beta of the operating system two weeks ago after officially unveiling it at WWDC at the beginning of last month. Today’s new beta carries the build number 13S5293f. watchOS 2 includes support for native applications and beta 3 of the software will allow developers to continue testing their applications with direct access to local sensors, the Digital Crown, and the device’s processor.