Apple showcases watchOS 6 at WWDC 2019

Apple has unveiled its latest iOS, macOS, the new iPadOS, and the tvOS in WWDC 2019 at San Jose. The company had also unveiled its new watchOS 6 at the event as well. The new watch operating system update doesn’t feature any big changes like iOS 13 but has some significant new features to Apple Watch that include a new Cycle tracking feature, Noise app, and new activity trends and much more. The company has previewed the latest watchOS 6 by showing off the new dynamic watch faces coming with the update alongside the new native App Store for the Apple Watch as well.

Cycle Tracking

With watchOS 6, the Cupertino tech giant has introduced a new feature focusing on their menstrual cycles. With the new Cycle Tracking feature, women can store all the essential information related to their menstrual cycles and additionally can predict the timing for their next periods and fertile windows.

There’s a daily log function with which they store all the relevant data which further helps in tracking and prediction of the next period. And, what’s interesting is that Apple not only does include this new feature in the Apple Watch but also features in the Health app of iPhone as well, needless to say running on the latest iOS 13 builds.

Noise App

Apple introduced ECG last year with the Apple Watch Series 4, while that was a significant move from Apple towards users health perspective, today, the company has taken a new step by introducing Noise App on the watchOS 6 that helps in maintaining hearing health. According to Apple, by positioning the Apple Watch on the wrist, the new Noise app can track and understand the sound levels of the surroundings like concerts or sporting events, for instance, which is said to have a direct impact on hearing.

To monitor the sounds during such environments is now possible with Apple Watch running watchOS 6. There’s a decibel meter activated with a tap that indicates the sound level in the respective environments. The Apple Watch now also has the ability to send notifications when the decibel meter reaches to 90 decibels, which is said to be the standard desired level.

Activity app

With growing fitness enthusiasts globally, the watchOS 6 on the Apple Watch brings a new Trends tab in the Activity app, which can now showcase their activity behavior on the run. The latest Trends tab displays desired metrics that include your active calories, exercise minutes, walking speeds, and more. It also sends timely reminders with a haptic vibration on the Apple Watch if the person appears to be inactive for more extended periods.

Native App Store

As stated earlier, the watchOS 6 brings in a native App Store forthe Apple Watch, which further helps users install the third-party apps directly without the need of installing on the iPhone that eventually makes the user experience hassle-free.

Users will now be able to ask Siri to search for apps. Furthermore, developers will now be able to create Apple Watch-exclusive apps without an iOS app and work independently with the new watchOS 6.

The other notable features of the new watchOS 6 include – new dynamic watch faces and customization options, a new audio API to stream music and radio or podcasts on the watch directly, voice memos can be recorded within the Apple Watch, and a new Calculator app has been added to the Apple Watch with this new watchOS 6 update. All the collected data which includes health and voice data is said to be encrypted and stored on-device and if users are interested in iCloud backup they have that option as well.

Apple has released the first developer beta of watchOS 6 to registered developers, and the public beta is expected to come next month alongside the iOS 13 and the iPadOS, and the public release is expected to come this fall. All the Apple Watch series starting from Apple Watch series 1 is eligible to upgrade to watchOS 6 update. Stay tuned to PhoneRadar for more such interesting updates.