Apple has just announced its Apple Watch-related updates that’ll be coming as part of WatchOS 27 later this year. As a quick refresher, Apple has changed their operating system naming (e.g. iOS, WatchOS, iPadOS, etc…) to match the year upcoming (2027 for next year, like car models). These platforms were announced today at Apple’s Annual WWDC event in San Francisco (Worldwide Developer Conference), and are available immediately in early access private beta to 3rd party Apple developers. Remember, this event isn’t (nor has ever been) about announcing all the new Apple Watch features that’ll come in September. On average, about 30-50% of those new features don’t actually announce until Apple’s September event.
In any case, typically in early-mid July we see Apple release it to public beta, when anyone can download it. Finally, in September, after Apple’s annual announcement event of new phones and watches, it’ll go to final release state, and be made available to both new and existing devices. In the case of iOS, that’s iPhone 11 and newer, and in the case of Apple Watch that’s Apple Watch Series 9 and newer, Apple Watch Ultra 2 & Ultra 3, and Apple Watch SE3. That’s a notable shift to exclude Apple Watch Ultra 1 (2022), Series 9 (2023), and SE2 (2022). [Note: Apple’s materials previously said Series 10 and higher, that’s being corrected, it should Series 9 and higher.]
With that backstory, this year was expected to be pretty low-key for Apple Watch-related WWDC announcements. In fact, if we look at Apple’s platform announcements overall, they lean very heavily on improvements to existing features. Many of them were performance-related or privacy-related. And of course, lots of AI-related features that don’t really apply to Apple Watch (at least at this point/time).
In this post, I’ll quickly cover all the new features, but expect more hands-on details in the July timeframe (or whenever the public beta release), where undoubtedly we’ll find more things than Apple has announced in their keynote (usually only a handful of things make it to the keynote).
What’s New in iOS for Fitness/Sports/Health:
Now, as always with watchOS, much of it starts first on iOS (the phone app), to support many of the new watch features. So, there are a number of smaller things coming to iOS that support the watchOS features. They are as follows (in Health, Fitness, and Fitness+ apps):
– Added irregular cycle tracking
– Added Perimenopause and menopause symptom logging in the Health app
– Added Perimenopause and menopause education in the Health app
– Added Fitness+ workouts for perimenopause and menopause
– Added Sort by completed Fitness+ workouts
– Added Support for timezone changes in Sleep
– Faster data updates in Health App
– Synced step count in the Health and Fitness apps
Here you can see the new features related to irregular cycling tracking, perimenopause, and menopause tracking in Apple Health:
Beyond this, there’s a whole slate of Siri-related improvements that are on your phone, a small sliver of which is accessible to the watch. I won’t dive into all those here, since they’re more general than sports/fitness/health related. Do note though that the revamped Siri AI won’t be available in the EU at launch however. When and what things look like is fuzzy there.
What’s New in WatchOS:
Next, let’s look at the list of WatchOS-related items, coming to WatchOS27 specifically.
– Workout Buddy no longer requires your phone with you (this is a big one!)
– Better battery efficiency on Apple Watch (though, this is undefined)
– New dedicated Siri app on the wrist
– New Dynamic app grid in watchOS (including direct Siri Support)
– Added single tap gesture WatchOS to open Smart Stack
– Added cycle tracking deviation alerts on WatchOS
– Improved distance accuracy during treadmill runs/walks
– More accurate step tracking on Apple Watch
– Improved Wi-Fi connectivity in watchOS
– Consolidated Find My app in watchOS
– Faster app extension launch in watchOS
– Siri improvements in WatchOS (tied to tons of Siri AI improvements on iOS)
– New Smart Stack suggestions in watchOS
– Faster media/music playback in watchOS
– View card balance in Wallet on WatchOS
– Guest Key in WatchOS
– Transit and ID cards in Smart Stack in WatchOS
– Redesigned settings in the Apple Watch app
– Adding Workout Buddy in Spanish
– Adding new insights in Workout Buddy
– Adds new Workout Zones API
– Adds new Menopause API
As you can see, a whole slate of very minor changes, mostly small improvements. Here’s a look at the Dynamic Home Grid, which basically acts like a memory for your most recent apps on WatchOS (similar to what we’ve had on iOS for years). You’ll press the Digital Crown to see this, and it’ll show up to 5 apps.
However, the biggest one is probably that Workout Buddy no longer requires your phone to be with you. Up till now, it required both your phone be with you, but also have connectivity. This appears to get rid of at least the tethered phone requirement.
Likewise, Workout Buddy is now in Spanish, as well as adding more insights. Hopefully, those extra insights will also come with improved accuracy of said insights (it often still makes up things for me).
Next, there’s the new dedicated Siri App, where you can re-visit your conversations directly from the wrist (even ones started on the phone):
Likewise, there’s more details now coming from Siri on the wrist as well, with the updated Apple Siri Intelligence.
And here’s an example of cycling tracking deviation alerts on WatchOS27:
So much so that Apple didn’t even have a section covering WatchOS. Instead, these updates were sprinkled throughout the presentation in other places. I can’t remember the last time Apple didn’t have a section about WatchOS within the presentation…it’s been a long while!
Wrap-Up:
Obviously, if you were waiting for a big WatchOS update, this will probably feel pretty disappointing. I don’t think anyone would really deny that. But at the same time, as the saying goes: Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. In this case, these chickens don’t actually hatch until mid-late September, in conjunction with new devices. It’s at that time we’ll find out what other new WatchOS features Apple is working on, just like we always find out about other new WatchOS features during that September event.
Likewise, the exclusion of Apple Watch Series 8 (2022), Apple Watch Ultra 1, and Apple Watch SE2 (also announced in 2022) will probably be unexpected, especially since Apple is actually including iPhone’s all the way back to iPhone 11 (2019). I would have expected both of those watches to remain in for another year, so perhaps there’s something else coming later in September to WatchOS requiring more power that’s justifying that transition. Again, we’ll have to see. [Note: Apple’s materials previously said Series 10 and higher, that’s being corrected, it should Series 9 and higher.]
Otherwise, stay tuned for me poking at the new offline Workout Buddy bits, once they become public beta in July. I use the Apple Watch every day, and will load the beta later tonight to start seeing how those pieces work.
With that – thanks for reading!
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