Apple seeds first watchOS 3.2 beta to developers with Theater Mode and SiriKit

Apple on Monday seeded the first beta of watchOS 3.2 to developers. It can be installed by registered developers with the appropriate profile by opening the Watch app in iOS, and navigating to General > Software Update.

The beta arrives a week after the release of watchOS 3.1.3, and just over 3 months after 3.1 rolled out to the public. It also follows a slew of other betas Apple issued last week, including iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.4.

Here are your release notes Apple posted last week:

Theater Mode

Introduced in watchOS 3.2, Theater Mode lets users quickly mute the sound on their Apple Watch and avoid waking the screen on wrist raise. Users still receive notifications (including haptics) while in Theater Mode, which they can view by tapping the screen or pressing the Digital Crown.

SiriKit

watchOS 3.2 includes SiriKit. Users can ask Siri on their Apple Watch to book a ride, send a message, make a payment, or make other requests that your app can handle.

Apps that provide services in specific domains can use SiriKit to make those services available through Siri on watchOS. Making your services available requires creating one or more app extensions using the Intents and Intents UI frameworks. SiriKit in watchOS supports services in the following domains:

  • Messaging
  • Payments
  • Ride booking
  • Workouts
  • Calling
  • Searching photos

We’re installing the beta now, and will be sure to update this post if anything new or noteworthy is discovered. As always if you see something we may have missed, feel free to tell us about it down in the comment section below.