Apple Watch

Stay up-to-date on the latest Apple Watch news, and learn how to get the most out of your device with our comprehensive tutorials. From updates to features to troubleshooting tips, we’ve got you covered.

Hands-on with beautifully animated Toy Story faces in watchOS 4

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 22, 2017

Aside from bringing more intelligence and fitness features to Apple Watch, the new watchOS 4 software includes a bunch of beautifully animated Toy Story faces. Not unlike the existing Mickey and Minnie Mouse watch faces, the Toy Story ones bring to life popular Pixar characters including Woody, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear, Ham, Rex and Bullseye.

Our own Andrew O'Hara did a quick video showing off almost all the character animations available in the new Toy Story watch faces in watchOS 4, including additional customizations.

Give the video a quick watch, then meet us in comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuEuxD9AJ7I

watchOS 4 packs in other new watch faces.

Kaleidoscope, for instance, turns static images into mesmerizing patterns and the new Siri watch face uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to display the information users need most throughout the day.

ROUNDUP: 60+ new features in watchOS 4

Plus, you have new complications for your watch faces, including Now Playing and Apple News.

These new watch faces, complications and other features all require watchOS 4, a free upgrade for all Apple Watch users later this year.

Are you excited for the new Toy Story-themdd faces for your Apple Watch? Share in the comments section below!

How to see all Apple Watch apps in List View

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2025

Learn how to change your Apple Watch's Home Screen from the honeycomb grid layout with app icons to list view that sorts your apps alphabetically.

Apple seeds watchOS 4 beta 2 to developers

Cody Lee ∙ June 21, 2017

In addition to macOS High Sierra and iOS 11, Apple on Wednesday seeded the second beta of watchOS 4 to developers. Developers running the watchOS 4 beta can upgrade to beta 2 via the Watch app on iPhone.

Introduced earlier this month, watchOS 4 includes several new features and improvements such as new watch faces, a new list-style Home screen, an all-new Music app, new gestures and quick compose in Mail, and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcB0H_b43dg

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Here are the release notes for beta 2:

General

Resolved Issues

Apple Pay

Known Issues • When attempting to add multiple cards during the pairing process, only the last added card will be properly provisioned. (32624044)

Workaround: Once pairing is complete, go to the Watch app on iPhone and remove previously added cards. Once removed, re-add additional cards as desired.

Breathe

Resolved Issues

• Breathe notification preferences are now respected. (32298347)

CloudKit

Known Issues

CloudKit does not support unsigned long long values with the high-order bit set. (30567424) ApplicationsthatuseCKModifyRecordsOperationshouldspecifyanappropriate value for CKModifyRecordsOperation.isAtomic. If your client is compiled against watchOS 4, operations enqueued against the default CKRecordZone have new behavior because atomic is true by default. If the operation hits a “preflight” failure (most commonly, a network issue uploading a CKAsset, or a malformed CKRecord), the entire operation is canceled. (30838858)Core MediaResolved Issues

• Haptics now play for frontmost apps. (32139107)

Dictation

Known Issues

• Some languages are not available for Dictation on watchOS, including the newly released Shanghainese dictation. (32235495)

Foundation

New Features AddedaschedulingAPItoURLSessionTaskthatallowsbackgroundURLSession clients to schedule tasks in the future, enabling easy background app refresh semantics for apps, watchOS complications, and more. The API also allows developers to update requests before transmission to address cases where the request has become stale when scheduled in the future. Additions include the earliestBeginDate, countOfBytesClientExpectsToSend, and countOfBytesClientExpectsToReceive properties of URSessionTask, and the URLSession:task:willBeginDelayedRequest:completionHandler method of URLSessionTaskDelegate protocol. (27866330) URLSessionTask adopts the ProgressReporting protocol providing a consistent mechanism for URLSession clients to track the progress of URLSessionTask using the new progress property. (30834550) AddedanAdaptableConnectivityAPItoURLSessionthatenablestaskstoautomatically monitor and wait for satisfactory network connectivity, instead of immediately failing with an error when connectivity is unsatisfactory. Additions include the waitsForConnectivity property of URLSessionConfiguration and the URLSession:taskIsWaitingForConnectivity: method of the URLSessionTaskDelegate protocol.

• Added support for HTTP brotli content encoding to URLSession. By defaueslt, HTTP requests contain a br value (in addition to gzip and deflate) for the Accept-Encoding HTTP header, informing the web server that the user agent supports brotli encoding. The web server can send an HTTP body with Content-Encoding: br in the HTTP header to indicate that the content is brotli-encoded. URLSession automatically decompresses the HTTP body data and pass the decoded data back to the client in the same way it does for Content-Encoding: gzip. For binary compatibility reasons, URLSession brotli support is enabled only for apps built using the watchOS 4 SDK. (27724985)

HealthKit

Resolved Issues

Pressing the Side Button and Digital Crown pauses an active workout session even if the the app is not in the foreground. (30199786) Attempting to finish a workout route when no location data is inserted no longer throws an exception. (32307523)Known Issues• To track location in the background while a user is in a workout session, add UIBackgroundModes/location in the Info.plist file. (29483437)

HomeKit

Resolved Issues

• Location-based automation triggers now work if triggered from the alert on Apple Watch. (32288709)

Messages

Known Issues

• Messages may fail to send when responding to Activity notifications. (32294875)

Music

Resolved Issues

• Music tracks now play from and sync to Apple Watch. (32314271)

Known Issues Apple Watch must be on its charger for Music tracks to sync. (31818127) Deleting a playlist or album in the Apple Watch app will cause the app to crash and your selection will remain on your Apple Watch. (32624529) Love and Dislike options are missing for locally synced music on Apple Watch. (30845293)

Phone

New Issues

• Phone calls using Apple Watch that exceed 30 seconds may fail. (32659453)

Pairing

Known Issues

Backups only trigger when the user unpairs their watch. If the user erases their iOS 11 iPhone without unpairing their watch first, there will not be a backup to restore. (32358338)Workaround: Before erasing iPhone, go to the Watch app, choose My Watch, and unpair your Apple Watch. Alarms are lost when migrating to watchOS 4. (31285349)SettingsResolved Issues In Settings > Bluetooth, additional devices such as the paired iPhone no longer show as Not Connected. (32314078) Permissions on Apple Watch are now reset when a user resets location and privacy using Settings > General > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy on iPhone. (32393123)SiriKnown Issues

• Siri requests may fail in the iOS and watchOS simulators. (31971229)

• Siri may not play music that has been synced to Apple Watch. (31964674)

SiriKit

Resolved Issues

• SiriKit requests no longer fail with a “Sorry I can’t do that” error. (32305639) • watchOS apps from TestFlight or the App Store now work with SiriKit. (32387616) • SiriKit requests on watchOS no longer fail with a Continue in App error. (32355820)

WatchKit

Resolved Issues Anon-autoplayingWKInterfaceInlineMovienowworks.(32168160) WKInterfaceInlineMovie objects now pause when moving an app to thebackground. (31872332)Known Issues

• Automatic display of attachments in default WatchKit Notification interfaces do not work. (31589086)

Workout

Known Issues

You may experience inaccurate distance measurements for Pool Swim workouts. (32816933) Pressing the Side Button and Digital Crown pauses an active workout session even if the app is not in the foreground. (30199786) Workout sessions may be slow to start and they may fail to update with calorie and distance measurements. (32313252)Workaround: Call HKWorkoutRouteBuilder finishRouteWithWorkout:Metadata: only when some location data has been inserted to the builder.Xcode

Resolved Issues

• Building and running a Watch app from Xcode your app now installs, launches, and attaches. (32180669)

Known Issues

• Crashlogs may take a few minutes to sync and be visible in Xcode. (31156191)

Canada’s largest sport retailer is now selling Apple Watch

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 19, 2017

In what may be the first sport chain retailer to sell Apple Watch, Canada's Sport Check stores are now selling Apple Watch. Sport Check files as the country's largest sport retailer.

As first noted by PatentlyApple, the Apple Watch listing over at the official Sport Check website now has the latest Apple Watch Series 2 and Apple Watch Nike+ models on sale, in addition to the previous-generation Apple Watch hardware.

The new Sport Chek ads for Apple Watch began hitting the market last week.

It would seem that selling Apple Watch through specialized sport retailers may be a new thing. At any rate, we'll keep you informed if the Cupertino company expands this latest initiative to sport retail chains elsewhere.

watchOS 4 celebrates your birthday with animated balloons

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 15, 2017

A new, previously unseen feature in watchOS 4 will shower your watch face with animated balloons on the day of your birthday. Stumbled upon by MacRumors forum member “mrToasty”, the celebratory animation is visually similar to the similar fullscreen animation that's available in the Messages app on iOS 10 or later.

The user posted an accompany video to show off the celebratory effect in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdLlN1oEfqI

You will receive a “Happy Birthday!” notification on your Apple Watch on the day of your birthday, as determined by your birth date in your Apple ID. Tapping the notification will shower your current watch face with celebratory balloons, as evidenced by the video embedded above.

How do you like this neat feature of watchOS 4?

Tell us in comments!

60+ new Apple Watch features in watchOS 4

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated March 19, 2025

Apple demonstrated a host of useful new features that will ship with watchOS 4 at the WWDC 2017 keynote, but as always, they were constrained on time and couldn’t show us everything the update has to offer.

In this piece, well talk about everything we’ve found new in watchOS 4 so far. We'll include everything Apple demonstrated in addition to lesser-known features that weren’t given the spotlight at the event.

Apple Pay P2P transfers will incur standard 3% fee when funded by a credit card

Cody Lee ∙ June 8, 2017

If you try to use your credit card to fund an Apple Pay person-to-person payment over iMessage, Apple will tack on a 3% fee, reports Recode. The fee is standard among similar P2P services, and necessary to cover credit card transaction costs, but it's worth pointing out to potential users.

If you don't want to incur the 3% fee, simply use your debit card to fund the Apple Pay P2P payment, as this method is completely free.

Apple announced the new iMessage-based service during its WWDC keynote earlier this week. With it, you'll be able to use any card stored in Apple Pay to send money to other users. Once sent, the money loads onto a prepaid Apple Pay Cash card, where it can be spent or withdrawn.

Apple Pay Cash will go live after Apple publicly launches iOS 11 this fall.

Source: Recode

Video: Top 6 WWDC 2017 announcements

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 6, 2017

Apple had a pretty big day at yesterday's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, revealing a bunch of new or updated products and technologies that have set the stage for other important hardware announcements this fall.

If you didn't have the time to sit through the entire keynote talk and are wondering about the big takeaways, our video editor Andrew O'Hara has put together a short five-minute video highlighting the top six announcements Apple made during the WWDC 2017 keynote.

Andrew's main topics of interest include:

tvOS 11 with Amazon's Prime video-streaming app coming to Apple TV watchOS 11 with all the major improvements for workouts, notifications and more macOS High Sierra and core technologies aimed at AR/VR content creation iOS 11 with all of the improvements for your iPhone and iPad iPad Pro and iMac Pro changes and enhancements HomePod, Apple's high-end Siri-enabled speaker with hi-fi sound

And here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQBulSRR9Fc

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What's your favorite WWDC 2017 announcement so far?

Music app undergoes major redesign in watchOS 4

Steffen Reich ∙ June 5, 2017

Apple has taken the wraps off the new Music app design on Apple Watch coming this fall. It looks to do away with the sometimes cumbersome, manual iPhone to Apple Watch synchronisation process of playlists, and instead promises automatic syncing based on what you like to listen to on your iPhone.

As a result, your favorite playlists and most frequently played tunes (including My New Music Mix, My Favorites Mix, Heavy Rotation, My Chill Mix) will automatically appear on Apple Watch, furthermore multiple playlists outside of those are going to be permitted as well.

The new design seems to abandon small fonts and lettering in favor of album covers and images where possible, though we have yet to see the full extend to which the app has been overhauled. In any event, the Digital Crown was touted as the go-to button for swift and effective music selection on your wrist.

Apple demos new watch faces for Apple Watch on watchOS 4

Anthony Bouchard ∙ June 5, 2017

Apple announced a totally new Siri-based watch face for Apple Watch at the WWDC 2017 keynote along with two other new sets of watch faces.

The new Siri watch face is intended to provide automatic information tailored to how you use your Apple Watch with the apps installed on it.

How to track your sleep using AutoSleep

Steffen Reich ∙ Updated January 10, 2019

You don’t have to be a scientist to know that a good night’s sleep is conducive to your overall wellbeing and health. On that note, a while ago we have screened the App Store for the best sleep trackers available on iPhone and Apple Watch so as to make it easy for you to pick and choose your new sleep companion.

While varying in looks and features, all of the apps listed serve the same purpose: record how you slept and explain possible discrepancies in perceived quality of sleep and your actual rest. With the hands-off roundup in mind, we decided to select the most requested and popular app featured - AutoSleep - and throw a complementary hands-on tutorial on sleep tracking into the mix. Want to learn more about how to track your sleep using your iPhone, Apple Watch, and the AutoSleep app? Then join us for the tour!

Nike’s new sneaker-matching Apple Watch bands now available for purchase

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

A significant number of new Nike Apple Watch band colors are now available for purchase from Nike’s Website, signifying an expansion of the Apple/Nike partnership.

The four new colors are intended to match that of Nike's Air VaporMax Flyknit 'Day to Night' shoe lineup, giving users a way to match their tech to their shoes in style.