Apple releases watchOS 5

Apple today released watchOS 5 which brings you new ways to be more active, stay connected, and monitor your health with your Apple Watch including Activity competitions, automatic workout detection, Yoga and Hiking workouts, Podcasts, Walkie-Talkie, new watch faces, an updated Siri watch face, and enhancements to notifications and the Heart Rate app.

Activity

• Challenge any of your Activity sharing friends to a one-on-one, seven-day competition
• Earn points by filling your Activity rings, one point for every percent added to the rings each day
• View active competitions in the sharing tab of the Activity app
• Receive intelligent and personalized notifications throughout the competitions
• Earn awards at the end of the competition, and view in the redesigned Awards tab in the Activity app on iPhone

Workout

• Automatic workout detection sends alerts to start the Workout app for many workouts, giving you retroactive credit for exercise already started, and end alerts reminding you to end your workout
• Yoga and Hiking workout types for accurate tracking of relevant metrics
• Set target pace during outdoor run workouts and receive alerts if you fall behind or move ahead of that target pace
• Track cadence, or steps per minute, as you run and see average cadence in running Workout summaries
• Rolling mile (or km) metric for running workouts measures pace for the immediately preceding mile (or km)

Apple Podcasts

• Sync subscribed shows on Apple Podcasts to Apple Watch for local playback with Bluetooth headphones
• New episodes are automatically refreshed as they are added to subscribed shows
• Stream any available episode or show on Apple Podcasts with Siri when connected to Wi-Fi or cellular
• New Podcasts complication for watch faces

Walkie-Talkie

• Invite friends with Apple Watch to communicate with Walkie-Talkie
• Press to talk and release to listen
• Supports one-to-one interactions between Apple Watch users
• Special sounds and haptics distinguish Walkie-Talkie from other notifications on Apple Watch
• Set your availability for Walkie-Talkie
• Walkie-Talkie works through Wi-Fi or cellular on Apple Watch or with paired iPhone

Watch Faces

• Breathe face with three animation styles to choose from: Classic, Calm, and Focus
• Three new motion faces—Fire & Water, Vapor, and Liquid Metal—that animate when you raise your wrist or tap the display
• Display curated moments from your photo library using the Memories option on the Photos watch face
• New complications for Podcasts and Walkie-Talkie

Siri

• Updated Siri watch face intelligently surfaces predictive and proactive Shortcuts based on routines and inputs like location and time of day
• Integration with Maps on the Siri watch face shows turn-by-turn directions and estimated arrival times to your next calendar event location
• Heart Rate measurements surfaced on the Siri watch face including resting rate, walking average, and recovery rate
• Live sports scores and upcoming games for your favorite teams in the TV app appear on the Siri watch face
• Support for third-party app shortcuts on the Siri watch face
• Access to Siri with Raise to Speak, by raising your wrist to your mouth and speaking your request into the watch (Series 3 and later)
• Support for customized voice commands for Siri Shortcuts that are created and managed on iPhone

Notifications

• Notifications from the same app are automatically grouped together to help you manage your notifications
• Ability to modify notifications preferences for an app by swiping left on an app notification in Notification Center
• New Deliver Quietly option silently sends notifications directly to Notification Center without interrupting you
• Turn off Do Not Disturb after a set time, location or calendar event

Heart Rate

• Option to be notified if your heart rate falls below a specified threshold while you appeared to be inactive for a 10-minute period
• Heart Rate measurements including resting rate, walking average, and recovery rate shown on the Siri watch face

Other features and improvements

• View website content optimized for Apple Watch when receiving links in Mail or Messages
• Add cities to Weather app on Apple Watch
S• ee new metrics like UV Index, wind speed, and air quality index in supported regions in Weather app
• Add new stocks to track in the Stocks app on Apple Watch
• Customize arrangement of Control Center icons
• Choose Wi-Fi networks in Settings app and enter password if prompted
• Answer FaceTime video calls as audio on Apple Watch
• Option to install software updates overnight
• Add cities to World Clock app on Apple Watch
• Use redesigned categories to scroll through and choose emoji in Mail and Messages
• Adds support for system language in Hindi

Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas. For more information visit: https://www.apple.com/watchos/feature-availability/

Update your Apple Watch

• When a new update is available, your Apple Watch notifies you. Tap Update Tonight in the notification, then go to your iPhone to confirm that you want to update overnight. At the end of the day, leave your Apple Watch and iPhone charging overnight, so the update can complete.

• To check for updates manually:
– Keep your Apple Watch on its charger until the update completes.
– On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch app, then tap the My Watch tab.
– Tap General > Software Update
– Apple Watch app showing one notification badge for an available update.
– Download the update. If asked for your iPhone passcode or Apple Watch passcode, enter it.
– Wait for the progress wheel to appear on your Apple Watch. It could take from several minutes to an hour for the update to complete.
– Leave your Apple Watch on its charger while the update completes. Don’t restart your iPhone or Apple Watch, and don’t quit the Apple Watch app. When the update completes, your Apple Watch will restart on its own.

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website:

https://support.apple.com/HT201222