watchOS 7 available tomorrow on September 16
Apple has confirmed that watchOS 7 will be available tomorrow on September 16, featuring customization tools, new health and fitness features, sleep tracking, automatic handwashing detection, additional workout types including dance, and more.
For the first time, watchOS 7 offers ways to discover and share Apple Watch faces, giving users the option to share faces with friends through Messages or Mail, and discovered through the App Store or even from links through websites and social media channels.
Developers now can offer more than one complication per app on a single watch face. For example, on one watch face, Glow Baby can display multiple complications that help new parents track bottle-feeding, breastfeeding, pumping statistics, and nap times.
With watchOS 7, Apple Watch introduces sleep tracking, providing tools to help users get their desired amount of sleep, get to bed on time, and create a pre-bedtime routine to meet their sleep goals. Through the detection of micro-movements from the watch’s accelerometer, Apple Watch intelligently captures when the wearer is sleeping and how much sleep they get each night. In the morning, the wearer will see a visualization of their previous night’s sleep, including periods of wake and sleep. They will also see a chart showing their weekly sleep trend.
To help users wake up, Apple Watch offers a silent haptic alarm or gentle sounds, while the wake-up screen shows the current battery level. Depending on personal charging behavior, if the battery is too low within an hour of bedtime, Apple Watch will remind users to charge it ahead of sleep.
In light of the current global health situation, watchOS 7 adds Automatic Handwashing Detection. Apple Watch uses motion sensors, microphones, and on-device machine learning to automatically detect handwashing motions and sounds. It then initiates a 20-second countdown timer, and if the user finishes early, they will be prompted to keep washing. Apple Watch can also conveniently remind the user to wash their hands when they return home. watchOS 7 brings four new workout types supported by heart rate and custom-built motion algorithms: Core Training, Dance, Functional Strength Training, and Cooldown.
Apple Watch uses advanced sensor fusion, combining data from the heart rate sensor and inputs from the accelerometer and gyroscope, that account for the unique challenges of measuring different body-to-arm motions typical with dance. This workout type was validated and tested with four of the most popular dance styles for exercise: Bollywood, cardio dance, hip-hop, and Latin. The redesigned Activity app on iPhone, now called Fitness, provides a streamlined view of data including daily Activity, Workouts, Awards, and Activity Trends on one tab, and Activity Sharing and Activity Competitions on another.