WWDC21 confirmed that the watchOS 8 update isn’t a major overhaul, and that it has a series of small, meaningful changes. Minor tweaks such as support for iMessage apps are aplenty in the new version.
There’s enough in this new update to make your old Apple Watch feeling fresh. We’re going to highlight the best new features coming to watchOS 8.
1. Digital Crown as a Cursor Mover
Fixing typos used to be one of the worst things to do on an Apple Watch. If you typed or dictated message had any error, you’d quickly delete the whole word or message and start over.
That is about to change with watchOS 8, which will allow you to use the Digital Crown to move the cursor. This is such an obviously useful feature that we now wonder why Apple didn’t ship it earlier.
Now that it’s (almost) here, you can be sure that you’ll fix typos rather than reworking an entire message.
2. Volume Control in Control Center
Apple Watch’s Control Center has been a bit rudimentary when compared with the iPhone or the iPad. Some of this is due to the nature of the device—you don’t exactly have much screen space to scale and fit everything you need.
However, the absence of volume controls did add an extra step to all of our Apple Watch interactions. That’s about to change in watchOS 8, as you’ll be able to monitor headphone levels in real-time using the Control Center.
3. New Time Complications
Just noticed there is a new set of Time complications in watchOS 8. While a slight bit of ‘Sherlocking’ for Watchsmith, I’m honestly super glad it’s here. A good number of my gray hairs came from supporting time based complications…glad I can focus elsewhere now. pic.twitter.com/q44aVDMoZh
— David Smith (@_DavidSmith) June 9, 2021
watchOS 8 has added some new time complications (widgets) for your watch faces. You get analog time, digital time, or just a simple complication that shows how many seconds have elapsed in the current minute.
That last one is useful for watch faces that don’t show seconds and you can choose between analog or digital seconds.
4. More Colors for Watch Faces
If you’re into matching the color of your watch face with the watch band you’re wearing, or even with your outfit, then this is the perfect feature for you. watchOS 8 has far more color options for watch faces than before.
The categorization of colors can get a tad bit overwhelming for some people. However, we’ll reserve judgment on that until the final version of watchOS 8. It’s easy to forget that a lot could change between now and the final release.
5. Multiple Timers
The ability to set multiple timers in watchOS 8 is a godsend. This is going to be very useful while cooking for sure. We like to use it to make sure that we don’t end up burning some dishes, while remembering to add various ingredients at regular intervals.
From workouts to periodic reminders to focus on the task at hand, there’s an endless array of things you can do with this simple but useful feature.
6. AssistiveTouch
Apple’s commitment to improving accessibility on its products is commendable. With watchOS 8, we’re getting powerful AssistiveTouch features that will make it a lot easier for limb different people to use the Apple Watch.
You can double-clench your wrist to answer calls, or simply move your wrist to activate the on-screen pointer. There’s support for complex actions without touching the screen of the Apple Watch, which is wonderful to see.
Apple had announced these features before WWDC21, but they’re launching with watchOS 8 this fall. There’s actually a video showing how these Apple Watch features were designed.
7. iMessage Apps
There’s basic support for iMessage apps on watchOS 8. The Messages app will allow you to send GIFs, for example. It’s not clear if third-party iMessage apps will work on watchOS 8, but at least Apple’s own apps appear to work.
8. Contacts App
Apple Watch will finally get the Contacts app. You will be able to add, edit, and view contacts via the Apple Watch now. Every little addition that makes you use your iPhone less is more than welcome.
9. Find Missing Devices
The Find Devices app is in watchOS 8, which means that you can use the Apple Watch to locate Apple devices that you may have misplaced.
With iOS 15, we also got the useful separation alerts feature, and Find Devices nicely rounds off the Apple Watch’s ability to help you find misplaced devices.
10. Mindfulness App
The Breathe app is one that many people end up disabling due to its constant reminder notifications. In watchOS 8, Apple has revamped the app to make it a lot more useful.
First up, it’s now called Mindfulness. Secondly, it can do much more than just remind you to take a breath. This app lets you learn how to make meditation a habit for your mental health, through its Pause to Reflect feature.
Finally, its integration with the Health app to log stats in the Mindful Minutes section is a great idea. You don’t have to go to the Workout app and log a Mind & Body workout for meditation any longer. There’s a new home for those stats, which is nice to have.
This is a good platform for Apple to test the waters and see if it makes sense to build its own meditation service to rival Calm or Headspace. We’ll find out more about that in the coming years.
11. Always-On Display Enhanced
The Always-On display works on Apple Watch Series 5 and Series 6. Up until watchOS 7, if you had an app open when the display entered the dim state, it’d blur most of the screen and show the time on the top-right corner.
In watchOS 8, that has changed. You’ll be able to see the watch face even if the display is dimmed while apps are open. This looks a lot nicer than before.
Nifty Tweaks All the Way
As we said before, watchOS 8 has a lot of nifty tweaks that improve your life with an Apple Watch. Apple could be holding back additional features for the next iteration of its smartwatch and we can’t wait to see what it is.
There are tons of customization options for the Apple Watch already, from changing watch faces to running advanced automation. We’re going to be trying those when watchOS 8 releases for the general public, and you should do that, too.
Images credit: Apple