watchOS 5 is Apple's latest major release for Apple Watch, and it is releasing for everybody on Monday! In this update are a number of new features that aim to make the Apple Watch experience better, as well as making it more independent of the iPhone.
of watchOS include a new Walkie Talkie app for chatting with friends and family in real-time, a new Podcast app, smart Siri watch face, support for Siri Shortcuts, and better notification management. See all the changes for yourself in our hands-on video.
Watch Faces
- Smarter Siri watch face
- Siri watch face data sources: Activity, Alarms, Breathe, Calendar, Favorite Teams, Health, Heart Rate, Home, InCallService, Mail, Messages, Music, News, Notes, Now Playing, Photos, Podcasts, Reminders, Stocks, Stopwatch, Timer, Wallet, Weather, & Workout.
- Now supports third party apps
- New color scheme (gray) for Siri watch face
- Solar watch face supports two complications
- Memories in Photo face
- Podcasts complication
Podcasts
- New Podcasts app
- Control playback on the iPhone from Apple Watch
Weather
- Now can add city on watch
- Tapping switches the metric instead of going to 10 day forecast
- UV index metric
- Air Quality metric
- Wind speed metric
- Wind direction metric
- Scroll to view 10 day forecast
World Clock
- Add cities from watch
- Remove city by Force Touching
Stocks
- Add stocks from watch
- Force Touch to remove stock
Messages
- New category organizer for emoji
- New UI for dictation, Scribble, emoji, sticker picker, Digital Touch, and Apple Pay
Walkie Talkie
- Whole new app to chat
Wallet
- Student ID cards in Wallet
FaceTime
- Answer FaceTime calls (or Group FaceTime calls) as audio on Apple Watch
Workouts
- Autostart workout reminder
- Auto stop workout reminder
- Retroactive workout credit
- All new yoga workout
- New hiking workout
- Pace measuring while running
- Pace alerts while running
- Rolling milestones
- Cadence while running
- Oval-shaped buttons
- Challenges for friends and family
- Personalized coaching during challenges
- Improved API
Activity
- New awards tab on iPhone
- Flights climbed
- Slightly new UI (darker background)
Settings
- New Wi-Fi category
- Choose Wi-Fi network
- Wake Screen on Crown Up toggle under Wake Screen settings
- Do Not Disturb features in iOS 12 show after giving Calendar permission
- Website data section
- Clear website data
- Raise to speak toggle under Siri
- Voice Feedback for Siri on, control with silent mode, headphones only
- Control Siri volume
- Siri voice text
- Start workout reminder toggle
- Stop workout reminder toggle
- Less regulatory info
System
- Gradient and animation when opening notifications
- Grouped notifications
- Notification Instant Tuning
- Improved notifications - do more, reply in notifications, check-in, change reservations, etc.
- Notifications and Control Center are "bouncier"
- Background audio API
- Audio Controller API
- Parkinson's Research API
- Editable Control Center
- Support for Siri Shortcuts created on iOS
- (View websites on Apple Watch)
- Raise to speak Siri
- Hindi localization
Apple's watchOS 5 was revealed at WWDC18 alongside iOS 12, macOS Mojave, and tvOS 12. watchOS 5 will support all models of Apple Watch except the original "Series 0" model, which will be staying on watchOS 4.
All of Apple's latest updates are set to be released later this fall. Stay connected with AppleInsider as we delve through the releases in the weeks and months to come.