Top Apple Watch features in watchOS 2 (Video)

Along with the announcement and beta release of iOS 9 at WWDC 2015, Apple has unveiled watchOS 2.0. This software is currently in beta, but brings along some cool changes you should know about. Check out our watchOS 2 feature video to find out if these changes make your Apple Watch experience better…

First up, there are 3 new watch faces available here. They aren’t very complex or anything, but each bring more customization to the table. The first new watch face presents a time-lapse of 5 different cities which can be customized in the watch face’s settings. Nothing special, but they look nice either way.

There’s also a new Photo Album face which will display random pictures each time you look at the watch from an album synced to Apple Watch and finally, we have a single “Photo” watch face. This is my favorite because it basically allows you to customize your own watch face background with anything available in your photos. Select a picture, customize the size, and create a new watch face.

Next up, we have nightstand mode which will present a pleasant clock while your Apple Watch is charging and laying on its side. Unfortunately if you use a dock, depending on the model, it may not allow for this charging orientation, but it’s a nice little feature to have. You can even use the Digital Crown and side button to control the snooze and off functionality for your set alarms.

Check out our top watchOS 2.0 features video below:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_Z_d7AU2u8]

With watchOS 2.0, we can also finally add friends directly from the Friends screen. Just tap on the circular plus sign and select one of your contacts. It just makes sense to have this feature so I’m glad Apple has finally decided to implement it with this beta release.

Speaking of friends, if you use any Digital Touch features with your contacts, you’ll be happy to know that Apple has added support for multiple colors in drawings. If you start a Digital Touch drawing, all you’ll need to do is tap on the color selector, choose a new color, and resume your masterpiece.

Time Travel is a new feature that allows you to twist the digital crown, speed up the clock and reveal calendar events and other details planned throughout the day in real-time. It’s definitely much easier than launching the calendar app to find this information and should save you a minute or two when checking schedules.

FaceTime Audio is also available for Apple Watch with this upcoming release. This will provide better quality audio in some situations and rings through to Apple Watch just like a regular phone call. This probably should have been available at launch, but better late than never.

Another feature late to the party is being able to reply to emails from Apple Watch. Prior to watchOS 2.0 you could only read the emails, but now we’re presented with the same voice dictation or quick reply options found with text messages. Unfortunately, you’ll need to be using the default Mail app to take advantage of this at the moment.

There’s not much being added with watchOS 2.0, but these features are definitely important and may impact the way you use Apple’s wearable. Which feature is your favorite? Be sure to check out the above video for a closer look at all of these new Apple Watch features in action.