Apple Watch

Want to test out everything coming with the latest watchOS release like the new widgets UI, fresh watch faces, overhauled apps, new cycling and hiking capabilities, and more? Follow along for how to install watchOS 10 beta for free.

For Apple Watch users, this year’s watchOS 10 upgrade packs a handful of major changes with redesigned apps, widgets support, and more. In a new interview with Tom’s Guide, Apple goes in-depth on these new features with a particular focus on what the new features mean for third-party developers and their watchOS apps.

Nomad has released its latest limited edition Apple Watch Sport Band today. The new “Blaze” variant is a sharp orange hue. Follow along for a hands-on look at this new Apple Watch band and why it’s become my go-to, even over Apple’s Sport Band.

We’ve been waiting a long time for the first Apple Watch with a micro-LED screen, and it seems the wait won’t be over any time soon. The latest report says that we won’t see the new display tech until the launch of the 2026 Apple Watch Ultra.

Optimistic reports about this date back as far as 2019, when it was suggested that Apple might begin the switch from OLED to micro-LED as early as 2020 – which, of course, did not happen …

Update: The band is back in stock after being back-ordered since the Apple Watch Ultra 2 launch back in September.

Nomad recently launched a new English Tan colorway of its leather Modern Band for Apple Watch. Coming with polished, brushed hardware in silver or black, this premium yet affordable leather band works no matter what Apple Watch finish you have. Follow along for our full review.

The popular fitness tracking app and Apple Editors’ Choice award-winner SmartGym for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch is out with a big update today. The release expands its database of exercises to almost 700, there’s a new Routine Progress feature, Apple Watch gets a number of upgrades, there’s a fresh history system, and more.

In his Bloomberg Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reported today on Apple’s upcoming product roadmap. Alongside the iPhone 15 lineup this fall, customers can expect the launch of Apple Watch Series 9 and a second-generation Apple Watch Ultra.

More updates to the Mac lineup, like M3 MacBook and MacBook Pro devices, are not expected until later this year or early 2024. Notably, Gurman reports new iMacs with 24-inch screens are in the works, after skipping the M2 generation entirely, as well as a brand new iMac model with a screen larger than 30 inches (this may be the long-awaited Apple Silicon successor the iMac Pro.)

Do you think Apple will ever allow third-party Apple Watch faces? For those who are still hopeful, Apple provided a rather dissatisfying answer to the question earlier this week.

It appears that Apple may have once considered a second color option for the now-discontinued ceramic Apple Watch Edition. Meanwhile, someone has managed to turn an obsolete original Apple Watch into a fully functioning mechanical watch – and it actually looks nice!

We reported a couple of days ago that a planned new European law could force Apple to make iPhone battery replacement an easier process. The law would also apply to other tech products made by the Cupertino company – indeed, it might apply to all of them.

We noted at the time the lack of any clear definition or guidelines, and a new piece today shows just how many questions the new law could raise …

A 29-year-old Cincinnati woman named Kimmie Watkins is crediting her Apple Watch for saving her life after it helped doctors discover a life-threatening blood clot in her lungs.

Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger today published an interesting and expansive interview with Apple VPs Kevin Lynch and Deidre Caldbeck, discussing all the changes in the upcoming watchOS 10 update.

Asked about the possibility of third-party watch faces on Apple Watch, Lynch says that the watch face is the home screen of the watch and they want everything to work reliably and consistently.

As Apple controls all the faces the user can choose, Caldbeck adds that users “don’t have to worry about the watch face still working when there’s a major watchOS update. We’ll take care of that.”

Apple Watch saves lives, and it’s not just by making SOS calls and detecting heart conditions. Sometimes the Apple Watch motivates someone in just the right way to change their life through a months-long fitness journey.

The International Day of Yoga takes place on June 21 this year, and Apple is marking the occasion with a special Yoga Day Challenge for Apple Watch users.

Planet Fitness is the latest place to work out with Apple Watch and GymKit. Whether or not this was planned is another story.

Apple last week announced watchOS 10, the next major update to the Apple Watch operating system. This year, Apple completely redesigned watchOS to take advantage of the latest Apple Watch hardware. In addition, watchOS 10 brings two new watch faces: Snoopy and Palette. Read on as we take a closer look at these new Apple Watch faces.

To my knowledge, Apple has never retired a watch face. Some are hardware specific, others are redesigned, but watch faces don’t leave the Apple Watch. I think that’s why the Siri watch face still exists for now, but it will need some love to stay relevant.

Apple calls watchOS 10 a “milestone update for Apple Watch.” I’ve been running the pre-release version of the software update for a few days now, and I think that’s a fair way to characterize it. Apple didn’t throw out watchOS as we know it and go back to the drawing board with a totally different idea. Instead, watchOS 10 revisits built-in apps with a design fit for modern displays and redesigns navigation to include a new widgets system.

The biggest change to watchOS this year is probably the introduction of widgets. Glanceable data is no longer constrained by watch face customization. The addition of widgets comes with a shuffle of how you navigate around watchOS 10, and some watch faces are even affected.

watchOS 10 is just a few days away, and the update sounds like a big deal for big Apple Watch screens. A new widget overlay and apps optimized for Apple Watch Ultra? Let’s go!

Not much else has been rumored for watchOS 10, however, and that’s probably because the Apple Watch software is fairly mature now. Turns out you can knock out a lot of great features in nine years. That’s had me thinking about some rather old feature requests that have never materialized – features I really thought we’d have by now.