Apple Watch

We’re starting to see more audio services take advantage of Apple’s wearable and today iHeartRadio is the latest to launch streaming support with an Apple Watch app. It also brings library syncing and more.

In the six years since the original Apple Watch was announced, Apple has already created 423 unique bands in dozens of colors and materials. Bandbreite, a new iPhone app launching today, catalogues every single Apple Watch band and helps you organize your personal collection.

Apple’s two new fastener-free Apple Watch bands have proven popular, but Solo Loop sizing seems to be problematic for many. The new liquid silicone rubber and polyester-and-silicone bands require very precise sizing to ensure that they fit snugly but comfortably.

There’s no problem if you can visit an Apple Store, as the company offers disposable sizing guides, and you can then try one on to confirm the fit. But not everyone has a nearby store, and appointments are limited, so many have had to rely on Apple’s online sizing guide, with very mixed results …

One of the headlining features of watchOS 7 is the ability to easily share Apple Watch faces. It makes it easy to share them with a friend but thinking bigger, the feature also allows them to be easily shared online with anyone. Now Apple Watch customization app Facer has been updated to support watch face sharing and it’s aiming to be your hub for discovering and sharing them as well as following friends and favorite artists with an App Store-style experience.

Update: Apple implemented this request in iOS 14.5 and watchOS 7.4.

Face ID is normally a completely seamless way to unlock an iPhone and iPad: just swipe up and it unlocks automatically. At a time when we’re frequently wearing masks, however, it’s rather less seamless.

So we’d like to see Apple allow an unlocked Apple Watch to automatically unlock an iPhone and iPad …

Apple Watch Series 6 is packed with awesome new features like a blood oxygen saturation sensor, brighter always-on display, and all the great features from Apple Watch Series 5 and earlier.

The newly released version also comes in new finishes including blue, graphite, and a new version of gold. It’s also the first Apple Watch to be offered in Product (RED), and today we’re checking out the new case color alongside Apple’s new Braided Solo Loop watch band.

In a blog post this week, Nike has announced a variety of updates to the Nike Run Club app for Apple Watch as well as the Apple Watch Nike hardware. The company says the goal of the new features is to deliver a more immersive experience for runners “before, during, and after runs.”

I took delivery of my Solo Loop Apple Watch band this morning, and first impressions are good.

I wasn’t tempted to swap my Series 4 for a shiny new Apple Watch Series 6 for reasons explained earlier, but I did like the look of the Solo band for a couple of reasons …

Apple could be forced to allow third-party payment apps to access the NFC chip in the iPhone and Apple Watch without having to use Apple Pay. The European Union is considering new antitrust legislation in response to complaints by banks that Apple’s restrictions on access to the chip are anticompetitive.

Germany has already passed a law which would require this …

After almost two years since the debut of the Spotify Apple Watch app, the service is finally testing streaming support with what looks like a random selection of users.

Apple Watch faces are highly customizable compared to watches that came before it. There’s still room for opportunity for a watch as smart as the iPhone, however, and that’s what David Smith’s cleverly titled Watchsmith app wants to prove.

Watchsmith lets you create dynamic Apple Watch complications that change throughout the day. Want a complication to check the weather in the morning, show your work calendar during your 9 to 5, and show your activity data before bed?

Watchsmith can do that all with a single complication, potentially freeing up slots for other complications.

Subscribe to 9to5Mac’s Watch Time podcast to hear an in-depth interview with Watchsmith developer David Smith later today: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast.

Some might argue that the most notable aspect of yesterday’s Apple event was the fact that the company didn’t announce the iPhone 12, or even make any reference to the new phones it will launch next month.

That, however, wasn’t a surprise: all the signs had pointed to that. Instead, what we got was a pretty solid event. What it lacked in excitement (except for developers), it made up for in good news for consumers …

There weren’t too many surprises in yesterday’s event, but there was one big one – and it was one which left developers frustrated. Apple gave just one day’s notice of the official rollout of iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and watchOS 7. This contrasts with the usual week or so developers get to prepare.

Not only did this leave them scrabbling to get updated versions of their apps completed, but some said that Apple’s developer tools were also not ready for the launch …

Alongside the announcements of Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, Apple has started accepting trade-ins for Apple Watch Series 5. The previous-gen hardware is worth up to $240 for a direct trade-in when upgrading to a new Apple Watch.

Apple today introduced the new Apple Watch SE. The new Apple Watch SE has the same design as the Apple Watch Series 4 and later, but it comes with the S5 chip, built-in compass, and watchOS 7 preinstalled.

We don’t have long to wait now before we find out exactly what Apple will announce today. An Apple Watch SE is one of the expected new products, alongside the Apple Watch Series 6. If rumors about the differences between the two are true, the new low-cost model could become the new default choice.

The headline feature of the Series 6 is expected to be an oxygen saturation reader – and it appears that this may be the main distinguishing feature over the Apple Watch SE expected to be launched alongside it …

GymKit for Apple Watch is brand new technology that will hopefully one day be in all gyms and personal fitness equipment, but for now you need to know where to look to find it. The good news is there are several models of workout machines that work with GymKit today, but you may want to seek out a fitness club with the right equipment for now.

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In addition to what to expect from Apple this year, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also outlined what could be on the table for Apple in 2021. The analyst speculates that a “significant form factor design change” could come to the Apple Watch as early as the second half of next year.

Retailers are preparing for the release of new Apple products this fall by leaving placeholder spaces available in their weekly advertisements. This week, Target mistakenly published its weekly advertisement containing placeholder references to the impending Apple Watch Series 6. The ad also leaves space for a “new” iPhone release, though that is not actually expected this week.