Apple Watch

Apple is rolling out the sixth watchOS 3.2 beta for developer testing on Apple Watch. watchOS 3.2 beta includes Theater Mode which disables raise-to-wake and mutes alerts.

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Up until now if you experienced problems with the software on your Apple Watch and the standard OTA method didn’t work, you were forced to visit an Apple Store to resolve the issue. In fact, I have a first-gen Apple Watch sitting on my shelf right now that I’ve not used for the past six months because I haven’t bothered to schedule an appointment at the Genius Bar.

The folks over at MFC claim to have a limited solution to this problem: the iBus Data Cable — a small little dongle that attaches to the maintenance port nestled inside the band reservoir on the Apple Watch. Many Apple Watch users probably have no inkling that such a port exists, but the team at MFC have engineered a dongle to take advantage of the I/O provided by this port to facilitate watchOS restores.
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We’d likely already see invites issued if Apple was planning to hold a major event in March, although that doesn’t rule out a spring event sometime next month yet. A new rumor today, however, suggests Apple could release new hardware as early as next week which would presumably happen without an event.

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Apple is rolling out the fifth watchOS 3.2 beta for developer testing on Apple Watch. watchOS 3.2 beta includes Theater Mode which disables raise-to-wake and mutes alerts.

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As we reported exclusively last night, Apple Pay is now live in Ireland. The service allows iPhone and Apple Watch owners to use the NFC chips in their devices to pay for their shopping at contactless terminals in retail stores across the country.

Apple Pay requires iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, or any Apple Watch, and is launching with support for Ulster Bank and KBC in Ireland. Apple has also announced that the service is coming soon to Italy.

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A common Apple Watch question people ask me is when will Apple add built-in sleep tracking capabilities. My answer is always ‘soon I hope’, and watchOS 4 seems like the next opportunity to introduce it. But there are already third-party apps that let you try it now. The problem for me is finding the right time to recharge my Apple Watch when I wear it overnight.

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IDC today released its latest numbers on the worldwide wearable market for 2016— including both smartwatches that run apps and more basic fitness and health trackers— highlighting gains during the fourth quarter for Apple, Xiaomi, and others at the expense of market leader Fitbit.

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Apple is rolling out the fourth watchOS 3.2 beta for developer testing on Apple Watch. watchOS 3.2 beta includes Theater Mode which disables raise-to-wake and mutes alerts.

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Apple has a mixed history of holding a special event in the spring to announce new products, and this year there are certainly enough updates in the pipeline to warrant one. While nothing is official until Apple makes the announcement, this is everything we know so far about Apple’s spring event.

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A new supplier report out of Asia includes two details that may tell us a little more about the third generation Apple Watch rumored for release later this year. Digitimes points to industry sources in claiming the Apple Watch Series 3 will use a different display technology with shipments starting in the second half of this year.

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Apple is rolling out the third watchOS 3.2 beta for developer testing on Apple Watch. watchOS 3.2 beta includes Theater Mode which disables raise-to-wake and mutes alerts.

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If there’s one thing worse than damaging your iPhone or iPad by dropping it, it’s when that damage is a cracked screen. While you might be able to ignore a scuff to the casing, you’re going to see cracks in the screen every time you use the device.

Apple appears to be aiming to make screens more resistant to cracking by exploring a method of automatically detecting cracks, asking users to confirm them and then sending diagnostic data to the company to help it understand the type of impacts that cause them …

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Sleep tracking has been one the most oft-requested features for Apple Watch, but Apple itself has yet to implement a solution. That hasn’t stopped developers from creating their own watchOS apps for doing it, though.

One of the more popular apps for sleep tracking with Apple Watch is called AutoSleep….

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Apple Watch Series 1 and Series 2 both address a major flaw of the first-generation model with significant speed improvements, and all Apple Watches benefit from a performance boost and a simpler interface with watchOS 3. So what’s next for Apple Watch and watchOS this year? Let’s take a look at some of the next opportunities for Apple Watch (and a few rumors) that may tell us what Apple could be planning.

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Apple doesn’t break out its Apple Watch numbers when it reports device sales and revenue each quarter, but it did say during the fiscal Q1 earnings call the wearable hit record numbers for both units and revenue during the important holiday period. The latest report from research firm Canalys today puts estimates of Apple Watch sales at around 6 million units and $2.6 billion in revenue. This would mean the company took almost 80% of total revenue for the smartwatch market last quarter, according to the report’s estimates. It would also represent around 12% year-over-year growth for Apple Watch sales:

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If you’re a Spotify Premium user with an Apple Watch, you’re well aware of a big glaring omission as far as watchOS apps are concerned. Indeed, we’re approaching two years since the Apple Watch arrived in stores, and there’s still no official Spotify app for watchOS.

Developer and second year undergrad CS student, Andrew Chang, is aiming to lessen the void when he releases Spotty — a currently-in-beta, free third-party app that will allow Spotify Premium users to sync playlists and albums for offline playback.

That’s right; the app’s offline mode lends users the option of leaving their iPhones at home or in the car while engaged in Spotify-powered music workouts.

Spotty is a super-impressive app that works with all models of Apple Watch. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough as I take the app for a test drive.
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Apple is rolling out the second watchOS 3.2 beta for developer testing on Apple Watch. watchOS 3.2 beta includes Theater Mode which disables raise-to-wake and mutes alerts.

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Earlier today, we reported that Jawbone was exiting the consumer hardware market in favor of selling health products and services directly to businesses. Furthermore, 9to5Toys shared an Apple Watch deal today that pushed the price of a Series 1 model down to $199.99.

With Apple Watch prices continuing to fall and Jawbone exiting the consumer hardware market, is there still a market for dedicated sport bands like the Fitbit?

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In this week’s top stories: We go hands-on with the new Theater Mode on Apple Watch, we break down LG’s UltraFine 5K display woes, Tim Cook speaks out on Trump’s immigration ban, Apple’s Q1 earnings report, and much more.

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With multi-day battery life on the wish-list of many Apple Watch owners, it’s not surprising that Apple is at least considering making a battery band available which could potentially allow the wearable to go many days between charges. This would be of particular value to those who want to use the Watch for sleep-tracking in addition to its usual duties during the day.

The company was recently granted a patent for a multi-function band that could include power, and AI has spotted a new patent application – filed back in 2015 but only published today – which deals specifically with power …

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