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Apple introduces watchOS 4 at WWDC with new Siri-powered watch face

New watch faces, activity features, a new music app, and more.

Apple introduces watchOS 4 at WWDC with new Siri-powered watch face

SAN JOSE—Apple announced the next iteration of its wearable software at its annual developers conference today: watchOS 4. One of the new features will be a Siri-powered watch face with "proactive" information that changes using Siri's intelligence. It will also include updates to the Activity and Workout apps, new integrations for the Music app, as well as minor updates to the smartwatch's UI.

New watch faces

There are a couple new watch faces available in watchOS 4, but the most in-depth one is the Siri-powered watch face. Glanceable information on the watch face isn't a new concept—plenty of Apple Watch faces include information like date, time, and calendar events. But this watch face will use Siri and your information preferences to automatically show you information directly on the watch face. You'll need to choose the information you want to receive from Siri based on time, location, and your routines. With the Siri watch face on, you can raise your wrist throughout the day to receive dynamic information, such as traffic information if you're about to leave work and sunset times in the evening.

Apple also announced a couple of fun watch faces, including a "Kaleidoscope" face that focuses more on pretty graphics rather than information. The Mickey and Minnie Mouse watch faces were some of the most popular and talked-out designs when the Apple Watch first debuted, and now they have company in Woody, Jessie, and Buzz from Toy Story, which have new watch faces in watchOS 4.

Activity updates

As Apple stated in today's keynote, the native Activity app is one of the most used apps on the Apple Watch. The company is making it a bit more personal for each user with a couple small additions. Apple is adding an "inspiration" card that will tell you how much exercise you need to complete during the day to reach your goals, as well as new animations when you do complete your activity goals and monthly challenges that you can participate in as alternative ways to get in daily exercise. These are all features many other fitness trackers have, including Fitbit devices. They may seem like small changes, but Apple obviously felt the need to add more inspirational tools into the Activity app to keep its native app fresh and competitive.

The Workout app in watchOS4 will also have some specific exercise updates as well. The Apple Watch Series 2 introduced swim tracking to the smartwatch, and according to Apple, users have been doing so many laps in the pool that they've expanded on this feature. The software update will introduce more swim training sessions as well as an auto-set feature that enables the Watch to know when you've stopped for a rest at the side of the pool and automatically count that as a set.

Users who do a lot of gym training will appreciate the new NFC feature that lets Apple Watches share information with gym equipment. If you're using a treadmill, elliptical, or other machine that can connect to an NFC-enabled device, you can pair the Apple Watch to it so you can see information like heart rate directly on the machine. This is a feature many heart rate monitoring chest straps have, but not many modern smartwatches or fitness trackers.

Apple only touched on a new multiple workouts feature, but it's worth mentioning: with watchOS 4, you can complete different exercises in the same recorded workout. Previously you could only choose one exercise, say running, to track at one time. Now you can choose different exercises to complete that will all be recorded in the same workout. This will likely be embraced by triathletes and other athletes who want to go from one workout to the next without stopping and saving over and over.

General look and feel of watchOS

In addition to new watch faces and activity features, Apple is bringing some general updates to watchOS 4. A lot of visuals are changing: the Workout app has a new light gray and neon yellow color scheme with "tap and go" icons for starting exercise tracking; the Dock will be organized vertically instead of horizontally; a new News app will come on the Watch; and the Music app has been redesigned. The changes to the Music app are not only in design, but now it's built to connect directly to the Workout app. The Music app will automatically sync tracks to your Watch depending on what you like to listen to, and you can assign playlists to workouts so they automatically start playing when you begin that workout.

These were only a few of the changes apparently coming to the Apple Watch in watchOS 4. New APIs will be available to developers, including native core Bluetooth, so they can create new apps using all the new features. Developers have access to watchOS 4 today, and Apple Watch users will receive it as a free update this fall.

Channel Ars Technica