Cupertino giant Apple has given the first glimpse of what the watchOS 8 would be like. The new update for the most popular smartwatch -- Apple Watch -- will make it more essential for users to stay healthy, active, and connected.
"Apple Watch is the most loved watch in the world, keeping users healthy, active, and connected," said Kevin Lynch, Apple's vice president of technology. "With watchOS 8, we're bringing more convenient access to places users live, work, and visit with significant updates to Home and Wallet, expanding support for both physical and mental well-being, and enabling richer personal connections with the new Portraits face and updates to Messages," said Lynch.
Focusing on fitness, watchOS 8 introduces two new popular workout types that are beneficial for both physical fitness and mindful movement: Tai Chi and Pilates. With people reconsidering the importance of finding small moments in their day to be more mindful, the Breathe app will become the Mindfulness app. It will feature an enhanced Breathe experience, plus a new session type, Reflect. Reflect will offer a mindful intention to focus on for as little as one minute that can be done anywhere and at any time.
watchOS 8 will give users more insight into their overall wellness by tracking sleeping respiratory rate, which is the number of breaths per minute. Apple Watch will use the built-in accelerometer to measure respiratory rate while sleeping, and this information can be viewed, along with trends over time, in the Health app.
It also introduces a new way to view and engage with users' favourite photos right from their wrist. Communicating on Apple Watch will be easier with new tools in Messages. Users will be able to combine the use of Scribble, dictation, and emoji all within the same message, and for dictated messages, they have the option to edit the presented text. watchOS 8 will also bring the Contacts app to Apple Watch, providing a simple way for users to browse, add, and edit
The final release of Apple watchOS 8 is scheduled for later this year.
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