WWDC 2022: Apple’s watchOS 9 brings in a host of health features, including better sleep tracking

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) saw the company introduce the watchOS 9 to the world. The new software that will be rolling out in beta for developers first, brings in features like sleep stage tracking and AFib (atrial fibrillation) history tracking to the Apple Watch. Another cool thing coming to the iPhone, but tied to Apple Watch and health in general, is the Apple Fitness app will soon be usable from the iPhone and users don’t need to have the Apple Watch for it.

Along with this, Apple is also introducing new watch faces, dogs and cats portrait faces, expanded keyboard language support, kickboard detection, background colour editor for watch faces, a new Medications app, heartrate zones, cardio recovery, running form metrics, customised and multisport workouts, and home keys for kids with Family setup.

Out of all these, the AFib history is one of the most helpful as it will provide you with more details of when AFib is detected. This can help people manage their health better and prevent complications like the risk of getting a stroke.

“Users around the world love Apple Watch for helping them stay connected to those they love, be more active throughout the day, and better manage their health. This fall, watchOS 9 takes the Apple Watch experience to the next level with scientifically validated insights across fitness, sleep, and heart health, while providing users more creative ways to make their Apple Watch their own,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.

Sleep tracking on the Apple Watch will soon give you details like how long you were in REM or sleeping lightly. The main focus is to figure out the quality of sleep so that you can work to fix your sleep cycle accordingly. There is still no automatic sleep detection though. There are also additional metrics coming in like heart rate, respiratory rate, sleep comparison charts, etc. in the Health app on the iPhone.

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