What you need to know
- Apple is hosting its WWDC 2022 keynote right now.
- The company just unveiled watchOS 9.
- watchOS 9 will bring major updates to Apple Watch.
Apple has just unveiled the latest version of watchOS, watchOS 9, at WWDC 2022.
The latest version of watchOS will be a big upgrade to devices like Apple's best Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Series 7, and future models when it comes out later this year.
watchOS 9 features four new watch faces: Astronomy, Lunar, Playtime, and Metropolitan.
It has a new Active Apps feature that you can pin to the top of your dock, and improvements to the Podcast app that lets you search and listen to podcasts on your watch, a feature also available to kids through family sharing.
There's also a new Watch share sheet and a photo picker API for easier image sharing.
Significant improvements to workout tracking include three new running form metrics and improvements to the gyroscope and accelerometer data.
Apple's workouts now have heart rate zones so you can see how hard you're exercising, as well as new haptic and voice feedback for work and recovery zones.
You can also set how hard you want to work out and when you want to enter a recovery zone.
One major update means that the new Fitness app will be available to everyone in iOS 16, so you don't need an Apple Watch to track your fitness.
The Sleep app will now have Sleep Stages, a feature that uses signals from your watch's accelerometer to figure out what sleep stage you're in, and how long you've spent in each stage.
Apple has also added a new Atrial Fibrillation history feature that shows your previous heart rate readings in case your heart is behaving irregularly.
A new watchOS 9 feature will also let users track and manage medication, including logging meds taken and scheduling reminders, as well as checks for prescription medications that prevent mixups and drugs from interfering with each other.
You can read everything you need to know about watchOS 9 here.
There's always Amazon
Bigger, brighter, slightly better
You can buy the Apple Watch from Amazon if you prefer. Just remember you may be limited to only certain band combinations and models on Amazon. Plus, it's possible they will have less stock than buying from Apple directly.
