Apple unveiled WatchOS 2.0 back at WWDC 2015 in early June. After a few beta releases, today is the day that the general release version will be available as a free download to all Apple Watch owners.
As befits a major upgrade, WatchOS 2.0 brings a raft of new features, enhancements and bug fixes. The highlight is probably the fact that apps will now run natively on the Apple Watch. Here is a reminder of what else is new:
- The ability to turn photos into watch faces or view pictures from photo albums with the new Photo and Photo Album watch faces
- Time-Lapse watch face that offers a selection of time-lapse videos shot in iconic locations including New York City, London or Shanghai
- Time Travel feature which lets you use the Digital Crown to scroll forward or backward through meetings, temperature forecasts and information from third-party apps
- Multiple Friends screens, each supporting up to 12 friends
- Colour support added to Digital Touch
- Nightstand Mode with sideways-oriented alarm clock (and Digital Crown working as the snooze)
- Support for merchant rewards and store-issued credit and debit cards with Apple Pay
- Support for transit in Maps, including walking directions to the nearest stations with entrances and exits (Toronto is the only Canadian city initially included)
- Ability to use Siri to start specific workouts, launch Glances and reply to email
- Activation Lock to secure Apple Watch with Apple ID
- New developer tools:
- Access to Digital Crown, Taptic Engine, heart rate sensor, accelerometer and microphone
- New software APIs to enable audio and video playback
- Support for third party complications with ClockKit framework
Installing WatchOS 2.0 on your Apple Watch is straightforward:
- Before you upgrade to WatchOS 2.0, you may want to upgrade your iPhone to iOS 9 to ensure you can use all of the new features.
- Make sure your Apple Watch is charged. You don’t want it to run out of power mid-way through the upgrade.
- Open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone.
- Select General and check software update.
- Download any outstanding updates (the latest is WatchOS 1.0.1). If the WatchOS 2.0 update is not available to you yet, try Step 4 again a few hours from now (Patience may be required).
- To install WatchOS 2.0, you will need your password. Needless to say, you will also need to agree to the Terms and Conditions.
- All done! You’re all set to enjoy the new features of WatchOS 2.0.
Let us know below how your Apple Watch upgrade to WatchOS 2.0 went.
Update: Apple has delayed the release of watchOS 2.0 due to an unspecified bug that it has not been able to fix yet. According to a short statement: “We have discovered a bug in development of watchOS 2 that is taking a bit longer to fix than we expected. We will not release watchOS 2 today but will shortly.”
Today’s iOS 9 release is not affected and remains on track for today.