In the decade since the release of the original, the best Apple Watches have come a long way. Starting out as what was positioned as a fashionable piece of technology, they are now considered an excellent health and fitness device.
There’s a lot of talk about the Apple Watch With significant changes coming in 2023 with watchOS 10, including a completely different way of communicating and using Apple Watch, is watchOS 11 likely to take a back seat this year, with a smaller update?
We discuss everything we’ve heard about watchOS 11 so far, including what features we can expect and when it’s likely to be released, as well as the features we’d like to see.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next major software release for Apple Watch
- When is it out? Probably September
- Which Apple Watches are supported? Probably Series 5 and newer
watchOS 11: Rumored release date
Apple typically announces at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) what features the next major software releases will offer. The conference usually takes place in early June, with the main keynote taking place on Monday.
This keynote is often where Apple details what’s coming later that year in watchOS, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Apple hasn’t announced dates for WWDC 24 yet (usually announced around March), but based on previous patterns, we expect the conference to kick off on June 3 or June 10.
Public and developer betas are usually released about a month later in July, followed by the final version of the software in September, when the new Apple Watch models and iPhone models are unveiled.
Again, the September announcement date is still unknown, but this is usually the first or second week of September, with the software being made available to compatible devices the week after the announcement. That means we could see watchOS 11 arrive on supported Apple Watch models as early as September 9.
watchOS 11: News and leaks
The rumors and leaks surrounding watchOS 11 have been minimal so far, but it’s still quite early so that’s not a huge surprise. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman too reported In late 2023, work on watchOS 11 and the other major software builds was briefly postponed, which could explain the lack of news so far.
That said, there is talk of Apple building a Large Language Model into iOS 18, which would make Siri more useful and help Apple’s assistant keep up with developments in artificial intelligence and take on features that some of its competitors offer. If true, we expect some of that to trickle down to Siri on watchOS 11 as well, which will likely lead to Apple’s smartwatch being better able to interact with information and apps with less input from users.
Apple has also confirmed RCS support, which is expected to come with iOS 18 – although that element isn’t confirmed, as Apple isn’t saying until late 2024. If RCS support comes to the iPhone in September (aside from no more green bubbles around your messages) it probably also means it’s coming to Apple Watch with watchOS 11.
In terms of compatibility, there are currently no leaks indicating which Apple Watch models will lose support, but an educated guess would indicate that the Apple Watch Series 4 will be on the chopping block, while the Series 5 and newer will receive the new software will support. We’ll update this feature as more news about watchOS 11 emerges, as well as any rumors about supported models.
watchOS 11: what we want to see
There are few rumors about watchOS 11 for now, but there are a few things we’d really like to see when the next big software for Apple Watch arrives.
1. A repair ring
When the Apple Watch was announced in 2014, the three activity rings played a key role in the interface and what the smartwatch was about – and they still do. The Move Ring, Exercise Ring, and Stand Ring are the benchmark by which Apple Watch determines how well you’ve done in terms of daily activity goals. You can now customize all three to suit your preferences, but otherwise the basic precedent remains the same as it was ten years ago.
We would like to introduce a fourth ring with watchOS 11: Recovery or Rest. This could automatically replace the training ring for the days when Apple Watch has analyzed all the collected data and, for example, decided that you need a rest day. Or maybe it could be an extra ring that is filled during the week based on your activity and sleep. Once full, Apple will grant you a rest day by blocking the training ring and allowing the user to choose to accept or decline that rest day.
2. Steps as complication or goal
We remember when the 10,000 steps per day statistic was launched as a good starting point for those who wanted to keep fit through walking. While the scientific evidence on whether 10,000 steps is enough or not enough is a bit sparse, it’s still a metric that a lot of people use and that Apple Watch doesn’t emphasize particularly well at the moment.
If you’re someone who wants to make sure you’re getting 10,000 steps a day in addition to completing your Move and Exercise Rings, you’ll need to open the Activity app on your Apple Watch and scroll down four screens until you get your daily step count discovered. Pressing the Digital Crown once on that page will immediately bring up the steps screen the next time you open the Activity app – a handy tip for anyone who didn’t know that – but we’d like to see more steps accessible with watchOS 11.
It’s never been a metric that Apple has focused on, but the ability to add steps as a complication on Watch Faces without downloading a third-party app, or setting the training ring as a step goal instead of minutes of activity would be great .
3. More detailed sleep tracking
Apple has improved sleep tracking on Apple Watch with watchOS 9, but while it’s now possible to see sleep stages and various data like resting heart rate and breathing rate, Apple Watch still lags a bit behind the likes of Fitbit and Whoop when it comes to sleep tracking.
We’d like to see watchOS 11 use the sleep data collected by Apple Watch to give you a more holistic view of your overall fitness and provide more insight into whether you might need to take a rest and recovery day, or if you’re feeling well. must feel. -top and ready to go in terms of exercise. Something similar to, say, Garmin’s Body Battery or Fitbit’s Daily Readiness Score would be one of our top requests for watchOS 11. This obviously stems from our previous Recovery Ring request.
4. Flexibility on watch faces
With every major software release for Apple Watch, we get a bunch of new Watch Faces. For watchOS 10, this included Snoopy, which was without a doubt one of the best features of the new software. It was added next to Palette, which was also nice, but it wasn’t Snoopy and Woodstock.
For watchOS 11, we would like to see third-party Watch Faces, but we are aware that this is highly unlikely. Therefore, we would instead ask for a little more flexibility with the Watch Faces that already exist. For example, we would like to add a complication to Snoopy, or have Apple Watch suggest some useful complications based on our usage habits and which apps we have on our Apple Watch for Watch Faces that do have the complication capabilities.
5. Programmable side button
Just as third-party Watch Faces are unlikely, Apple is also making the side button on Apple Watch programmable, especially since it recently changed to launch Control Center with watchOS 10. Still, we can dream. The Watch Ultra and Watch Ultra 2 both have the additional programmable action button, but the standard Apple Watch Series models do not have this as a feature.
Being able to quickly launch a workout or another app with one press of the side button would be very welcome with watchOS 11. That would of course mean moving the Control Center: currently you swipe from left to right or from right to left of the Apple Watch’s home screen has no feature, so the Control Center could definitely move there.
We could still launch Apple Pay with a double press of the side button, but we would really like the ability to program a single press. Please, Apple?