The Apple Watch has been on the market for less than two months but Apple is already talking about watchOS 2 and revealed some of the new features at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Held in San Francisco, WWDC is a chance for developers to find out about the latest Apple operating systems for the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.
And now the Apple Watch is the latest device developers will be supporting.
The original Apple Watch operating was a great starting point but the new watchOS 2 will unleash a new wave of features and capabilities.
This new software will pave the way for new communications options along with faster and more powerful apps.
Here are the new features of the watchOS 2:
NEW WATCH FACES
Users will have access to new watch faces and have the ability to create custom faces.
There will be a selection of time lapse videos shot over 24 hours in iconic cities like New York, London, Hong Kong and Shanghai that can be used as watch faces.
You can also use your own photos to create a watch face either as a single image or a different image each time you raise your wrist to look at the time.
NATIVE APPS
With watchOS 2 there will be the ability to create apps that run entirely on the Apple Watch so they can load faster and offer more features and capabilities.
The latest WatchKit will now give developers access to hardware features like the Digital Crown, the Taptic Engine, the heart rate sensor and the accelerometer.
For example, the Ping app will use the accelerometer to measure the speed and tempo of your golf swing while Insteon lets users control their house lights with the Digital Crown.
NEW COMPLICATIONS
Users will be able to choose new complications – the watch term for additional information – for their watch faces from the latest native apps.
These can include flight information and sport scores.
TIME TRAVEL
Time Travel is a new feature that lets you rotate the Digital Crown to move forward in time to see what your day will look like in the hours or days ahead.
You can see what events or appointments you have, what the time will be in other cities and also see what the weather will be like at that time.
To get back to the current time – simply press the Digital Crown again.
NIGHTSTAND MODE
When the Apple Watch is charging in watchOS 2 there will be a new Nightstand Mode that can display the time and also turn the device into an alarm clock.
And because it’s resting on its side, the Digital Crown and Contacts button will be your snooze and off buttons for the alarm.
SIRI
Siri will also be improved on watchOS 2 and will be a more useful personal assistant.
Now you can use your voice for more than just replying to messages. You can ask to check your Glances, get maps and public transport information and issue commands.
You can already read your emails on your wrist with Apple Watch but the new software will make it possible to reply to emails as well.
Simply hit reply at the end of the email and you can dictate a response with Siri, send an emoji or choose one of the preset replies.
MORE FRIENDS
The Contact button below the digital crown takes you into your 12 favourite contacts now but everyone has more than a dozen friends they’d like to access from the Apple Watch.
The new watch OS 2 will allow users to add even more and create multiple groups of friends which can be contacted through the device.
