At WWDC 2024, Apple unveiled watchOS 11, the most recent iteration of its wristwatch platform. It will be available for developers to play with as early as today, and sometime in the following month, a public beta will be released. A final public release is anticipated this autumn, along with the new Apple Watches, much like in previous years.

Every watchOS release adds new health features, as usual. Athletes are receiving something called training load this year, which accounts for the length and intensity of exercises during the previous 28 days. Additionally, you can rate your exercises on a scale of one to ten using an “effort rating.” Popular cardio exercises will have an effort grade that is automatically produced based on metrics gathered from the workout as well as your personal information. You’ll be able to see how your 28-day load and your seven-day training load compare, much like with other fitness platforms. The goal is to increase your understanding of whether you should accelerate, decelerate, or maintain your current pace

The news that becoming unwell or hurt won’t end streaks will also please those who have been begging for rest days on the Apple Watch. More specifically, your activity rings now allow you to pause. Additionally, you’ll be able to modify your activity ring objectives according to the day of the week. You can therefore reduce your target if you know you won’t be able to fit in an exercise on Thursdays.

The fitness app is receiving a more configurable Summary tab, much like the iOS 18 improvements. The metrics that most interest you in widgets, include new ones for running, hiking, swimming, and mindfulness.

Additionally, GPS routes for additional workouts including soccer, American football, Australian football, outdoor hockey, lacrosse, golf, snowboarding, skiing, and outdoor rowing will be included in the Workout app. Additionally, even when your phone is not with you, you will be able to monitor turn-by-turn navigation in the Maps app directly from the Apple Watch and build personalized pool exercises.

A new Vitals app will also be available, providing you with a quick overview of health metrics related to your sleep, including blood oxygen levels, heart rate, breathing rate, wrist temperature, and length of sleep. (Well, on those Apple Watches that still have blood oxygen support, anyway.) The app will alert users when two or more metrics deviate from the expected range and provide further context regarding possible causes (e.g., illness, excessive alcohol consumption during an event, etc.).

An upgrade to Cycle Tracking will also enable pregnant users to record their symptoms and display their gestational age. Other reminders and alerts that will be added to the Health app include monthly mental health exams and messages about walking stability during the third trimester in the event that an elevated fall risk is identified.

The Apple Watch will support Live Activities starting with watchOS 11. Additionally, new safety measures will allow your pals to track you if you go for late-night runs. This will happen automatically during exercises. The safety features that were added to the Pixel Watch 2 last year are comparable to this.

The Smart Stack, which Apple debuted with watchOS 10 last year, will also be influenced by Live Activities. For instance, seat information may appear in the widget stack if you have a concert ticket in the Wallet app. Additionally, based on your needs, the Smart Stack will more smartly shuffle pertinent widgets. When you travel to a place where the native language is different from the one on your Apple Watch, the new Translation app will launch instantly. In the event that a thunderstorm is approaching your location, the weather widget may appear. More widgets, such as those from Shazam, Photos, and Distance, will also be available.

A few new tricks will also be added to Double Tap, which was released the previous year. Its primary function is to allow you to navigate through compatible apps, including Weather, Calendar, and Messages. Additionally, developers will have access to the double tap, Live Activities, and Smart Stack APIs; perhaps in the future, these features and the smart stack will work better with third-party apps.

This year, there weren’t as many new watch faces as expected. Rather, Apple showcased a completely revamped Photos watch face. The updated Photos face now makes suggestions based on your library’s visual styles, compositions, and facial emotions through machine learning. Additional customization choices will also be available for typefaces, layouts, and time sizes.

While you may view Apple Intelligence reports forwarded from the iPhone, watchOS 11 didn’t really include any AI-focused enhancements. (Although they must be the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max at the very least.)

The 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch comes this year, and there have been rumors that Apple would lavish more money on a limited-edition “X” model, similar to what it did with the iPhone. Nevertheless, software updates don’t always portend upcoming hardware modifications. For example, Apple touted watchOS 10 from the previous year as a “milestone” update after redesigning the user interface to put a greater emphasis on widgets, even though the update had minimal impact on the Series 9’s hardware.

For Apple Watch Series 6 or later, watchOS 11 will be available. It’s a little unexpected to see support for the Series 5 and first-generation SE eliminated as well, even though speculations before WWDC suggested that watchOS 11 might discontinue support for the Series 4.

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