WatchOS

watchOS

Logo of watchOS 2
File:WatchOS2applewatch.png watchOS 2 home screen
Developer	Apple Inc.
Written in	C, C++, Objective-C, Swift
OS family	Unix-like, iOS
Working state	Current
Source model	Closed, with open source components
Initial release	April 24, 2015 (2015-04-24)
Latest release	2.2.1 (13V420) / May 16, 2016 (2016-05-16)
Latest preview	2.2.2 Beta 1 (13V601) / June 6, 2016 (2016-06-06)
Marketing target	Smartwatches
Update method	OTA via iPhone 5 and later running iOS 8.2 or later
Platforms	32-bit ARM architecture: ARMv7-A
License	Proprietary software except for open-source components
Official website	www.apple.com/watch
Support status
Supported

watchOS is the mobile operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc. It is based on the iOS operating system and has many features similar to those of iOS. It was first released on April 24, 2015, alongside the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch is currently the only device that runs watchOS. The API is called WatchKit.

At WWDC 2015, watchOS 2 was previewed publicly for the first time and included major improvements such as support for native third-party apps. It was officially released on September 21, 2015, although it was originally scheduled to be released on September 16, 2015 but was delayed due to a bug fix taking longer than expected.

UI overview

The home screen (rendered by and also known as "Carousel") is composed of circular application icons, which can be zoomed in and out with the Digital Crown.

Glances provide fast access to a summarized view of the most popular native or third party applications used on Apple Watch. The glance view is opened with a swipe up gesture from the watch face screen.

Navigation between glances is achieved by swiping left or right.

Different actions are executed depending on the force with which the user executes a tap, which Watch detects with a special mechanism.

Version history: Apple Watch

Legend:   Obsolete   Discontinued   Current   Beta

watchOS 1.x

Table of versions: watchOS 1.x - Apple Watch
watchOS version	iOS version based on	Build	Release date	Features
1.0	8.2	12S507	April 24, 2015 (2015-04-24)	Initial release on Apple Watch. UI Free floating Circular app icons in home screen. Zoom in with Digital Crown. 9 watch faces: Chronograph Color Modular Utility Mickey Mouse Simple, Motion Solar Astronomy 20 stock apps: Activity. Alarm. Calendar. Camera Remote. Mail. Maps. Messages. Music. Passbook. Phone. Photos. Remote. Settings. Siri. Stocks. Stopwatch. Timer. Weather. Workout. World Clock.
1.0.1	8.3	12S632	May 19, 2015 (2015-05-19)	Display support for new Emoji characters. Notification screen UI tweaks. Improved performance: Free floating Circular app icons in home screen. Zoom in with Digital Crown. Siri. Measuring stand activity. Calculating calories for indoor cycling and rowing workouts. Distance and pace during outdoor walk and run. Accessibility. Third party apps. Wrist Raise (more sensitive to real-life wrist raises). Additional language support: Brazilian Portuguese. Danish. Dutch. Swedish. Russian. Thai. Turkish. Security fixes

watchOS 2.x

Table of versions: watchOS 2.x - Apple Watch
watchOS version	iOS version based on	Build	Release date	Features
2.0	9.0	13S344	September 21, 2015 (2015-09-21)	Nightstand Mode Allows the Apple Watch to act as a nightstand/alarm clock when the watch is charging at night and is turned horizontally while being placed on a table or other surface. Users can look at the time just by tapping the Digital Crown. When an alarm comes in, the Digital Crown can be used to snooze the alarm and the side button can be used to dismiss it. New Watch Faces and timekeeping features New 24 Hour Time-Lapse videos of Hong Kong, London, Mack Lake, New York, Shanghai, and Paris. These watch faces allow users to set the backgrounds of different cities as the user's watch face. As the day moves on, the watch face represents a different time of day in the city. For example, if it is nighttime, the watch will show a skyline of the city at night. Users can also set a particular photo or their entire photo gallery as the watch face, including support for Live Photos. Time Travel A new mode called Time Travel is available in which a user can use the digital crown to scroll forward/backward in time. This allows the user to see upcoming or past calendar events and alarms they have set. 9 new colors to customize watch face, and a new multicolor Modular face. Third party complications. Complications will be available from third-party developers which allow users to do things such as check flight status or charging level of electric cars Siri improvements Start a specific workout, get transit directions, ask to see a glance, looking up a word in the dictionary, and calculating a tip. Support for FaceTime audio calling and replying to email Support for HomeKit to control supported devices in your home using Siri New support for Austria, Belgium (French and Dutch), and Norway Activity and Workout improvements Workouts from third party apps on the Watch can be included in your Activity rings Activity rings, workouts, and achievements can be shared from the Activity app on iPhone Interactive achievements On-demand weekly summary Mute Activity notifications for one day Workouts saved automatically Apple Pay and Wallet improvements Support for Discover cards Support for rewards cards and store credit and debit cards Add passes to Wallet directly from third party apps on your Watch Wallet app replaces Passbook. Adds support in the UK. Friends and Digital Touch improvements Add more than 12 Friends directly from Apple Watch Multiple Friends' groups that you can name Send sketches using multiple colors. While drawing, a user can select from 7 different colors. New options for animated emoji Maps improvements Transit view, showing transit lines, stations and intermodal connections in select major cities View the list of directions for your current View station placards with departure information Music improvements New Beats 1 button to start playing the 24/7 radio station New Quick Play button to play a variety of songs from Apple Music Other improvements Reply to emails using dictation, emoji, or smart replies customized specifically for email Make and receive calls using FaceTime audio Support for Wi-Fi calling without iPhone in proximity on participating carriers Activation Lock prevents anyone from activating your Apple Watch without your Apple ID and password New developer capabilities including Native SDK to build faster and more powerful apps running natively on Apple Watch Access to accelerometer to more granularly track your motion Access to heart rate sensor for use during a workout Access to microphone and speaker to record and play audio Access to the Taptic Engine with 8 different types of Haptic feedback Access to the Digital Crown for more precise controls Ability to play video directly on Apple Watch Support for running apps without iPhone in proximity, including access to networking capabilities when connected to known Wi-Fi networks Complications on the watch face Workouts from apps can be counted towards Activity rings Workouts from apps can be included in Activity app on iPhone New support for system language in English (India), Finnish, Indonesian, Norwegian, and Polish New support for dictation in Dutch (Belgium), English (Ireland, Philippines, South Africa), French (Belgium), German (Austria), Spanish (Chile, Colombia) New support for smart replies in Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong, Taiwan), Danish, Dutch, English (New Zealand, Singapore), Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Thai
2.0.1	9.1	13S428	October 21, 2015 (2015-10-21)	Update contains new emoji characters and performance improvements. Fixes an issue that could cause software updates to stall Fixes issues that were impacting battery performance Resolves an issue that prevented a managed iPhone from syncing iOS Calendar events to Apple Watch Addresses an issue that could prevent location information from properly updating Fixes an issue that could cause Digital Touch to send from an email address instead of a phone number Addresses an issue that could cause instability when using a Live Photo as a watch face Resolves an issue that allows the sensors to stay on indefinitely when using Siri to measure heart rate
2.1	9.2	13S661	December 8, 2015 (2015-12-08)	Added support for system language in Arabic, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Malay, Portuguese (Portugal), and Vietnamese Added support for Right-to-Left user interface Added ability to switch between Latin and Hindi numerals for Arabic Added a new complication for Islamic and Hebrew Calendars Added support for Siri and dictation in Arabic (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) Added support for dictation in English (Malaysia), Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Portuguese (Portugal), and Vietnamese Resolved an issue that could prevent events from updating in the Calendar complication Fixed an issue that prevent the time from displaying in Power Reserve mode Addressed issues that could prevent third party apps from launching Fixed an issue that could prevent third-party app icons from displaying correctly Fixed an issue that could cause instability when changing the system language
2.2	9.3	13V144	March 21, 2016 (2016-03-21)	Adds support for pairing multiple Apple Watches to one iPhone Adds Nearby in Maps to browse for places around you by category, including Food, Shopping, and more Adds support for system language in Catalan, Croatian, Slovak, Romanian, and Ukrainian Adds support for dictation in Catalan, Croatian, Slovak, Romanian, Ukrainian, and English (Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Indonesia) Adds support for Siri in Malay, Finnish, and Hebrew Increases frequency of background heart rate measurements when you are stationary
2.2.1	9.3.2	13V420	May 16, 2016 (2016-05-16)	General performance and stability improvements.

See also

• Android Wear – Android counterpart and competitor
• Pebble OS – competitor

External links

• watchOS – official site