The wait is sort of over. In just some days, Apple will unveil the most recent software program options coming to the Apple Watch and the remainder of its ecosystem, at its annual Worldwide Builders Convention (WWDC), on June 9 in Cupertino, California. Whereas the updates are seemingly already finalized, that does not imply we won’t put just a few want record objects out into the universe and hope they will stick.
The competitors in your well being knowledge has gotten fierce with rivals like Google, Oura and Samsung leaning more durable into AI teaching and preventive care so this may be a very good time for Apple to remind us why its smartwatch remains to be on the high of the wearable sport regardless of a drop in gross sales. Apple Watch gross sales are reportedly down 19% in 2024.
I’ve teamed up with longtime Apple Watch customers and fellow CNET editors to spherical up essentially the most requested options we hope to see in WatchOS 12, together with just a few rumors we have dug up. We’ve not dominated out Inspector Gadget-style FaceTime calls out of your wrist but however since that is not precisely on the radar, we’re preserving this wishlist throughout the realm of risk for 2025.
Watch this: WatchOS 12 Wishlist: High options we would like on the Apple Watch
Improved battery life
An extended battery life could not sound as thrilling as a number of the flashier options on this record but it surely simply wins the recognition contest amongst our editors (myself included). We did not have a want record when the Apple Watch launched a decade in the past but when we had, I would guess battery life would’ve been on the high — as a result of that is how lengthy we have been asking for it.
CNET editor-at-large Scott Stein desires an extended battery life and quicker charging, particularly if Apple desires folks to essentially benefit from sleep monitoring.
The Collection 10 fees quicker than earlier Apple Watches however the battery lasts the identical size of time.
A dream state of affairs can be for the common Apple Watch and SE model to have the identical three-day battery lifetime of the Apple Watch Extremely 2. However software program alone cannot work miracles; it nonetheless has to function throughout the limits of the bodily battery. So we might accept incremental enhancements and optimizations to WatchOS 12 that reduce how a lot energy will get used. That might come within the type of smarter battery-saving modes that robotically kick in when power-hungry options aren’t wanted or a extra environment friendly bedtime mode that does not depart the battery drained by morning.
At a prequel to its developer’s convention, Google introduced that its personal Put on OS 6 will increase battery life by as much as 10 p.c. It isn’t an enormous leap, but it surely’s a welcome one — and a very good reminder that significant enhancements are doable by software program alone.
UI tweaks and customization
Apple’s come a good distance with letting us customise the Apple Watch’s UI however there’s nonetheless room for enhancements. The app record, for instance, is in determined want of a refresh. You are still restricted to viewing it as both a grid or record and there is not any strategy to manage apps by the way you truly use them. CNET Managing Editor Patrick Holland suggests including choices to kind by favorites or most used to chop down on the countless scrolling it takes to seek out what you want.
Grid view and record view are nonetheless the one two choices to kind apps on the watch.
Watch faces are one other space that also feels locked down in comparison with different platforms like Put on OS. It is a long-standing request from Stein, who’s been asking for a watch face retailer since reviewing the unique Apple Watch in 2015. We have gotten much more watch face choices since then with customizable widgets and design options however you are still restricted by the templates Apple offers.
CNET well being editor Anna Gragert additionally prompt extra watch face collections by artists from underrepresented communities, just like what the corporate did with the Black Unity watch in the beginning of the 12 months.
This one’s extra of a rumor than a request, however Apple could also be taking a cue from Google and refreshing all the watchOS interface design. A current Bloomberg report by Mark Gurman means that Apple’s revamp might borrow components from the UI of its Imaginative and prescient Professional headset’s working system, visionOS. The redesign would give attention to translucent bubbles, glasslike results and softer aesthetics.
Gestures that go additional
Apple first launched gesture management with WatchOS 10 and the Collection 9 and Extremely 2, and it has been progressively increasing the characteristic ever since. Now that we have had a style of what one-handed management appears like, we’re prepared for extra.
CNET senior author Jeff Carlson admitted he was skeptical of gesture controls at first: “Earlier than I acquired a Collection 10, I believed it was a doubtful addition,” he mentioned. “However I take advantage of it loads (particularly turning off timers) and need extra management than simply ‘spotlight the primary management’ or ‘scroll down the Good Stack.'”
I am proper there with him. I would like extra gestures past the double pinch and the flexibility to program a gesture to ping my iPhone, as a result of 9 occasions out of 10, I am speeding out the door with my arms full and do not have a spare hand to faucet the display.
Apple Intelligence options
The Apple Watch remains to be notably AI-free — and that may not be a nasty factor. The truth is, whereas the Watch is highly effective, it would not but have the processing muscle to deal with Apple Intelligence duties by itself. However that does not imply it could’t lean on the iPhone for just a few options we might like to see make their approach over.
One of many high ones on my record? Genmoji. The flexibility to create your individual emoji on the fly feels prefer it belongs in your wrist. Apple already introduced Memojis and Animojis to the Watch, so this may be a pure subsequent step that may convey extra persona to textual content messages or exchange the necessity for textual content altogether.
Genmoji makes use of Apple Intelligence to create customized emojis from prompts.
And whereas we’re with regards to Apple Intelligence, the Watch may gain advantage from a better method to notifications. Notification summaries on the iPhone are nonetheless hit-or-miss, however on a tiny display they might truly be extra useful if accomplished proper. The present notification structure on the Watch feels crowded, and it is arduous to separate the essential alerts from the remainder of the noise.
Spam dealing with on the watch is one other space that might use consideration. “I would like to have the ability to delete and report spam texts and calls the way in which you may in Messages or Telephone on the iPhone — ideally proper from the notification,” says Carlson. Proper now, blocking a sender on the Watch requires a number of steps which defeats the aim of getting fast interactions on the wrist.
Smarter Siri
Offline Siri has been a welcome enchancment (Collection 9 and later). However even offline, Siri shouldn’t be the brightest bulb. And Apple’s voice assistant is lengthy overdue for an improve.
On the very least, it will be nice if Siri might perceive requests on the primary attempt. However as it is a want record, why not ask for extra? Smarter, extra context-aware responses would make Siri much more helpful, particularly if the assistant can faucet into its new Apple Intelligence instruments. And please: fewer web site hyperlinks as solutions. I am not about to open a full webpage on my wrist.
Customizable exercises
I additionally want the Apple Watch had a approach for me to flag exterior elements like weight or resistance that might impression exercise metrics. This could possibly be working or strolling with a weighted vest, which in my case is a human baby on a harness, or pushing a stroller whereas on a run.
Coronary heart fee zone view helps you to see the depth of your exercise because it’s taking place but it surely’s as much as you to interpret.
Proper now, there is not any strategy to flag added weight or resistance to your exercise past altering your weight within the settings. So as an alternative the Watch simply assumes I am out of form when my coronary heart fee spikes increased than common as I am mountaineering uphill with a further 35lbs on my again. I would wish to get the additional calorie credit on my transfer ring, thanks very a lot.
Smarter teaching for health and sleep
The Apple Watch provides us loads of coaching instruments for coronary heart fee zones, exercise rings, VO2 max, and extra. However turning all that knowledge into a customized coaching plan nonetheless feels daunting. I would like to see a better, extra proactive teaching system: one thing that might inform me, in actual time, what number of minutes I ought to intention to remain in every coronary heart fee zone to hit my purpose. Even higher can be a dynamic exercise plan that adjusts primarily based on my calendar and power ranges that day.
The identical goes for sleep. It is good to see my sleep levels however what am I imagined to do with that info? What is the excellent stability of REM versus deep sleep and the way do I enhance it?
The Apple Watch added sleep monitoring to its record of metrics and might now monitor sleep levels.
Gragert would additionally wish to see the Apple Watch take a cue from different wearables and supply power and sleep scores primarily based on the information it collects.
The sleep coach would then assist interpret the information and provides tangible suggestions on the right way to enhance towards higher restoration and power. And no, the present bedtime reminder would not depend. That is only a glorified alarm and a reasonably annoying one at that.
Smarter vitals and well being teaching
We’re already seeing Apple convey extra well being knowledge collectively on the Watch, due to the Vitals app, which mixes metrics like coronary heart fee, sleep, respiratory fee and pores and skin temperature. However for now, it is nonetheless as much as us to determine what that knowledge truly means and what to do with it.
The Vitals app is identical on the Collection 10 and the Extremely 2.
What’s subsequent? Apple might take an identical method to what it already does with coronary heart fee notifications. The Watch alerts you when your coronary heart fee is just too excessive or too low — now think about that very same type of proactive perception however in your total vitals.
Different wearables are already heading in that path. The Oura Ring, for instance, makes use of a Symptom Radar that may flag when your physique exhibits indicators of pressure, like once you may be getting sick.That type of heads up touchdown in your wrist very first thing within the morning might show you how to plan your day higher and perhaps name in sick to the workplace earlier than you drag your coworkers down with you.
Rumor has it a few of this sensible teaching is already effectively underway. In response to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is engaged on a high secret challenge code named “Venture Mulberry” which seeks to revamp the Well being app with sensible teaching and customized suggestions. Simply do not make me pay for an additional subscription please.
We’ll discover out what Apple truly has in retailer for us on June 10 throughout WWDC. Till then, there’s nothing stopping us from dreaming massive.