Apple announced the launch of its public beta program for iOS 17, watchOS 10, iPadOS 17 and macOS 14 Sonoma in middle of July, all of which are the next major software updates coming to Apple’s hardware lineup later this year. The public beta program means that anyone with a compatible device can download and install the unfinished software to help Apple test, provide feedback and get an early glimpse of new features before they’re officially released, likely in September.
For the last month, I’ve been testing all of Apple’s latest software via the developer program, including watchOS 10. I have to admit, this is a pretty big update that has the potential to change how you use the watch on a daily basis, so what’s it like and what can you expect?
A new way of interacting with your Watch
By far the biggest changes in watchOS 10 all involve how you use and interact with your Apple Watch on a daily basis. There are some small tweaks to the interface you’ll notice right away. One such change involves repurposing the side button on your watch to launch Control Centre whenever it’s pressed, instead of swiping up from the bottom of the watch’s screen to view it.
Currently, when you press the Digital Crown on the Apple Watch, you’re taken to the app grid (or list view depending on your preference) of all your installed watchOS apps that you can arrange any however you want. With watchOS 10, however, Apple is limiting the app grid to a vertical stack of app icons that you can scroll through using the Digital Crown or by swiping up on the display. You can still move the apps around, however, so your most used apps are near the top of the list.
Gone is the ability to quickly change between watch faces by swiping to the left or right across your screen. Instead, you now need to long-press on the watch face to trigger the editor, and then you can swipe between your additional faces. This is a change that’s sure to frustrate those who frequently change between faces.
Arguably the biggest change is the addition of the Smart Stack feature that’s triggered when you swipe up from the bottom of the screen or use the Digital Crown to scroll up from your watch face. Doing so will reveal a rotating selection of widgets that change throughout the day based on the time of day, and what you’re doing. For instance, when listening to music or playing a podcast, you’ll see a widget show up that gives you important information about what’s playing and a play/pause button. If you have an upcoming calendar appointment, that’ll be at or near the top of the stack.
If you long-press on any widget in the Smart Stack, you trigger the ability to edit the stack where you can then remove widgets, add widgets from other apps or even pin widgets to always be shown whenever you open the Smart Stack. For example, if you wanted to pin the medication app’s widget, you’d tap the ‘+’ sign, scroll down until you found the medication app, and select the widget. With it added, you can then tap on a pin icon and watchOS 10 will keep that widget in your stack going forward.
The widgets look a lot like the large complications available on some watch faces, such as Modular, that are able to show multiple lines of glanceable information. Over the last few weeks, I’ve found myself using the new Smart Stacks feature during downtime, like standing in line at a concession stand or wasting a minute while cooking dinner to take note of my next appointment or look at the latest Apple News headline.
I’m a beta tester of Parcel, a package tracking app that’s available on all Apple devices, and its TestFlight build includes support for Smart Stacks. I immediately pinned that widget to my stack, making it easy to see details about what package(s) I should expect on any given day.
Once more third-party app developers are able to release updates to their apps, adding support for Smart Stack, the amount and types of information that will be available is going to be abundant. In some ways, Smart Stack widgets make complications on watch faces feel redundant. Or maybe I’m thinking about that wrong. Instead of only picking watch faces based on the number of complications they allow, I’m now able to pick any watch face, and still have all the same information available with a turn of the crown.
I’m here for the redesigned apps
Apple has also spent some time completely redesigning most of the core watchOS apps. The Weather app is a great example of the new approach Apple is taking to its watchOS apps. Currently, in watchOS 9 when you open the Weather app you’re shown a list of the cities you monitor, along with the current weather conditions on each card. The cards are small, however, and don’t contain a lot of information.
That same list view in watchOS 10 shows the current conditions, but the cards have animated weather events that take over the entire card, such as when it’s raining.
And when you view a city for more detailed weather information, the main view takes over the entire screen of your watch. Showing the current weather conditions, including the day’s high/low, wind speed and direction along with the humidity level. If you tap on the screen, you’re presented with a rotation of various weather stats.
Instead of seeing what was effectively a list of information you scrolled through in watchOS 9, the new app’s experience gives you a lot more information, but in animated and interactive ways that are fun to use.
The Now Playing app now takes up the entire screen of your watch, with album art being the centre of focus on the display. The background of the app even mirrors the colours of the album art that’s currently shown. You can tap on the artwork to have just that displayed on your watch, or use the default view that shows the album, along with playing controls at the bottom of the screen, and a menu button in the top-right of the screen to control settings like AirPlay, or to add music to your library.
Messages is another app that received a makeover and it’s probably the one I’m most excited about. Your pinned conversations now sync to your watch, making it easy to find your favorite contacts and group threads on the smaller display. Apple also added the ability to edit or unsend a message directly from the watch app.
Most of my Messages conversations are with family members I have pinned in the Messages app on my iPhone, and when I’ve had to check or reply to messages when I’ve left my iPhone behind, having easy access to the same conversations has saved me a lot of time compared to having to scroll through all of the conversations in my Messages app on a small watch screen. This change alone has made watchOS 10 a big upgrade for my own personal use.
Once watchOS 10 is released to the public later this year, I think everyone will be genuinely surprised at the redesigned Apple apps across the board. No longer is Apple taking a minimal approach to putting information on the screen. The watchOS apps feel like they’re maturing into better apps, and it’s about time.
A quick look at the new watch faces
Apple still hasn’t added the ability to create your own, completely custom, watch face. Instead, we’re gaining two new watch faces in watchOS 10. The first one is called Palette which uses three different layers, and a never-ending rotation of colours that follows the clock hands throughout the day. It’s a fun face that ensures you never look at the same exact face throughout the day. But I imagine that the new Snoopy face will be the headlining watch face for watchOS 10 users. There are four main designs for Snoopy, each one adding more information to the analog clock face. After selecting the watch face’s core design, you can pick a colour theme for it and you’re done.
Going forward, every time you wake up your Apple Watch to check the time, you’ll see Snoopy come to life, or sometimes taking a nap, and Woodstock, his bird friend, flying on or off the screen in a fun and entertaining way.
At one point, I swear I saw Woodstock using a clock arm pointing at 3 as a bird bath, complete with splashing water. Seriously, every time I look at the watch, those two characters are up to something new. If you have an Apple Watch with an Always-On Display, whenever the screen goes to low power mode, you’ll find Snoopy sleeping atop his doghouse.
Plenty more changes are coming
I’ve highlighted just a few of the changes coming to the Apple Watch via watchOS 10, but there are a lot more included in the update that I either haven’t had time to test yet, or need to test with someone else using the beta. For example, FaceTime is gaining the ability to leave video or voice messages for missed calls across all of Apple’s platforms. And while you can’t place a FaceTime video call from the Watch, you’ll be able to watch those video messages directly on your wrist.
There have also been improvements made to the cycling experience, including support for third-party sensors to measure key cycling metrics like your total power output, and power zones, displaying all of that information directly on your iPhone that’s presumably mounted on your handlebars.
A new mental health app is also included in watchOS 10 that asks you to take note of your state of mind throughout the course of a day with reminders to log randomly triggered throughout the day. I used this for a couple of days, but have since found myself ignoring the triggers to log because I’m busy at that moment. I need to make it a point to stop what I’m doing and actually use it.
Is WatchOS 10 a big upgrade?
You bet it is. For years, the software updates Apple has released for the Apple Watch have often felt like minimal changes, mainly focused on health apps and services. But with watchOS 10, Apple has made sweeping changes to how everyone will use their app on a daily basis, between the new App Grid layout, Smart Stack widgets and moving Control Centre. And then there are the completely redesigned apps that truly are better to use.
I’d urge you to hold off on installing the public beta now that it’s available. WatchOS 10 is still a beta, after all, and it’s one that requires you to also install iOS 17 on your iPhone in order to run. Not to mention that until iOS 17, you can’t go back to watchOS 9 if you run into too many issues and want to leave the watchOS 10 beta program.
That said, your patience will be rewarded with a big upgrade later this year, typically in September when Apple announces new Apple Watch models alongside a new iPhone lineup.