Apple today announced the next major operating system update for the Apple Watch family: watchOS 5. Many of the software's new features borrow from the fitness tracker market, and bring Apple Watch close to feature parity with the likes of Fitbit.
Two of the big new fitness features include Automatic Workout Detection and Competitions.
Automatic Workout Detection will prompt you to start tracking a workout if your Apple Watch has detected vigorous activity. You'll be retroactively credited for any activity you've done before you officially started logging your workout. If you forget to end your workout, the Apple Watch will also prompt you to stop tracking. Not all workouts will support automatic detection, however.
You'll also be able to challenge friends to seven-day competitions where you'll both earn points based on the percentage of your activity rings that you close. During the week long period, you'll get personalised coaching from your Watch with alerts on if you're ahead or falling behind.
Other new fitness features include improved tracking for Yoga and Hikes, as well as advanced features for runners (tracking of rolling mile pace, custom pace alerts, and cadence).
Of course, there's more to watchOS 5 than fitness. It will also include support for podcasts, interactive notifications, and a Walkie-Talkie app that lets you send quick voice messages to other Apple Watch owners.
watchOS 5 will be available for Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 Apple Watches later this year, presumably in September around the same time as iOS 12. Unfortunately, it will not be compatible with the original Apple Watch that was released in 2015.
Alex Choros
Related Articles
