Here are watchOS 11 Features and Compatible Devices

Apple today previewed watchOS 11 at WWDC, which brings new features for Apple Watch users, such as the ability to pause your Activity Rings for the first time, plus debuts a new Vitals app.

“watchOS is the world’s most advanced wearable operating system, supporting Apple Watch users throughout their day to stay healthy, active, and connected,” said David Clark, Apple’s senior director of watchOS Engineering, in a statement. “This fall, watchOS 11 makes Apple Watch an even more essential companion by offering users additional actionable insights into their health and fitness, more personalization to fit their unique needs, and new ways to stay connected while on the go.”

Here are all the watchOS 11 features previewed today by Apple at WWDC…

Activity Rings

• Pause your rings: Move, Exercise, and Stand rings show daily activity. Now you can put your rings on pause for a day, week, month, or more while keeping your award streak. This will be great if you’re sick or in recovery from surgery and injured and can’t close rings.
• More customizable than ever: Adjust Activity ring goals by the day of the week for tailored motivation.
• New ways to serve up your Summary: Customize the Summary tab in the Fitness app on iPhone to include new metrics for running, cycling, swimming, and more.

Vitals

• For a better understanding of your daily health status: View overnight health data in one place. Establish a typical range for each metric collected during sleep.
• Know when to pay more attention to your body: Receive notifications if multiple metrics are outside the typical range, with context for factors like medications or illness.

Training Load

• A new tool to help athletes achieve their goals: See how workout intensity impacts your body over time. Adjust workouts based on training load trends.
• Track your effort: Review a new effort metric after cardio workouts, considering factors like pace, elevation, heart rate, and personal data.
• Know if you’re undertraining or overdoing it: Compare training load over the last seven days to the previous 28 days to understand body strain and sustainability.

Photos Face

• Picture-perfect images, curated for you: Powered by machine learning, the Photos face intelligently analyzes thousands of photos to select the best compositions.
• Filter your favorites: Choose specific people, pets, nature, or cities to display.
• More ways to make it yours: Customize time size, layout, font, and colors. Support for additional languages.

Cycle Tracking

• A new focus on pregnancy: Log pregnancy in the Health app to display gestational age and track pregnancy across health charts.
• Designed for your privacy: Health data stays on device, encrypted, and not shared without permission.

Smart Stack

• More intelligent than ever: Widgets show up based on time, location, and more. Live Activities now supported.
• Always know the latest: Severe weather alerts, Training Load, Photos, Distance, and Shazam widgets available. Access recent items directly.

Check In

• Peace of mind on your wrist: Notify a friend or loved one when arriving at a destination. Start a Check In from Messages or during workouts. First time this has landed on Apple Watch.

Workout

• Enhanced GPS positioning: See distance and route maps for more workouts, including soccer, football, and skiing.
• Custom Workouts for pool swims: Automatically guide through timed intervals with haptic feedback.
• See what’s coming: View an Up Next workout for Custom Workouts, showing current interval and next steps.

Translate – First Time on Apple Watch

• The world on your wrist: Support for 20 languages. Type or dictate phrases for translation. Play translations out loud and slow them down if needed.
• Now in the Smart Stack: Add the Translate app to the Smart Stack for easy access.

Double Tap

• Still magical, even more capable: Scroll through any app hands-free with the double tap gesture. Available for third-party apps with the Double Tap API. This means third-party apps will soon be able to support Double Tap gestures.

Additional Features

• Ultra Wideband home keys: Unlock doors as you approach without holding the watch to the lock.
• Enhanced ticketing: See more information on tickets in Wallet. Events appear as Live Activities in the Smart Stack.
• Tap to Cash: Exchange Apple Cash by presenting your Apple Watch to another Apple Watch or iPhone. US only and not available in Canada
• Maps: Offers hikes for all 63 U.S. national parks. Save hikes to your watch for offline use with turn-by-turn voice guidance.

Availability and Compatible Devices

Apple says watchOS 11 requires iPhone Xs or later with iOS 18 and one of the following Apple Watch models:

• Apple Watch SE (2nd generation)
• Apple Watch Series 6
• Apple Watch Series 7
• Apple Watch Series 8
• Apple Watch Series 9
• Apple Watch Ultra
• Apple Watch Ultra 2

Apple Watch Series 4 and Series 5 has missed the cut. Looks like it’s time for you to upgrade, folks.