Apple’s WatchOS 3 gets new fitness features at WWDC

In the future, it may be used for many more things than just logging into a Mac. You can launch the app from your watch face, your dock, or you can set reminders via Stand reminders. Thanks to a background updating feature and other tweaks, apps are expected to load around 7 times faster than before. It focused on optimisations in app-launch time, meaning your apps should now respond instantly, and your information should be updated the minute you go look so you’re not waiting. These enhancements will work for both Apple apps and third-party apps.

This update works on the Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch Edition since they all use the same internals. The Glances screen is gone. Users can place their favorite apps in a dock, which will open and update instantly.

The one weird new addition is Breathe, an app that’ll come built into WatchOS 3.0 as standard. It will call 911 either through the iPhone or while on Wi-Fi.

Called SOS, this new feature will not only call for help but also inform your closest contacts that something is wrong.

The Watch then sends a message, location and the wearer’s medical ID to the emergency services.

Notifications are accessed by pulling down from the top of the screen.

Full details of Apple’s planned watchOS 3 changes here.

Apple says that, with the new system, the Apple Watch can launch apps seven times faster than before, with apps opening up instantaneously. Minnie’s outfit can be customized by color, with colors that match Apple’s band colors.

“The Apple community is made up from people around the world”, said Cook.

WatchOS 3 features Apple Pay capabilities, allowing everyone the choice to pay using their Apple Watch.

The Messages app will see several changes.

Message replies are a lot faster now, too, as WatchOS 3 will offer responses without requiring you to tap a button.

Apple also moved to revamp its activity apps. Tapping into the power of “motivation through social engagement” when it comes to health and fitness, you can share your Activity rings, finished workouts, and earned achievements with family and friends, and engage in a little friendly competition.

Also new to the Activity and Workout apps are new settings that optimize them for wheelchair users. To better understand rolling, Apple has studied wheelchair use and taught watchOS 3 to recognize different wheel-turning hand motions, including semicircular, arc, and single loop over, among others. Wheelchair users will get a time-to-roll notification and there are dedicated wheelchair specific workouts as well. But when Apple announced its new breathing app at WWDC 2016 today, it included an endorsement from one of the biggest spewers of feel-good pseudo-scientific garbage, Deepak Chopra. While a hardware revision isn’t yet on the horizon, the existence of watchOS 3, releasing this fall, is going a long way to improving the Apple Watch experience.

Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer said: “Apple Watch is the ultimate companion for a healthy life and with watchOS 3, there’s now even more to love”.