5 New watchOS 7 Features You’ve Been Waiting For
Credit: Explica
From macOS Big Sur to iOS 14, every update was needed, loaded with new features we've been asking for, for a long time. And of course, we also got to see the upcoming Apple Watch software update. watchOS 7 will bring the same user interface we already know, with a bunch of new features that will keep you healthy and fit, no matter where you are.
We're still a few months away from watchOS 7's official release date, but we already know everything we'll get when it finally drops later this fall. Continue reading to browse the cool new features you can expect from watchOS 7.
More Workouts and a New Fitness App
Apple has also added new workout types to the Workout app. There are four new workouts: Core Training, Dance, Functional Strength Training, and Cooldown.
The Workout App can now track your calorie exertion while dancing, which was no easy feat. It was tested on four different types of dances: Latin, Bollywood, cardio dance, and hip-hop, which means it works best when tracking these styles.
Also, the Activity app is now called Fitness, but that's not everything that changed. Apple redesigned the app to show you all your activities in a simpler, more streamlined way.
Besides these big changes, Apple also added new Mobility Metrics. Now, the Apple Watch can measure the mobility of patients or older people to make sure they're moving safely according to their age and conditions.
Handwashing Detection
If you went back to the past and told everybody the Apple Watch would help you wash your hands, no one would've believed you. However, 2020 is not an ordinary year, and Apple is thinking about ways to encourage health and safety. Enter the Automatic Handwashing Detection feature that's coming on watchOS 7.
The Apple Watch will now use its motion sensors and microphones to determine if you're washing your hands. If you are, your Apple Watch will start a countdown timer for 20 seconds so you know when to finish up.
If you finish earlier than the Watch suggests, it will ask you to keep washing until the timer reaches 0.
Not only that, but you'll also be able to keep track of your handwashing habits. You'll see on the Health App how many times you've washed your hands and how much time it takes you. What a time to be alive.
More Customizable Watch Faces
Apple has been reluctant about giving us total control over our Watch Faces, but they have let us customize them a little bit more over the years. The new watchOS 7 update will continue this trend. It's baby steps but heading in the right direction.
watchOS 7 will bring new Watch faces that you'll be able to personalize with additional colors and even new complications, and now, you can even have multiple complications from the same app.
Some of the new complications watchOS 7 includes are a Camera remote, Shortcuts, and the Sleep app (which we'll talk more about later).
Keep in mind, though, that not every Watch face will have the same level of customizability, some other Watch faces will only let you change the colors of the Watch face, and don't include any complications.
New Sleep-Tracking
One of the best features watchOS 7 will have has to be the Sleep app. After years of waiting, you can finally track your sleep with your Apple Watch without any third-party apps.
The Sleep app uses the Apple Watch's accelerometer to keep track of the micro-movements you make, which give a signal of respiration during your sleep. The Sleep App then uses that data to show you exactly how much time you actually slept and how much time you spent in bed. The watch will also help keep track of your heartbeats when you sleep.
You'll have other features, like setting a sleep goal, waking up via a haptic alarm, and an iPhone feature called Wind Down, which will help you create a bedtime routine so you get to sleep quicker and sleep more soundly.
Better Control Over What You Hear
Continuing with the health features, Apple created a new tool to protect your hearing even more.
Based on the World Health Organization's guidelines, Apple implemented a hearing feature that controls the amount of safe listening you've done throughout the week.
A person can be exposed to 80 decibels for 40 hours a week. If your Apple Watch determines you've exceeded this time, it will give you a notification telling you that it has turned down the volume for the rest of the week.
Besides this, you can also track how long have you been exposed to high decibel levels each week by using the Health app. And if you want, you'll also be able to change the maximum volume level for your headphones.