The Apple Watch is the most popular, not just connected, watch in the world. Its success is largely due to the way older models get better every year thanks to the annual watchOS update.
We expect the 9th generation to officially launch this fall, along with the Apple Watch Series 8. In the meantime, Apple is expected to reveal this update, along with its new features, during WWDC Keynote on June 6, followed by several months of beta testing.
Aside from the few rumors circulating around the network about watchOS 9, there are a few things we’d like to see built in. Here we present some of them.
Low power mode optimization
The Apple Watch already has a low power mode called standby, but it’s a very simple method.
It might make it last four times longer, but it makes your watch useless except for checking the time. The good news is that improving this feature is on the way, as reported by Bloomberg.
It can disable things like heart rate tracking, the accelerometer, as well as third-party apps, while still showing the full watch face and notifications, for example.
Although the battery will only last 48 hours instead of 72 hours, the user experience will be much better.
custom watch faces
Rumor has it that watchOS 9 will update and update some of the watch faces that already exist. We always hoped we could customize it, but Apple hasn’t done anything to make that happen yet. In fact, there are still many copyright and intellectual property issues to be resolved.
Instead of giving developers free rein to create and sell watch faces, we envision some kind of FaceKit framework and developer toolkit.
Like the Widget Kit, we can make use of different fonts, widgets, animation models, and other elements to create faces. But, as with gadgets on iOS, developers will still have enough freedom to create distinct and unique faces.
Better sleep tracking
Sleep tracking was finally added to the Apple Watch with watchOS 7, and watchOS 8 fixed it by introducing respiratory rate tracking as well.
However, the Apple Watch does not provide exceptional results in this area. Apps like AutoSleep do better at automatically detecting whether or not you are asleep or deeply asleep.
We then expect Apple’s interface to be simplified compared to most third-party sleep tracking apps.
With the Pixel Watch running Fitbit, the Apple Watch will definitely need better native sleep tracking, and watchOS 9 should be able to provide that.
health app
We’re still wondering why the Health app isn’t available on the Apple Watch. There are health related apps like heart rate, cycle tracking, and EKG, but there are no apps to go through all your health data in one place.
The Health app on the Apple Watch will probably be a bit more extensive compared to the iPhone, but it will still be useful for viewing daily metrics.
To do this, Apple can take inspiration from Fitbit, which has an organized dashboard to display different activities.
Notes app and Siri
It would be nice to be able to write a note using Siri, and sync it with our other devices via iCloud. Apple may automatically flag all notes created on your watch to make them easier to find on your iPhone.
Like the Calculator app on the iPad or the Weather app on the Mac, we wonder why the Notes app isn’t available on the Apple Watch.
