Apple with the introduction of the Apple Watch Ultra showed off a redesigned and more expansive Compass app, which, as it turns out, is available to existing Apple Watch models in watchOS 9.
Available today, watchOS 9 adds the redesigned Compass app to the Apple Watch Series 5 and later and the Apple Watch SE, though select features are limited to the Apple Watch SE and the Series 6 and later.
The redesigned Compass app features an analog compass that displays a digital view of your current bearing and direction. You can tap into a zoomed view that shows your bearing, elevation, incline, latitude, and longitude for more information.
If you have an Apple Watch Series 6 or later, you can mark points of interest in the Compass app using the Waypoints feature, which has customizable colors and symbols. The Waypoints app adds a little marker to your current coordinates, and all Waypoints show up on the main Compass view so you can find your way back to them.
You can also use a new "Backtrack" feature if you have a Series 6 or later. Backtrack uses GPS to record the path that you take, so if you get lost, you can find your way back later. watchOS 9 is available on the Apple Watch Series 4 and later and it can be downloaded now.
Thursday September 10, 2026 11:57 am PDT by Juli Clover
Some Apple Watch users who upgrade to the Series 12 or the Ultra 4 might temporarily lose access to hypertension notifications.
On the watchOS feature availability page, Apple says notifications might not be available on the Series 12 or Ultra 4 at launch because regulatory clearances are in process.
Hypertension Notifications may not be available on Apple Watch Series 12 or Ultra 4 in your ...
Monday September 14, 2026 10:03 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released watchOS 27, the newest version of the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 27 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 9 and later, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later, and the Apple Watch SE 3.
watchOS 27 can be downloaded for free on a compatible device through the Settings app on the watch.
The update introduces support for Siri AI, a more capable...
Wednesday September 9, 2026 12:06 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27 to developers and public beta testers. The release candidates are the final versions of the updates that will be seeded to the public as long as no final bugs are found during this last round of testing.
The updates can be installed through the Software Update section in the Settings app on each...
They know how many, which and what kind of watches are active currently and which one need to be forced to upgrade.
i don't think it is fair, Apple products last longer then most other products and Apple is working hard to support software upgrades to older devices in general. Apple does somethings that i don't like (repairability/upgradability) but not supporting products and forced upgrades in not one of them. We have to give them credit where it is due.
