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Apple Releases New watchOS 10 Update for Public Beta Testers

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Apple today provided a new public beta of the upcoming watchOS 10 update, allowing the general public to test the Apple Watch software ahead of its launch. Today's beta corresponds with the seventh developer beta that Apple released yesterday.

Apple Watch Faces watchOS 10 Feature Iridescent
watchOS 10 can be downloaded after upgrading your iPhone to the public beta version of iOS 17 and after signing up on Apple's beta software website. With those criteria fulfilled, you can open up the Watch app on iPhone, go to General, select Software Update, and choose the watchOS 10 Public Beta option under Beta Updates. If you already have the beta, you can simply update.

With watchOS 10, Apple is making a major update to the Apple Watch interface with a focus on widgets. The Smart Stack, accessible with a turn of the Digital Crown, displays the information that you need most. What's available changes throughout the day and as the Apple Watch learns your usage habits.

Apple has updated almost all of the built-in apps with an information-forward design that allows for quicker interactions. Weather, Maps, Home, Messages, Activity, Heart Rate, Stocks, and more have all been overhauled.

There are two new watch faces, including Palette and Snoopy. Snoopy features characters from the popular Peanuts cartoon, with the animations changing throughout the day. Palette shows the time in a variety of overlapping colors.

The Maps app has a topography view that shows elevation information, contour lines, hill shading, and points of interest to make it more useful on hikes and when out and about, and for cyclists, there are new advanced metrics, views, and experiences that work through a connection to Bluetooth-enabled cycling accessories.

watchos 10 maps app
The Mindfulness app has a new feature for logging moods and emotions, Group FaceTime audio calls are now supported, and NameDrop allows you to quickly exchange contact information with somebody just by holding your Apple Watch near someone's iPhone.

For more on everything new in the watchOS 10 update, we have a detailed watchOS 10 roundup.

Related Roundups: watchOS 26, watchOS 27
Related Forum: Apple Watch

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Top Rated Comments

tobefirst ⚽️ Avatar
tobefirst ⚽️
40 months ago
I assumed the Snoopy watch face would be pretty pedestrian like the Mickey/Minnie one or the Toy Story ones, but it is dope. There are so many different animations it does that it is a pleasure to use.

I wish it had complications, but with the new widget view, I can get by without them.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
O.N.Y.X Avatar
O.N.Y.X
40 months ago
The Maps app has a topography view that shows elevation information, contour lines, hill shading, and points of interest to make it more useful on hikes and when out and about, and for cyclists, there are new advanced metrics, views, and experiences that work through a connection to Bluetooth-enabled cycling accessories.

Unfortunately not. Works only in very few, selected-by-Apple areas, and is therefore another „show off“ feature for a minority of Apple users.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Fan 2008 Avatar
Apple Fan 2008
40 months ago
Snoopy watch faces are the best feature.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MonkeySpank158 Avatar
MonkeySpank158
40 months ago
Im loving the new Snoopy watch face, very tastefully done.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
johnmarki Avatar
johnmarki
40 months ago

“NameDrop allows you to quickly exchange contact information with somebody just by holding your Apple Watch near someone's iPhone.”

This phrasing makes it sound like NameDrop won’t work watch-to-watch. Is that the case? If so, major bummer …

b&
I noticed that veribiage as well, but I looked and NameDrop will work the following ways according to Apple:

iPhone to iPhone
iPhone to Apple Watch
Apple Watch to Apple Watch




https://www.apple.com/watchos/watchos-preview/

https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-17-preview/

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Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B
BenGoren
40 months ago

by design. Need to sell more watches with irrelevant improvements.
Eh … yes but no.

All modern software development goes through phases that start with high resource consumption (CPU and energy both) and end with minimized consumption. Part comes from logging types of things — recording what is and isn’t happening. And part comes from developers who know full well the dangers of premature optimization. In short, the first version is the one that’s easiest for you to write; then, you look to see where the worst performance is and update that with code that might not be quite as human-friendly but is more computer-friendly.

Though you get better with experience, it’s still not uncommon for somebody to be surprised with which parts are actually slow / battery-hungry and which parts aren’t. Nor is this surprising, as compliers are constantly being improved, so something that you needed to hand-massage a great deal last time might not need any optimization whatsoever this time.

b&
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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