WatchOS 8 will be shown off for Apple Watch in just one month, and we're
hoping for a feature-packed update this year. While there's still time to
dream about what could come in the next <https://amzn.to/3nRPLOK> Apple
Watch software update, we're sharing four short feature requests that would
be welcome in watchOS 8 or any future version of the Apple Watch software.
Always-on display
Apple Watch Series 5 introduced the always-on display for select instances,
and Apple Watch Series 6 improved the brightness for always-on display in
outdoor settings. In terms of hardware, Series 5 and 6 are already mature
for this feature, but the software experience hasn't changed in two years.
Always-on display works great with watch faces and Apple's Workout app, but
it's just a digital clock with a blurry background in every other instance.
Some basic expansions for always-on display support include Apple's Now
Playing view, navigation in Maps, and active countdowns in the Timer app.
Now Playing and Maps actively take over the watch face by default, yet
neither of these features
support always-on display. I would argue that the Timer app should also take
over the watch face when actively counting down, but
I would settle for proper always-on display support to start.
Frankly, every Apple app in watchOS should have some level of always-on
display support and not just the blurry overlay with the digital clock
presented. And speaking of digital time, having a proper always-on display
version of an analog clock would be highly welcome. It's as jarring to see
your analog watch face turn into a digital clock if always-on display mode
kicks in when you're in an app, using navigation, or playing audio.
Apple Notes
Bringing a scaled-back version of Apple Notes to the Apple Watch has long
felt like a no-brainer idea for two reasons.
Bringing the ability to capture quick ideas through dictation, voice
recording, or drawing characters through Scribble could be the modern day
version of jotting down something on the back of your hand.
The third-party app <https://getdrafts.com/> Drafts is the best example of
how this could work for Apple Notes users. And like with Voice Memos, notes
created from the Apple Watch could be timestamped and geotagged. There could
also be an Apple Watch spin to Apple Notes on watchOS: the ability to save
heart rate and blood oxygen levels to notes created on the Apple Watch.
Referencing notes created on other devices is also long overdue. For
example, you can already view your shopping list on your Apple Watch if you
use Reminders, but it's common for people to create grocery lists in Notes
too. You could also subtly reference bits of information at a glance instead
of pulling out your iPhone in discreet situations.
Breathe schedule
I'm admittedly not a frequent user of the built-in Breathe app on Apple
Watch, but I never regret taking the time to focus myself when I do use the
app. This is partly because I'm not a huge fan of how the Breathe reminders
are currently handled in watchOS.
You can be alerted to use the Breathe app for a specific number of times if
you haven't yet in a day, but you can't schedule when these alerts should
come in. That's probably intentional to promote pausing and meditating at
different times each day, but I think I would be more likely to regularly
use the app if I could schedule alerts.
The simplest method would be choosing specific times of the day for being
reminded to use the Breathe app. You could go deeper and add Breathe alerts
to part of your wake-up routine or wind-down routine for added
encouragement. Finally, Breathe alerts could work sort of like the
hand-washing reminders in watchOS. Rather than based on intervals of a
certain number of hours, Breathe alerts could be triggered when you change
locations.
Live lyrics
You know how Apple Music can show
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/02/19/apple-music-mac-live-lyrics/> live lyrics
for many songs with a focus on the current part of the track? I want that,
but for Apple Watch. Visually, it's a challenge to bring the feature from
medium-sized rectangles to much smaller squares. What I have in mind is
filling the screen with what would currently be in focus on the iPhone. This
could make for instant, hands-free karaoke sessions or just make keeping up
with current lyrics in solo listening sessions easier.
Scrolling through the lyrics with the Digital Crown to jump to a specific
part of the song is a natural fit for Apple Watch. You could even bring the
new <https://9to5mac.com/2021/04/28/ios-14-5-apple-music-lyrics-share/>
lyric-based song-sharing feature from iPhone to Apple Watch with a long
press.
While details are light so far on what we'll actually see in watchOS 8 at
WWDC, 9to5Mac has some other ideas for future watchOS versions that we've
recently shared.
In my piece on
<https://9to5mac.com/2021/04/13/managing-apple-watch-notifications/> toning
down the Apple Watch, I recommended a new default for managing mirrored
iPhone alerts. Currently, you have to manually turn off mirrored iPhone
alerts per app. You also have to remember to turn off iPhone alert mirroring
each time you install a new app on your iPhone. In practice, you're probably
unlikely to remember this step until you actually get an alert from some app
you installed recently. Adding an option to make iPhone alert mirroring
opt-in instead of opt-out by default would be terrific.
More recently, my colleague Parker Ortolani
<https://9to5mac.com/2021/05/04/concept-enhancing-airtag-with-family-sharing
-widgets-and-an-apple-watch-app/> forecasted a useful addition to the newly
launched AirTag experience. You can locate lost items from your iPhone,
iPad, or Mac, and you can find people with location sharing on the Apple
Watch. What you can't yet do is find or trigger AirTags from the Apple
Watch. Here's hoping watchOS 8 remedies this.
Want more ideas for what watchOS 8 and upcoming versions of the
<https://amzn.to/3nRPLOK> Apple Watch software could bring in the future?
Parker
<https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/18/concept-new-apps-widgets-faces-and-more-to-c
onsider-for-watchos-8/> published a two-part
<https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/19/concept-part-2-watchos-8-could-better-integr
ate-with-apple-tv-and-add-quality-of-life-improvements/> concept in January
that goes even further, and other creative minds have
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/12/03/watchos-8-apple-watch-concept/> dreamed up
revamps to watchOS as well.
Apple kicks off its virtual <https://9to5mac.com/guides/wwdc-2021/>
Worldwide Developer Conference on June 7 this year. This is where we can
expect to see iOS and iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, tvOS 15, and macOS 12 for the
first time.
By <https://9to5mac.com/author/apollozac/> Zac Hall at:
https://9to5mac.com/2021/05/06/watchos-8-four-feature-requests/
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