watchOS 8 Brings New Access, Connectivity, and Mindfulness Features to Apple Watch

 

  New watchOS offers greater access with Wallet, more capabilities with the Home app, new workout types, and an updated Breathe app  

 

Apple® today previewed watchOS® 8, with impactful new features that make the world's most advanced wearable operating system even more essential for users to stay healthy, active, and connected. Updates to the Wallet and Home apps extend Apple Watch® as an increasingly useful tool for convenient access across the car and places users live, work, and visit. A reimagined Breathe app and new Tai Chi and Pilates workout types help users lead a fit and healthy life and support mental well-being, while a new Portraits watch face and enhancements to Messages and the Photos app make staying connected to loved ones even easier.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210607005659/en/  

 
 watchOS 8 brings new access, connectivity, and mindfulness features to Apple Watch this fall. (Photo: Business Wire)

watchOS 8 brings new access, connectivity, and mindfulness features to Apple Watch this fall. (Photo: Business Wire)

 
 

"Apple Watch is the most loved watch in the world, keeping users healthy, active, and connected," said Kevin Lynch, Apple's vice president of Technology. "With watchOS 8, we're bringing more convenient access to places users live, work, and visit with significant updates to Home and Wallet, expanding support for both physical and mental well-being, and enabling richer personal connections with the new Portraits face and updates to Messages."

 

  More Access with Wallet  

 

With Apple Watch, it is incredibly convenient to use Apple Pay® and Wallet to make secure, contactless payments in stores or ride transit. With watchOS 8, Wallet brings even more powerful contact-free ways for users to access the places and things they care about seamlessly, safely, and securely.

 

First announced at WWDC in 2020, Ultra Wideband support now arrives for digital car keys on Apple Watch Series 6. Apple Watch wearers can securely unlock their car from a distance and start it from the driver's seat. 1 This fall, users can also add keys for their home, office, and hotel to Wallet, and tap their Apple Watch to unlock. 2 Later this year, beginning with participating states in the US, users will be able to add their driver's license or state ID to Wallet. Select TSA checkpoints will be the first place users can begin using their digital ID.

 

  Redesigned Home App  

 

The redesigned Home app in watchOS 8 offers more convenient access to accessories and scenes needed in a particular moment, and the ability to control accessories by room. Users with a HomeKit®-enabled camera can view who is at the door directly on their wrist. Apple Watch users can also tap Intercom to quickly broadcast a message throughout the home or to individual rooms via HomePod®, HomePod mini™, or other personal devices.

 

  New Workout Types  

 

watchOS 8 introduces two new popular workout types that are beneficial for both physical fitness and mindful movement: Tai Chi and Pilates. These new workout types are supported by powerful, validated custom-built heart rate and motion algorithms to provide users with accurate metrics.

 

  A New Approach to Mindfulness  

 

Now more than ever, people are recognizing the importance of finding small moments in their day to be more mindful. In watchOS 8, the Breathe app becomes the Mindfulness app, featuring an enhanced Breathe experience, plus a new session type, Reflect. Reflect offers a mindful intention to focus on for as little as one minute that can be done anywhere and at any time. Each Reflect session welcomes the user with a unique, thoughtful notion to consider that invites a positive frame of mind. For example, the user may see something like "Recall a time recently when you felt a sense of calm. Bring that feeling into this moment," or "Reflect on one thing you're grateful for and think about why you appreciate it so much." Both the Breathe and Reflect experiences also offer tips to help users get more from each session and feature beautiful new animations.

 

  Sleeping Respiratory Rate  

 

Today, Apple Watch helps users meet their sleep goals by establishing a pre-bedtime routine, and tracks metrics like time asleep, heart rate, and blood oxygen. watchOS 8 gives users even more insight into their overall wellness by tracking sleeping respiratory rate, which is the number of breaths per minute. To do this, Apple Watch uses the built-in accelerometer to measure respiratory rate while sleeping, and this information can be viewed, along with trends over time, in the Health app on iPhone®. This metric is also available for developers to use with permission through HealthKit®.

 

  Portraits Watch Face and Photos  

 

The Photos face is the most popular Apple Watch face, and watchOS 8 introduces new ways to view and engage with users' favorite photos right from their wrist. The new Portraits watch face brings to life stunning portrait photos shot on iPhone with an immersive, multilayered effect, intelligently recognizing faces in photos and cropping in to highlight the subject. The Photos app is also redesigned, offering new ways to view and navigate collections, Memories and Featured Photos now sync to Apple Watch, and photos can be shared through Messages and Mail with the new Share Sheet.

 

  Messages and Contacts  

 

Communicating on Apple Watch is even easier with new tools in Messages. Users can combine the use of Scribble, dictation, and emoji all within the same message, and for dictated messages, they have the option to edit the presented text. To easily add even more expression to a message, users can simply enter a word or phrase and select from hundreds of trending GIFs.

 

watchOS 8 also brings the Contacts app to Apple Watch, providing a simple way for users to browse, add, and edit contacts, and share contacts directly from the app.

 

  Focus  

 

watchOS 8 supports Focus, a powerful set of tools available in iOS 15 to help users reduce distraction and be in the moment. Apple Watch will automatically align with any Focus set on iOS, so that notifications from people and apps are filtered based on what a user is currently doing. Focus uses on-device intelligence to make suggestions based on usage patterns — for example, when starting a workout on Apple Watch, the Focus for fitness is suggested.

 

  Additional watchOS 8 Updates  

 
  • Multiple timers come to Apple Watch and can be given a specific label using Siri® (such as "Laundry Timer" or "Cooking Timer").
  •  
  • In watchOS 8, more Apple Watch apps support the Always-On display, including Maps, Mindfulness, Now Playing, Phone, Podcasts, Stopwatch, Timers, Voice Memos, and others. watchOS 8 is also making it easier for developers to keep their apps timely and relevant with a new Always-On API for third-party apps.
  •  
  • To support Apple Watch users with upper-body limb differences, AssistiveTouch® enables one-arm usage of Apple Watch by sensing simple hand gestures to interact without touching the display. Using the built-in motion sensors, users can answer incoming calls, control an onscreen motion pointer, and surface an action menu that can access Notification Center, Control Center, and more.
  •  
  • A new Find Items app on Apple Watch helps users locate tagged items using the Find My™ network, and a new Find Devices app helps users locate lost Apple devices that are signed in with the same Apple ID.
  •  
  • The redesigned Music app   enables users to share songs, albums, and playlists through Messages and Mail, and enjoy music and radio all in one place.
  •  
  • The Weather app now supports Severe Weather notifications, displaying government alerts about certain severe weather events. The app also delivers Next Hour precipitation alerts   and offers updated complications.
  •  
  • Family Setup introduces the ability to add transit cards from Hong Kong, Japan, and select China mainland and US cities, and Calendar and Mail now include the option to add a Google account.
  •  
  • Apple Fitness+℠, the first fitness service created entirely around Apple Watch, expands its offering in watchOS 8 with Picture in Picture support and new filtering options, and users can stop and resume an in-progress workout on any device. Later this month, Fitness+ introduces a new series of workouts featuring Jeanette Jenkins, one of the most sought-after fitness experts, and a new Artist Spotlight Series with workouts featuring entire playlists from Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, and Alicia Keys.
  •  

  Privacy  

 

Apple believes privacy is a fundamental human right. Since privacy is particularly important for Health and identification, Health data is encrypted on device or in iCloud® with iCloud sync. For identification, Identity Cards in Wallet are encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element, the same hardware technology used to keep Apple Pay private and secure. Apple cannot see when or where digital IDs are presented when using a driver's license or state ID.

 

  Availability  

 

The developer beta of watchOS 8 is available to Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting today. A public beta will be available to watchOS users next month at beta.apple.com . watchOS 8 will be available this fall as a free software update for Apple Watch Series 3 or later paired with iPhone 6s or later, running iOS 15. Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages, or on all devices. Features are subject to change. For more information, visit apple.com/watchos/watchos-preview .

 

  Footnotes  

 

  1 Digital car keys require a participating car manufacturer and will be coming later this year.
2 Support for new keys in Apple Wallet® requires a compatible door lock for homes, offices, and hotels that will be available through third parties.

 

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple's five software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple's more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

 

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple Newsroom ( www.apple.com/newsroom ), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

 

© 2021 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, watchOS, Apple Watch, Apple Pay, HomeKit, HomePod, HomePod mini, iPhone, HealthKit, Siri, AssistiveTouch, Find My, Apple Fitness+, iCloud, and Apple Wallet are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

 

  

  

Nikki Rothberg
Apple
nrothberg@apple.com  
408-974-4427

 

Lance Lin
Apple
lance_lin@apple.com  
408-974-5036

 

News Provided by Business Wire via QuoteMedia

The Conversation (0)
cell phone lying on table with app icons floating above it

How to Invest in Mobile Apps (Updated 2024)

The ubiquity of mobile devices and their prominence in everyday life has led to the development of mobile apps for everything from gaming and dating to banking and stock trading.

Mobile apps began rising to prominence in 2007 with the launch of the iPhone, which heralded a new era in connectivity brought about by revolutionary touch technology. The field has grown widely from thereon out, and the diversity of today’s offerings makes investing in mobile apps an appealing prospect.

With about 2.87 million apps in Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google Play Store and around 1.96 million apps available in Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store, there is no shortage of app choices for mobile devices.

Keep reading...Show less
Icons for various apps floating above a smartphone.

Social Media Stocks: 5 Biggest Companies

The world’s largest social media platforms have revolutionized the way people connect on the internet, and the companies behind these platforms can offer major investment opportunities.

This year's strong rally in technology stocks, led by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB), is a clear example of the huge presence social media companies have in the stock market. In late April, shares of the social media giant jumped 14.6 percent on higher-than-expected earnings. The news came alongside increasing investor confidence in the broader tech industry.

“Meta earnings show the company’s commitment to cost discipline while driving accelerating N-T revenue growth and also continuing to invest in longer-term transformational technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the metaverse,” said Doug Anmuth, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM).

Keep reading...Show less
BlackBerry Extends Partnership with Leading Managed Security Services Provider  to Ensure SMBs are Set Up for Cyber Success

BlackBerry Extends Partnership with Leading Managed Security Services Provider to Ensure SMBs are Set Up for Cyber Success

 
 

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) and Solutions Granted today announced an extended partnership, naming the leading cybersecurity services provider a Master Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP), enabling it to better scale and meet the growing demand for cybersecurity services among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

 
 

  BlackBerry Logo Black (PRNewsfoto/Blackberry Limited) 

 

"Solutions Granted has been honored as BlackBerry MSSP Partner of the Year for North America for five consecutive years and we're excited to take our partnership to the next level by crowning them as our top Master MSSP," said Adam Enterkin , Chief Revenue Officer, Americas, BlackBerry Cybersecurity. "BlackBerry is dedicated to increasing its focus on MSSP partners to ensure they're set up for success. Endpoints are proliferating, and so are the cyberattacks against them. Our extended partnership with Solutions Granted will help hundreds of small and mid-size businesses continuously adapt to an ever-changing threat landscape."

 

As a 'Master MSSP', Solutions Granted will be better positioned to help its own partners to deliver Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and other Managed Security Services to their mid-market and SMB clients.  In partnership with BlackBerry and heavily leveraging the Cylance® AI-powered portfolio, Solutions Granted helps thousands of clients secure their environments and prevent attacks. By working with Solutions Granted, MSSPs and managed service providers (MSPs) can offer industry leading managed security, without making the significant investment of building out their own security operations center (SOC).

 

  CylanceENDPOINT™ is among the solutions it helps managed service providers (MSPs) deploy to clients, either as individual managed services or integrated into a SOC-as-a-service offering.

 

"BlackBerry's support for our business model provides the flexibility we need to continue to meet customer demand and provide the best possible product support for their business needs," said Michael E. Crean , Chief Executive Officer, Solutions Granted. "We value the investment BlackBerry is making in our partnership and know this will go a long way in setting up our customers for success."

 

To learn more about BlackBerry MSSP Partners, visit blackberry.com/us/en/partners/mssp-partners .

 

  About BlackBerry  

 

 BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world.  The company secures more than 500M endpoints including over 215M vehicles.  Based in Waterloo, Ontario , the company leverages AI and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions, and is a leader in the areas of endpoint management, endpoint security, encryption, and embedded systems.  BlackBerry's vision is clear - to secure a connected future you can trust.

 

 BlackBerry. Intelligent Security. Everywhere.

 

For more information, visit BlackBerry.com and follow @BlackBerry.

 

  Trademarks, including but not limited to BlackBerry and EMBLEM Design are the trademarks or registered trademarks of BlackBerry Limited, and the exclusive rights to such trademarks are expressly reserved.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  BlackBerry is not responsible for any third-party products or services.  

 

  About Solutions Granted Inc.  

 

Solutions Granted is a Master Managed Security Services Provider (Master MSSP). They offer cybersecurity solutions to North American MSPs and MSSPs and are committed to delivering solutions without requiring minimums, commitments, or long-term contracts. They proudly offer many security layers as well as a 24x7 U.S.-based Security Operations Center (SOC). Over the past several years, Solutions Granted has emerged as a clear leader in the channel, by winning countless awards including the CRN Security 100 list, Top 100 MSSP List, Top Global MSSP List, and BlackBerry MSSP Partner of the Year. Learn more at https://www.SolutionsGranted.com  

 

  Media Contacts:  

 

 BlackBerry Media Relations

 

+1 (519) 597-7273

 

  mediarelations@BlackBerry.com  

 
 
 

 Cision View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blackberry-extends-partnership-with-leading-managed-security-services-provider-mssp-to-ensure-smbs-are-set-up-for-cyber-success-301803800.html  

 

SOURCE BlackBerry Limited

 
 

News Provided by PR Newswire via QuoteMedia

Keep reading...Show less
BlackBerry's Quarterly Threat Intelligence Report Finds Banks, Healthcare Providers and Food Retailers are Top Targets for Cybercrime

BlackBerry's Quarterly Threat Intelligence Report Finds Banks, Healthcare Providers and Food Retailers are Top Targets for Cybercrime

 
 

   Geopolitical unrest positions key industries as targets for state-sponsored actors and financially motivated attacks   

 

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) today released its latest Quarterly Global Threat Intelligence Report highlighting an increase in cyberattacks directed at financial institutions, food retailers and healthcare providers, with 60 percent of all attacks targeting these three key industries.

 

News Provided by PR Newswire via QuoteMedia

Keep reading...Show less
person using credit card to pay for something on their phone

Mobile Investing in Australia

After lagging behind for a prolonged period, Australia's tech sector is ramping up at an accelerated pace. The tech sector is now equivalent to 8.5 percent of the country's GDP as of the end of 2021, an increase of 26 percent since the onset of COVID-19 through June 2021 and a massive 79 percent increase over the past five years. Tech contributes AU$167 billion to the Australian economy, trailing only the mining (AU$205 billion) and financial/insurance (AU$169 billion) sectors.

Australia's characteristically resilient economy — which had not experienced a recession in nearly 30 years prior to COVID-19 lockdowns — has provided a sturdy backdrop for its growing tech sector. The growth in the tech sector’s contribution to the GDP has outpaced average growth of other industries by more than 400 percent, a gain partly attributable to accelerated digital technology adoption during the pandemic.

This dramatic expansion is largely in response to Australia's need to catch up to the rest of the world and assert itself in the global tech marketplace. Should the tech sector continue to grow at its current rate it will eventually surpass the relative GDP contribution of the long dominant mining sector. This will also complete the process of bringing Australia more in line with other western economies such as the UK, and notably Canada, which is comparable to Australia in terms of its dominant mining and agricultural industries.

Keep reading...Show less
DGTL Holdings Completes Acquisition of Engagement Labs

DGTL Holdings Completes Acquisition of Engagement Labs

DGTL Holdings Inc. (TSXV: DGTL) (OTCQB: DGTHF) (WKN: A2QB0L) (FSE: D0G) ("DGTL Holdings") and Engagement Labs Inc. (TSXV: EL) ("Engagement Labs") are pleased to announce that DGTL has completed its previously announced acquisition of Engagement Labs by way of a plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement").

Transaction Details

News Provided by Newsfile via QuoteMedia

Keep reading...Show less

Latest Press Releases

Related News

×