Apple today started offering the watchOS 6 beta to select AppleSeed members, allowing some non-developers to test the software for the first time.
AppleSeed is a version of the public beta testing program that's invite only, making it more selective and limited than the open betas that are provided to all public beta testers. As AppleInsider notes, some AppleSeed members are now receiving invites for watchOS 6.
We are extending you an exclusive invitation to join the AppleSeed Program and to take part in shaping watchOS 6. As a participant, you'll get to test-drive pre-release software and provide your feedback.
Our program also includes a community discussion board, questionnaires, and a Feedback Assistant application that lets you report any quality and usability issues you find, directly to Apple. Help us improve the quality of our next release and join today.
There's no way to apply to be an AppleSeed member, so the watchOS 6 beta made available to AppleSeed participants will be limited in scale. Apple does not provide traditional watchOS public betas because there's no way to downgrade the software installed on the Apple Watch. Most people will need to wait for the fall release of watchOS 6 to give the software a try.
The watchOS 6 update brings a new App Store to the Apple Watch, so you can find and download new Apple Watch apps right on your wrist. Apple Watch apps are also no longer required to have an iPhone component, so developers can now create standalone Apple Watch apps.
There are quite a few new watch faces in watchOS 6, including Numerals Mono and Duo with huge numbers, Modular Compact, a Gradient watch face that shifts over the course of a day, a Solar Dial watch face that visualizes the sun in a 24 hour path around the dial, and the California watch face with a mix of standard numbers and Roman numerals.
watchOS 6 also includes new Audiobooks, Voice Memos, and Calculator apps, along with a new Noise app that warns you if you're exposed to sound that could damage your hearing and a new Cycle Tracking app for period tracking. Activity Trends, visible on the iPhone, is a new feature that lets you chart your fitness progress and make sure your fitness trends are improving.
New complications are available for wind speed, chance of rain, and the new Noise app, plus there's a Voice Memos complication for recording a memo quickly, a cellular strength complication, and a complication for the Calculator that opens up the app.
Siri can now provide full web search results right on the watch when asked a question, and for Mac users, the Apple Watch can now approve Mac security prompts.
For more on what's new in watchOS 6, which is going to launch this fall, make sure to check out our watchOS 6 roundup.
Top Rated Comments
[doublepost=1561410492][/doublepost]Lift your wrist and the display lights up. Why waste battery power when you aren't looking at the watch? Seems totally logically to me.
Maybe, instead, you want them to tweak *when* it triggers the screen to come on?
Running: 100m (fastest personal time 10.45sec! Guess how many times I’d look at my wrist during the run?! Not once the goal line is we’re my eyes are focused on, or my stride nothing else.
110m hurdles (personal best 12.05). Every hurdle is my focus, along with how fast my foot can get back to the floor for every precious .10th of a second and watching no ****** puts his foot over mine and pulls my foot down faster than I can and forces me not only to trip but twist and break my ankle! I sprained an ankle not knowing about this!
Long distance running: something I ne’er trained for you may get several occasional glances to help focus on. Stride, time or breathing but again not your terrain or other data while running. Pulls your focus.
Weight lifting, body building and CrossFit again you’re lifting weight and moving looking at your wrist is in between sets and reps and for me I adjust specifics then back at it.
Rowing, skiing swimming ... what workout do you really need to have battery wasted with the screen always on that boggles your mind where you’re going to be looking at it so often? Or are you just asking for something because you want it without considering how practical or useful in real world practice it really is.