Apple Seeds Fifth Beta of New watchOS 4 Operating System to Developers - MacRumors
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Apple Seeds Fifth Beta of New watchOS 4 Operating System to Developers

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Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming watchOS 4 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the fourth beta and two months after introducing the watchOS 4 update at its 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the watchOS 4 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update.

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To install the update, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it has to be in range of the iPhone.

watchOS 4 features three new watch faces, including a dedicated Siri watch face that displays dynamic information unique to each individual and is perhaps the most significant new feature in the update. There are also new complications for Now Playing and Apple News, and an enhanced Workout app that supports High Intensity Interval Training and new swimming options.

GymKit, a new technology platform, will let the Apple Watch interface with gym equipment for workout data sharing purposes, and the Activity app will offer up intelligent coaching and tailored workout encouragement along with new monthly activity challenges.

Many other small tweaks and changes have been introduced, all of which are outlined in our dedicated watchOS 4 roundup.

watchOS 4 is only available to developers and will not be provided to public beta testers, so non-developers need to wait until the software sees an official release in the fall to try it out.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)

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Top Rated Comments

B
BigMar89
115 months ago
Still can’t even download beta 4... continuously tells me “can’t connect to Apple Watch.”
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jhfenton Avatar
jhfenton
115 months ago
The Music app being consistently being open in WOS4 has to be contributing to the battery drain. Is there any way to disable it popping up when music is playing on the iPhone?
On the Watch app on the iPhone, under General->Screen Activation, there is a toggle for Launch Audio Apps. Turn that off. (I apologize if the menu names aren't exactly right. Those are my translations of the French menu names.)

I didn't like that functionality either, so I turned it off fairly quickly (once I found the toggle).
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonnysods Avatar
jonnysods
115 months ago
I know vertical scrolling is more natural, but I kind of like the watch dock in watchos3
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
J
Jimmyjamh
115 months ago
Not yet at least. It's strictly an indoor timer with a calorie calculation. There are no options beyond the usual Free Workout, Calorie Goal, and Time Goal. (There's no Distance Goal, since it's an indoor, non-distance workout.) As kaibelf said, it seems to be based to the boot camp style HIIT workouts (that my wife likes).

It's possible they beef the workout up later, but there's no sign of that.
I had assumed it was an indoor style timer but you’d think with it being a HIIT workout that you would be able to set interval time and break time. Something along the lines of 1 minute interval 30 second break. Without that you’ll have to constantly watch the screen to see if you’re within your times.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G
green94
115 months ago
On the Watch app on the iPhone, under General->Screen Activation, there is a toggle for Launch Audio Apps. Turn that off. (I apologize if the menu names aren't exactly right. Those are my translations of the French menu names.)

I didn't like that functionality either, so I turned it off fairly quickly (once I found the toggle).
Ah yes! Thank you!

Will report back tomorrow on battery life.

Thanks again.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jhfenton Avatar
jhfenton
115 months ago
If you don’t mind me asking what type of HIIT is it? I was also hoping for interval running workouts :/
It appears to be just another indoor exercise. It doesn't even track distance during the workout. Calorie calculations may be optimized in some way for HIIT workouts (based solely on HR). And it will classify your workouts better if you care about that.

What we need is the ability to program a traditional running interval workout with repeats and recoveries based on distance or time (e.g., 2-mile warm-up, 8 x 0.5 mile with 2 min/0.25 mile jogs, cool-down). I'm still looking for a good Watch app that handles that. (I believe RunKeeper has the basic functionality, but the app was buggy when I tried it.)

Besides battery life, it is the one major advantage that my old Garmins (315xt and 910xt) have over my Apple Watch.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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