Apple Seeds Third Beta of watchOS 4.2 to Developers - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Seeds Third Beta of watchOS 4.2 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 4.2 update to developers for testing purposes, one week after releasing the second watchOS 4.2 beta and two weeks after releasing the watchOS 4.1 update.

Once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center, the new watchOS 4.2 beta can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software update.

watchos4
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 4.2 brings support for Apple Pay Cash, Apple's new peer-to-peer payment service that is designed to let users send money to one another. Apple Pay Cash can be used to send and receive money through the Messages app on the Apple Watch.

Aside from Apple Pay Cash, watchOS 4.2 appears to focus primarily on under-the-hood bug fixes and security updates.

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

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
ios 26 4 yellow

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for iOS 26.4

Wednesday March 18, 2026 11:56 am PDT by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, which means we're going to see a public launch as soon as next week. The RC versions of the software include Apple's official release notes, giving us final details on what's included in the update. Apple Music - Playlist Playground (beta) generates a playlist from your...
Apple Logo Sketch Feature

Apple Has Now Unveiled Eight New Products This Month

Tuesday March 17, 2026 9:25 am PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping eight new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, and now the AirPods Max 2 this week. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone...

Top Rated Comments

iBreatheApple Avatar
109 months ago
I was excited for the Siri face but I don’t really understand it and it seems pretty useless.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chfilm Avatar
109 months ago
Hopefully series 2 will speed up eventually again with one of these updates... the workout and music apps are just a laggy mess right now.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
109 months ago
I was excited for the Siri face but I don’t really understand it and it seems pretty useless.
I agree... I went back to Modular. The weird random photo in my photo library is distracting.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
109 months ago
Exactly... This is an absurd move on their part. Ability to "remotely" (from the watch) launch, browse and play any and all of my bought and paid for mp3s collected over the last 15+ years.....
Indeed
Strip out a feature and add its replacement to series 3 only. Such a cheap trick
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
themick4u Avatar
109 months ago
More importantly iPhone Music Sync'd (by iTunes) Library available? I think that's what Themick4U means but just simply wording it as Controlling iPhone Music ... this can be done with Bluetooth Headphones +Apple Watch S2 + iPhone, so long as music playback is directly initiated "ON" the iPhone first, then the watch can control as it indicates. But I think you, myself, icewolf and many others NEED to have full sync'd library access.

I just don't get Apple FORCING music playback by a) Paying for Apple Music streaming service, and b) enabling this. My data plan and many others in Canada for a single user does NOT allow for lengthy data streams daily within a month alottment.
Exactly... This is an absurd move on their part. Ability to "remotely" (from the watch) launch, browse and play any and all of my bought and paid for mp3s collected over the last 15+ years.....

Check out this read today here:
https://9to5mac.com/2017/11/14/feature-request-iphone-music-control-remote-apple-watch/
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DeepIn2U Avatar
109 months ago


Has iPhone music control been restored?
F^%$&# NO!

....and I'm continually submitting feedback for this specific issue and many other bugs I have discovered.
More importantly iPhone Music Sync'd (by iTunes) Library available? I think that's what Themick4U means but just simply wording it as Controlling iPhone Music ... this can be done with Bluetooth Headphones +Apple Watch S2 + iPhone, so long as music playback is directly initiated "ON" the iPhone first, then the watch can control as it indicates. But I think you, myself, icewolf and many others NEED to have full sync'd library access.

I just don't get Apple FORCING music playback by a) Paying for Apple Music streaming service, and b) enabling this. My data plan and many others in Canada for a single user does NOT allow for lengthy data streams daily within a month alottment.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)