Hands-On With watchOS 7's Sleep Tracking, Watch Face Sharing and Handwashing Monitor

watchOS 7, introduced last week and available for developers, is a significant update that introduces useful new Apple Watch features like sleep tracking and watch face sharing.


We went hands-on with watchOS 7 in our latest YouTube video to give MacRumors readers a preview of what's coming when the update launches later this year.

Apple still isn't allowing custom watch faces, but it did add more flexibility in watchOS 7. Multiple complications from a single app can be used on your watch face, so if you wanted to do something like set up a surfing themed watch face with info on swells, water temperature, and more all taken from one app, you can do so.

watchos7multiplecomplications
There are several Apple-created complications to add to the Apple Watch in watchOS 7 for accessing Shortcuts, the Camera Remote app, Moon phases, Sleep Tracking, and the World Clock.

There's also a new feature that allows for watch face sharing, so you can create useful watch faces and share them with friends and family over apps like Mail and Messages, or with a broader audience on the web. Apple also plans to highlight useful watch faces in the App Store.

Apple added a new Chronograph Pro watch face with a tachymeter, plus tweaked a few others. The Photos face supports color filters and the X-Large face works with complications.

Sleep Tracking lets the Apple Watch be worn at night to track how much sleep you're getting, with sleep habits over time visible in the Health app on the iPhone. The Apple Watch's sleep tracking doesn't provide detailed data on metrics like deep sleep or light sleep, but it does come alongside Sleep Mode, Wind Down, and alarm features to maximize how much sleep you're getting.

watchos7sleepmode
Sleep Mode turns the Apple Watch's display off and activates Do Not Disturb while you're asleep, and it can be set to come on automatically based on the sleep schedule programmed into the watch. Wind Down works with your own pre-bedtime preferences and can do things like suggest that you open a meditation app or turn down the lights as you get ready to sleep. In the morning, the Apple Watch can wake you up with a haptic alarm, greeting you in the morning with a weather report.

To make sure you have enough battery, the Apple Watch provides notifications when it needs to be charged above 30 percent before bedtime, and if you're charging in the morning while you get ready for the day, you'll see an alert on your phone letting you know when the Apple Watch has a full charge.

Sleep tracking battery drain isn't too bad, and in our experience it drained about 30 percent throughout the night, something that Apple may be able to improve over the beta testing period.

Along with sleep tracking, Apple introduced a new handwashing monitoring feature that helps people wash their hands for the recommended 20 second duration. When the Apple Watch detects handwashing motions and the sound of running water, it starts up a 20 second countdown.

watchos7 hand washing
Apple renamed the "Activity" app to "Fitness" in watchOS 7 and added new workouts that include Dance, Functional Strength Training, Core Training, and Cool Downs, and it provides more data post workout.

iOS 14 features like cycling directions for bike riders and EV routes for electric vehicle owners have been added, Siri can offer spoken translations, ‌Siri‌ requests are now faster with on-device dictation, and there are new hearing health features to better protect your hearing when listening to music.

watchOS 7 is limited to developers at the current time, but Apple plans to release a watchOS 7 beta for public beta testers for the first time. watchOS software can't be downgraded, so when the public beta software releases, beta testers will still want to use caution before installing.

After a few months of beta testing to work out bugs and streamline new features, watchOS 7 will see a public release this fall alongside iOS 14.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
macbook pro blue green

M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025

Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026. Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Will Expand to These 8 U.S. States

Tuesday July 8, 2025 11:26 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
iPhone 17 Air Colors Thumb 2

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air Rumored to Come in These 9 Colors

Friday July 11, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia. The iPhone 17 Air's expected color options. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air in colors to match their...

Top Rated Comments

FloatingBones Avatar
66 months ago

WatchOS 7 was the most disappointing part of the keynote because it’s such an immature OS compared to iOS or macOS, but they added nothing I’d even consider using. No custom/third party watch faces, no iPhone independence, nothing even marginally interesting. Just more “features” that nag you like the parents of a disobedient toddler.
If that's the way you feel, you should definitely wash your hands of this version.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ericg301 Avatar
66 months ago

Exactly this. I don’t need my watch to tell me I haven’t had enough sleep!
the more data the better.

a few years ago, i noticed that my resting heart rate overnight had shot up. it avg'ed 55 bpm, but one night it was in the 70s. next day i came down with the flu.

my watch knew my body was fighting an infection before i felt it.

now i realize there's not much i could actually do with that data, but after that, my POV is the more data the merrier. it's interesting to look at sleep patterns based on various variables. dinner after 8pm? less sleep. alcohol in the evening? fall asleep sooner but woke up often throughout the night. determine how my sleep is impacted by exercise in the AM or PM. or the biggest for me was realizing that my go-to sleep aid had zero affect on my amount of sleep, even if it helped me fall asleep faster.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pauloregan Avatar
66 months ago
What do people do with sleep tracking data?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
QCassidy352 Avatar
66 months ago
WatchOS 7 was the most disappointing part of the keynote because it’s such an immature OS compared to iOS or macOS, but they added nothing I’d even consider using. No custom/third party watch faces, no iPhone independence, nothing even marginally interesting. Just more “features” that nag you like the parents of a disobedient toddler.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
66 months ago

... no iPhone independence, ...
That’s not going to show up as a watchOS update, that’s going to show up with a new watch, some September.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiVolt Avatar
66 months ago
Why can't they just allow custom faces... allow devs to make custom faces. Approve them just the same way as you do apps, so there's no blatant copyright infringement of brand names.

Watch Face sharing seems so utterly stupid as an idea. They're grasping at straws, literally. The "new" faces they keep introducing are ridiculous for most people.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)