Apple Reveals watchOS 8: First Look at New Features

Apple today revealed watchOS 8, the next major version of its watchOS operating system, with brand new features, including enhancements to health tracking including a new Mindfulness app and improvements to the way users interact with their Apple Watch.

Screen Shot 2021 06 07 at 9
Referring to the Apple Watch face, watchOS 8 now supports using portrait mode photos in the watch face, using data from the image to layer the date and time behind a subject in the photo. watchOS 8 also gains support for Find Items, a new standalone app on the Apple Watch that will allow users to locate and find item part of the Find My network.
apple wwdc21 watchos8 find my 06072021 carousel
Introduced in iOS 15, Focus, which provides users with a powerful set of tools to reduce distractions during work, downtime, and more will also be coming to the Apple Watch.

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

apple wwdc21 watchos8 focus fitness 06072021 inline

watchOS 8 also features a redesigned Music app that makes it easier to share songs, albums, and more through iMessage. watchOS 8 now also allows users to set multiple timers, features expanded support for the Always-On display in Apple Watch Series 4 or later for more apps such as Maps, Mindfulness, Now Playing, Phone, Podcasts, and more.

Popular Stories

Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over 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:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...

Top Rated Comments

markgpearse Avatar
53 months ago
I still don’t understand why deleting texts on my iPhone or my iPad or my MacBook don’t cause those same texts to be deleted from my Apple Watch. Why is this so difficult?
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
53 months ago
Not much of a WatchOS update.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
otternonsense Avatar
53 months ago
Not so much of an update after another year that was already not so much of an update.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
User 6502 Avatar
53 months ago
Really underwhelming update…
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SegNerd Avatar
53 months ago
So far the new watchOS does look like a fairly modest update, but let’s not forget that most new AppleWatch features are generally hardware-based, so the “big news” might have to wait for S7.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JackieTreehorn Avatar
53 months ago
I love enchantments

Attachment Image
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)