Apple Seeds watchOS 8.1 Release Candidate to Developers

Apple today seeded the release candidate version of an upcoming watchOS 8.1 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming one week after the release of the fourth beta and a month after the release of the watchOS 8 update.

watchOS 8 on Apple Watch feature
To install ‌‌‌watchOS 8.1‌‌‌, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌‌‌watchOS 8‌‌‌ can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update.

To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌.

There have been no new major features discovered in watchOS 8.1, suggesting that it is a minor update that focuses on bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements. watchOS 8.1 will be released next week.

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