Apple has released the new watchOS 11 operating system, which is available to download for Apple Watch owners, while it’ll be available on the Apple Watch Series 10 out of the box.
There’s a host of new watch faces, new fitness-focused features like Training Load, a new Vitals app that’ll keep tabs on your general wellness, improvements to the Smart Stack UI and, finally, the opportunity to pause your Activity Rings to stop you being mithered when you really don’t feel like exercising.
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To update your Apple Watch directly from the handset, you’ll need to do the following (per Apple’s website):
- Make sure your watch is connected to Wi-Fi.
- On your watch, open the Settings app.
- Tap General > Software Update.
- Tap Install if a software update is available, then follow the onscreen instructions.
The release date was announced at the ‘It’s Glowtime’ event on September 9, where Apple launched the Apple Watch Series 10. However, the event, by a few expectations, was missing a couple of Apple Watch releases.
While the revamped Apple Watch Series 10 arrived, Apple held off on the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and also defied the rumours of an updated Apple Watch SE.
In the months leading up to the event, prominent reports claimed a third-generation SE model was on the way; made more affordable by a plastic casing rather than aluminium.
While the update didn’t arrive during September 9’s “It’s Glowtime” event, the watch is still on deck for 2025, according to Bloomberg’s noted Apple watcher Mark Gurman.
Writing in his weekly Power On newsletter, Gurman reports there’ll be bolder colour options with the idea of pushing the device for the youth market, given schools are behinning to clampdown on smartphone use. Gurman says the product might arrive next year once Apple has overcome some manufacturing challenges.
“Though a new Apple Watch SE wasn’t part of last week’s launch event, I’m told that the product is still moving forward — potentially for next year,” he wrote. “Apple’s manufacturing teams have been running into some cost and quality challenges with the shift to plastic, but they may have a freer hand to resolve the issues now that the transition from steel to titanium on higher-end watches is complete. Other than adding plastic, I expect the new SE to include a processor jump. The current SE is stuck on 2020-era speeds.”
The shift to plastic for the budget-friendlier, fashion-focused model could do for the Apple Watch what the iPhone 5c did for the smartphone range more than a decade ago. Apple had only made premium phones up until that point, but the lower priced handset broadened the market significantly. For exiting SE owners, the long overdue jump in processing power would likely make it a no-brainer upgrade at the right price.
