What is New in Apple WatchOS 2.0

Introduction

Recently, Apple unveiled Apple Watch 2 at WWDC 2015 and there are several surprising features for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch generations.

The most interesting personal technology product of the year, without question, is the Apple Watch.

The following are the features of Apple Watch 2.

New Face

Do you have a photo of your dear one's on your phone's lock screen?

Now you can set their photo as your watch face, or an entire album of the moments we have spent with them that circulates through a gallery of photos. There's also cool time-lapse animations of major cities that change based on the time of day for various locations, like Hong Kong, London, New York, Shanghai and more.

You can even customize your watch face with a special image from the Photos app available on your watch. Because sometimes it's nice to visit your favorite picture again and again.

You can even display multiple images every time you raise your wrist by selecting your Favorites photos, or by choosing any photo album you love that will appear on your watch face.

Nightstand

There's a nightstand mode that allows you to keep the watch face on all night while it's charging. When your watch is charging on your bed-side table, you can now flip it on its side and still view the time. The clock rotates 90 degrees to make it easier to read. You can even use the Digital Crown and side button to control the snooze and off functionality for your set alarms.

Face Time Calls

With this future release, Face Time Audio is also available for Apple Watch. The next time you get pinged over Apple's native VoIP service, you'll see it on your watch with the option to answer, just like a regular phone call.

Transit Information

Watch OS 2 adds Transit, with all of the enhancements to Apple Maps on OS X and iOS 9. In select cities around the world, you'll see accurate train, subway, bus schedules and detailed maps. Now you can initiate new directions by tapping your wrist.

Add friends

watchOS 2 lets you add multiple Friends screens. You can have multiple groups for friends, family and work contacts. You can also use the Apple Watch app on your iPhone to organize your friends into groups.

Fitness and Health Tracking

The Workout app gives athletes more detailed information and measurement. You'll get real-time stats on your time spent, distance travelled, calories burned, pace and speed for activities such as running, walking and cycling. Native HealthKit support will allow apps such as Strava to show your pedaling heart rate as you go. Strava uses the heart rate sensor to gather and display data during workouts. The Activity app collects data on all your movement in the day, whether it be standing, moving or running.

Digital Crown

One of the biggest innovations of the Apple Watch is the Digital Crown. Just double-press the digital crown and then tap your watch to the payment terminal for mobile payments, to pay for goods using Apple Pay. By simply rotating the Digital Crown, users can zoom and scroll quickly and precisely, without obstructing their view of the display. The Digital Crown also acts as a Home button. Tap it and you're back to the Home screen, just as you would be on an iPhone or iPad.

Time Travel

With Time Travel, you can turn the Digital Crown to see what's happening and what's already happened yesterday, today and tomorrow. While viewing the TimeTravel menu that pulls in a calendar, weather and other data about your day, you can see what the weather will be like for your lunch date tomorrow. Check your schedule for later today or go back in time to catch up on news headlines you may have missed. No, you can't literally jump backward in time and undo your most recent screwup, but you can use the Apple Watch's Digital Crown to see what your schedule was like in previous days.

Siri

With watchOS 2, Siri is an even more versatile personal assistant. Not only can she understand you better, but Siri can now start a specific workout from the Exercise app without your assistance. With Siri on your wrist, you won't need to lift a finger to check the weather or compose a reply to your friends.

Conclusion

With the new features and capabilities that watchOS 2 brings to WatchKit, your apps can integrate even more closely with Apple Watch. Take advantage of the Digital Crown, microphone, Taptic engine and health sensors to take your Apple Watch app to the next level. And with ClockKit, you can extend your app to the clock face with Complications.