Apple watchOS 6 :: First Impressions
by Volker Weber
This is the shallow reason I risked updating my Apple Watch with the current watchOS 6 beta. I wanted the colors in my favorite watchface to go away. Infograph suits me really well, it packs a ton of information into a regular watch face with hour and minute hands. But the watchOS 5 version is way too colourful for my taste. It is still available but you can now change it to a more monochome look.
I was lucky. Although I went beta I have not run into any issues yet. Judging from my first 24 hours I would say this is ready to go. But what do I know? There is probably a lot to do to get it there.
Most watchfaces in watchOS 5 were still built for the first generations Watch up to version 3. But now we finally get more faces that make good use of the screen estate from very elaborate ones to more elegant designs. It is unlikely I would ever choose any of them, but that is completely up to your own taste.
There are quite a few new apps, like a caculator, (menstrual) cycle tracking, you can find your friends, track the noise around you, and did we have a radio? I don't know. While I am a heavy Apple Watch user, I am not much into apps. It watches over my health, it notifies me of important events in my life, but I don't spend much time looking at it.
The really big changes are the App Store and the ability to install software updates without going through the iPhone. Apple Watch is getting ever more independent from iPhone. It isn't there yet, but it is making progress.
Comments
I have a grasp on my series 3 watch without beta, yes. My user is similar, the occasions for which I look at it are to check my activity progress, my next calendar event or - surprise - the time.
