Apple’s first major update for the Apple Watch arrived fashionably late today after being pulled last week due to a critical bug.
watchOS 2 was slated to launch September 16 with iOS 9, but the release was delayed to fix a major bug that discovered at the last minute.
Apple Watch owners can now download watchOS 2.0 to their devices via the Apple Watch iPhone app by going to General >> Software Update. (Here’s more info on how to upgrade your Apple Watch the right way.)
The update requires iOS 9 and is the first major update to Apple Watch since the timepiece went on sale in April. Included among the new features is the ability to run native apps on the watch, rather than running everything off the iPhone.
watchOS 2 also gives developers access to all the Apple Watch’s sensors and hardware features like the Taptic Engine, microphone, accelerometer and heart rate monitor. Since watchOS 2 was running perfectly fine as a Gold Master, it was a bit of a surprise that Apple discovered a bug so late in the development process.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
9 responses to “watchOS 2.0 arrives fashionably late”
If rumors are correct that the bug was a Fairplay bug that prevented certain third party apps from running, then that shouldn’t be a surprise. Most of us have been running WatchOS 2 betas without any third party apps being available, except the ones we are writing ourselves. This bug may not manifest in the simulator or in direct downloads to the device, but rather from the App Store only. Note that this is just an educated guess.
This update takes some time, so plan to have your gadgets sitting untouched for a while.
I want it now! Why am I not seeing it yet? (stamps feet and huffs impatiently)
NOTE: If you are on iOS 9.1 Public Beta and want the new WatchOS 2, you will need to go to the Apple Watch app on your iPhone and remove the WatchOS 2 Beta Configuration Profile” and restart both your iPhone and Apple Watch before the update will appear in the Software Update window.
If you are on the developer beta, you do not need to do this.
Correct. DEVELOPER Beta does not require removal. PUBLIC Beta does require removal.
Has anyone noticed that when the watch is in nightstand mode, the screen will turn on to show the time when you walk in front of the watch? Am I going crazy, or this an undocumented feature. How does it do that?
I installed it earlier today. I saw the nightstand mode immediately, because that’s how the watch was sitting when I was doing the upgrade. The passcode buttons are bigger, which is an improvement.
But I don’t really easily see any other improvements. I tried modifying some of the watch faces to see if I could get to some of the new third-party complications, but even though I have DarkSkies installed and they allegedly have a complication available, I don’t see it on the “Simple” watch face.
I remember this from when I first got the watch… figuring out how to get it to do some of the things it is supposed to do is not very intuitive.
for me the biggest improvement is now developer will be able to access the sensors, which open up for a lot other possibility. Still have to wait the third party apps to catch up though.