Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the Apple Watch’s software will receive its greatest update. The rumor suggests Apple will unveil a new watchOS ten interfaces at WWDC in June, along with its mixed-reality headset, new Mac computers, and iOS 17.
If the report is true, the watchOS update maybe even more significant than the iOS and iPadOS updates, which brought several of users’ most requested features and possibly laid the groundwork for sideloading apps from outside the App Store.
Gurman has previously reported on Apple’s plans to update its operating system with watchOS, but this is the first time he has called it the most significant user interface update since the Watch’s launch.
This month, Gurman claimed the new watchOS would be a “fairly extensive upgrade,” including user interface modifications.
The Apple Watch’s user interface hasn’t changed since 2015. But plenty of designers have tried their watchOS concepts that rethink the home screen from the array of tiny apps you navigate with a finger to those that embrace different ideas, including iPhone-like concepts that support widgets or app folders.
Gurman said watchOS 10 would “bring bigger enhancements” than iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV updates. The “updated interface” will tell you “most of what you need to know about the Apple Watch in 2023,” he says. According to the article, however, the Watch’s primary headline and focus will be the software upgrade.
The redesigned interface was just described as an “update,” not a “redesign,” thus it may not be a comprehensive redesign. Still, there’s a lot of anticipation for a fresh experience for the Apple Watch, whose software is starting to feel dated after numerous iOS releases that have rethought how apps are organized and engaged with, including automatically organized folders in the App Library, interactive widgets via Live Activities, and Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets for live app information. But, of course, a wristwatch interface employs complexities, not widgets, to present information, and its restricted screen space requires distinct ideas and behaviors.
Most watchOS versions have been small modifications, with most user interface improvements coming from watch faces.
Apple’s keynote talk at WWDC 2023 will unveil its new AR/VR headset, xrOS, and other software improvements.
