After delaying its original intended rollout date due to a development glitch, Apple has finally gotten around to releasing its updated platform for the Apple Watch.
WatchOS 2 is now live, and the new version comes packed with new features and improvements for the Apple wearable.
One of the most noted of the new features in WatchOS 2 is the new user interface called Time Travel. With this option, Apple Watch owners can rotate the digital crown to see events up to 72 hours right on the watch face. The Time Travel interface corresponds to how the user rotates the crown – a clockwise turn will let the owner see reminders, tasks, upcoming appointments, and other future events, while a counterclockwise spin will show past events like news and weather.
Aside from the new interface, the new WatchOS 2 also opens the Apple Watch's hardware features all the way. In the first iteration of the software, third-party apps could not access all of the features of the wearable and needed to run information first through native apps. In the new platform, indie apps are now able to use the smartwatch's accelerometer, heart rate sensor, Taptic Engine, and other hardware options, and collect data on their own. This improvement provides much faster response times of third-party apps.
The WatchOS 2 also brings cosmetic improvements to the Apple Watch like new watch faces. With the new platform, the Apple Watch can now showcase Time Lapse faces in places like London, Paris, Mack Lake, and New York, and the faces come alive with wrist movements. The time-lapse faces come native with the new platform but it is uncertain if the watches with the new OS will allow custom time lapse faces from iPhone 6s owners, given that the new iPhones will come with stabilized time-lapse mode.
