There are someexcellent new featuresfor the Apple Watch in watchOS 11. There’s a new feature that can look for signs of sleep apnea and inform you if you may have the condition. There’s a newVitals appthat tracks health metrics from day-to-day and alerts you if they’re outside your usual range. You can even optimize your workouts by using the newTraining Loadfeature.
watchOS 11 is still missing this one much-needed feature
One simple change would make my Apple Watch so much easier to use.
There are some useful features that have flown a little under the radar, however. If you’ve updated to watchOS 11 or bought a newApple Watch Series 10with the software preinstalled, then there may be some great features that you’re unaware of. Here are five of the best watchOS 11 features that you’re probably not using.
Apple Watch Series 10
The Series 10 is Apple’s thinnest Apple Watch yet. It also features the company’s largest smartwatch screen to date, allowing the device to display more text and a bigger keyboard for typing. Battery life still comes in at the 18-hour mark, though the device can charge faster than its predecessors.
1Varying your Activity targets for different days of the week
The same targets every day don’t always make sense
Our lives vary from day to day, and so does the amount of activity we do. By default, theActivity appon Apple Watch gives you the same targets for every day of the week. That means you’re expected to hit the same Move target, the same Exercise target, and the same Stand target every day from Monday to Sunday.
In watchOS 11, you may nowvary your targetsfrom day to day, so that the targets are more fitting for what’s going on in your life on a daily basis. For example, if you play pickleball every Tuesday evening, you’re going to easily hit your daily 30-minute exercise target, so you don’t really have much incentive to get some exercise during the rest of the day. In watchOS 11, you can now change that target to 90 minutes, to encourage you to get some more exercise throughout the day and stop being so sedentary.
You can also reduce your target for certain days of the week. If you drive four hours each way to see a relative every Sunday, you’re unlikely to hit your 12-hour daily Stand target. In watchOS 11, you can reduce your target just for that day, so you still have an achievable goal to hit after all that sitting down.
2There’s more to the Tides app than just tide times
It’s a useful app even if you don’t live on the coast
If you don’t live on the coast, you might think that the Tides app is a bit of a waste of time. Why would you care about the times for low tide or high tide when you’re hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean?
Well, the next time you are near the ocean, don’t forget about the useful app you have on your wrist. For starters, it can tell you where the nearest beach is, based on your current location. You can use the digital crown to scroll forward in time to see how the tide changes, but also to see when sunrise and sunset occur.
Tap the location, and you get even more information, including the current swell, the weather including UV index and visibility, the wind, and sunrise and sunset times, along with the times of first and last light. You can even open the location of your nearest beach in the Maps or Weather apps if you want further information.
You can also add your favorite beaches to the app and get information about weather, swell and tide times even when your miles away. It’s definitely worth taking a look at.
3Useful ticket information in the Wallet app
There’s a lot more to find than just the tickets themselves
The Wallet app has always been a useful way to store tickets for travel, sports, concerts, and more, as well as storing your payment cards forApple Pay. In watchOS 11, you can find even more information about your tickets directly within the Wallet app.
If you open a ticket in the Wallet app on your Apple Watch, you’ll see a lot of useful information, such as the time the event starts, your seat number, and more. If you scroll down and tapPass Detailsyou’ll find even more information, which can include everything from a link to the venue in Maps, directions to the parking lot, expected finish times, the venue’s policies, and other useful pieces of key information.
Almost anything you need to know about the event can now be found within the ticket in the Wallet app, right there on your wrist whenever you need it.
4A much-improved Photos face
Your Apple Watch will choose the most suitable options
The biggest problem with digital photographs is that we never really look at them. With a camera roll full of thousands of shots, including those 27 shots you took trying to getthe perfect selfie, the very best photos often go overlooked and never see the light of day. The Photos face on the Apple Watch has always been the perfect way to your best photos of people or places every time you look at your watch.
In watchOS 11, the Photos face is now even better. That’s because it uses machine learning to find the very best photos to display on your wrist. This includes considering the framing, the composition, and the image quality to ensure that every photo that appears on your wrist works perfectly as a watch face.
You can choose to show photos of specific people, photos that feature nature, photos that feature cities, or a combination of all three. It’s still also possible to select your own photos, although this means that they may not look as good on your wrist as the ones that your Apple Watch selects.
5Check In from Messages and Workouts
Let people know when you arrive or finish a run
If you’ve ever seen the movie 127 Hours or read the true story Between a Rock and a Hard Place that the movie was based on, you’ll probably still have nightmares about going on a solo hike and getting your arm trapped by a rock. Aron Rolston, who had to cut off his own arm to escape this situation, must have wished he’d been wearing an Apple Watch.
That’s because in watchOS 11, you can now use theCheck Infeature in both the Messages and Workout apps, to let other people know when you’ve made it to a destination or have finished a workout. If you don’t get where you’re going, your Apple Watch can let them know and send them your current location.
In Messages, you may use the Check In feature to let someone know when you reach a specific destination, or to check in after a specific length of time. They’ll be notified when you send the Check In, when you end it, or if you fail to make progress towards your destination and don’t respond to a notification on your Apple Watch.
In the Workout app, you may use Check In when you start a Workout (such as a long and dangerous solo hike), and the recipient will be notified when you complete the Workout. If your Workout is interrupted, and you don’t respond to the notification on your Apple Watch (because your arm is trapped by a giant boulder, for instance), then the recipient will be notified and sent your current location.
