Apple’s large software program showcase, WWDC, is subsequent week (June 6), and the corporate is predicted to unveil new variations of iOS, macOS and extra.
Apple Watch‘s newest software program, watchOS 9 can also be anticipated to be there, and the corporate is in somewhat little bit of a tough place the place it feels burdened by its success – watchOS 8 was a reasonably mild launch, however it’d nonetheless be honest to say it’s head and shoulders (or wrist?) above what’s being supplied by the competitors.
Whereas we’ve coated a full wishlist elsewhere, displaying there are areas the place Apple can enhance, we’ve put collectively the next record of how to enhance the Apple Watch as a health tracker in mild of competitors from the likes of the Fitbit Sense and the upcoming Pixel Watch.
From battery life to coalescing information higher, right here’s every part we wish to see for health in watchOS 9 and the subsequent Apple Watch.
1. Higher battery life
Should you’ve used an Apple Watch at any level in the previous couple of years (maybe apart from the unique), you’ll know that it gives way more utility than your common smartwatch.
There’s an entire App Retailer in your wrist, the chance to obtain music and podcasts, and all types of sensors inside. As you may think about, meaning there’s a good quantity occurring at anyone cut-off date, and that’s not together with when you begin receiving texts or paying for issues with Apple Pay.
Sadly, meaning the Apple Watch’s battery life pales compared to Fitbit and different rivals, with the Apple Watch lasting two days (when you swap off the always-on show) and its competitors working for a complete week.
Whereas we acknowledge the Apple Watch does extra, we’d like it if Apple may eke out somewhat extra utilization from a single cost, particularly given how power-efficient the newest Apple Silicon-packing gadgets are.
2. Higher sleep monitoring and a “Readiness Rating” various
One cause for minimizing battery drain on the Apple Watch is to assist with sleep monitoring. Presently, even with the newest Apple Watch Series 7, your watch will immediate you to cost earlier than mattress so you may set your Sleep Focus mode for monitoring your relaxation.
Comparatively, Fitbit followers have it a lot simpler – you simply go to mattress, and the tracker does the remainder. Neither is prone to be 100% correct, however it’d be honest to say that Apple, identified for its ‘it simply works’ mentality, is lagging behind right here.
We’d love for the Apple Watch to detect when your physique is at relaxation. It already denotes cases of low coronary heart charge, so why not construct a much bigger image of your sleeping patterns from there?
Talking of placing information collectively to type a bigger complete, we’d like to see Apple pinch one thing akin to the ‘Readiness Rating’ from Fitbit. The thought is that your Fitbit tracker will present a rating primarily based in your exercise, relaxation, weight loss program, and sleep when you’re a Fitbit Premium subscriber. In case your readiness rating is low, you understand to keep away from strenuous exercise or relaxation up.
Apple Watch is nice for monitoring exercise, however we’d like to see it monitor restoration, too, particularly given how essential these metrics are to monitoring long-term well being objectives.
3. A customizable exercise show
Apple’s built-in exercise is nice for monitoring every part from a stroll, to a dash, to a prolonged health club session, and we’d think about that watchOS will invariably add much more exercise varieties to select from. Customers even have the choice of including third-party choices like Strava for deeper seems to be at particular exercise varieties.
So what wants to vary? Merely put, the Apple Watch exercise display may actually do with an overhaul.
A lot of the expertise of the Apple Watch revolves round “closing your rings” for standing, train, and energy burned, however none of these are proven on the exercise app itself.
You additionally aren’t capable of see issues like steps throughout a stroll. Positive, distance is there, however one thing modular the place customers can swap out elements of the show can be nice.
Dare we are saying it, there’s even the potential for fitness-specific issues throughout the app, monitoring the metrics you select and maybe having a number of health views for various exercise varieties.
4. Well being app involves watchOS
On iOS, the Well being app is the place you’ll discover extra information than you’re prone to know what to do with; Step counts, hydration, and even understanding how regular your stroll is.
Whereas lots of the Well being app’s performance might be discovered siloed off in varied apps on watchOS, there’s one thing to be stated for holding all of that information in a single place in your wrist.
5. Extra autonomy
Apple Watch could run watchOS, however it’s basically a companion to iOS. That’s not essentially a nasty factor, permitting for fixed information switch, however issues do get a bit difficult.
For one, when you’ve ever tried to sync music or podcasts between your iPhone and your Apple Watch, notably via one thing like Spotify, you’ll know there’s a number of pointless issues within the course of and it’s usually onerous to inform what’s downloaded the place.
Hopefully, Apple could make it simpler to put in or switch information onto your Apple Watch while not having an iPhone.
Lastly, and piggybacking considerably off of the concept of doing extra on the Apple Watch itself, we’d like to see the Apple Watch opened as much as Android customers.
Family Setup, very like opening up FaceTime links, seems like a strong step in the correct path to opening up a few of Apple’s finest options to those that don’t wish to use an iPhone, however there’s extra to be finished.
For one, we’ve misplaced monitor of the variety of household and mates which have requested if an Apple Watch is well worth the cash, to which we reply sure, however have to inform them to look elsewhere as a result of their telephone has somewhat inexperienced character inside versus an Apple on the again.
We’d cease wanting saying Apple is leaving cash on the desk (we’re not working trillion-dollar firms), however it feels just like the Apple Watch may provide a superb health tracker for the Android lots.
Whereas we acknowledge that many options would nonetheless stay iOS-specific, it’s not exterior of the realms of chance in the identical manner that AirPods work with Android gadgets.
