With the public challenge

powered iOS 15 and watchOS 8 now available for testing, it’s time to take a quick look at some of the features that will be available on Apple’s biggest platforms. While the upcoming watchOS may not represent as big a change as iOS 15, it does offer new health and fitness tools, as well as tighter iPhone integration.

If you want to try the public challenge powered yourself, make sure that you have taken into account the peril of running preview software. Those who simply can not wait for an upcoming stable public version of the platform can sign up for Apple’s challenge powered program and install the builds now, provided that they have an Apple Watch Series 3 or newer, as well as an iPhone with the challenge powered version of iOS 15.

Mindfulness, Health and Fitness

Apple’s new health-oriented features may be of interest to those who are looking for a more holistic approach to wellness. The company has renamed its breathing app to Mindfulness and expanded existing breathing exercises with ” Reflect “. You can set the duration of each Reflect session from one to five minutes. Before each session, a prompt will appear that will allow you to focus your thoughts, as well as a start catch.

So far I have seen similar prompts to other meditation guides telling you to be conscious of your thoughts and let them pass without judgment. Other examples are ” Think of someone who is important to you. Imagine that you could feel your connection with them” and “look at the values that are important to you in something that you focus on.”

Then a colorful swirling animation takes up the screen. I usually sit back and close my eyes at this point, but if you keep looking at your watch, the animation is a nice distraction that is almost mesmerizing. When your time is up, the clock will vibrate and display a concluding thought associated with the opening prompt, e.g. “Bring this feeling of open awareness.” They also see your heart rate and your total minutes of mindfulness for the day (including the time you spend doing breathing exercises). After two mindfulness sessions, my Apple Watch SE said that my pulse has dropped from 64 to 47 smacks per minute, which is great, I think.

It sometimes feels like a glorified timer, hits fortune cookie, hits Magic 8 Ball, all set to Windows Media Player visualizations. But in combination with all-day reminders that you can customize, mindfulness can be a valuable tool to check yourself and your way of thinking.

Some other health-oriented additions to watchOS include two new training categories: Tai Chi and Pilates. I haven’t done any of the two exercises yet, so I can’t say yet how exactly Apple is tracking them. There are also some other functions that I need more time to understand superior, such as monitoring breathing rate overnight and stability when walking. To be clear, the latter is not a special watchOS feature—it uses your iPhone hidden somewhere on your body, but I thought I’d include it here in Apple’s health updates. Walking stability requires at least two weeks of testing before an assessment can be made, so it will take some time to get results.

Messaging, new apps and iPhone integration
A large part of the watchOS 8 update is devoted to improving communication tools and integration with your iPhone. In particular, the Messages app now allows you to compose over doodles, dictations and emojis on the same screen. I scribbled a part of a post, dictated longer parts and just added emoji from a page. Editing is also less complicated than before, which is largely due to the ability to control the cursor with the digital crown. Hallelujah! Going back to insert a space or correct a misdirected “v” has become so much easier.

In addition, there is now a new option for sending GIFs in messages from the same place where you would send a number key (just tap the catch in the search window and enter your keyword).

Thanks to the new Contacts app, which allows you to find certain friends faster, communicating with people is now also easier. If you have set one of the new focus modes of iOS 15 on your iPhone, the same settings will apply to your watch. Blocked people and apps remain muted on the wrist, and an icon at the top of the screen indicates which focus mode is active.

Contacts is not the only new app for watchOS 8. Apple is also redesigning the house to make it easier to interact with your connected devices, offering you research articles, research devices and tips on your wrist. The new operating system will also add ultra-broadband support to enable more accurate car key functions such as spatial awareness. In addition, the update allows you to use your watch as a key for hotels and offices in addition to your house and car, although, of course, this only works with compatible buildings and locks. I haven’t had a chance to test these features yet.