Apple Launches watchOS 5 With Walkie-Talkie Feature, Fitness Upgrades, & More
To coincide with the official launch of iOS 12, Apple has also released watchOS 5, the newest version of the operating system for the Apple Watch, which was initially introduced at the company's annual WWDC conference in June.
watchOS 5 is a significant update, as it introduces a new Walkie-Talkie app, allowing users to quickly communicate with their contacts via push-to-talk functionality, an Activity Competitions, which allows users to compete with friends to earn points, awards and reach fitness goals, as well as auto workout detection, which makes it easier to start and stop workouts if you forget to do it yourself.
On newer Apple Watch models, like Series 4, users will no longer need to hold down the Digital Crown to activate an improved Siri, as it now incorporates a built-in "Raise to Speak" feature. Also, a dedicated Podcasts app for listening to Podcasts on Apple Watch has been added.
Several new watch faces are also available in watchOS 5, including a Breathe face for guiding you through breathing exercises, new motion faces (Fire & Water, Vapor, and Liquid Metal) that animate when your wrist is raised, and options to display images from your photo library on the Photos watch face.
Other new features on watchOS 5 also include WebKit support for allowing users to view some web content on the Apple Watch, an option to answer a FaceTime video call as audio on Apple Watch, new Workout types that include Yoga and Hiking, and many more.
watchOS 5 is available for Apple Watch Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 models, and not for the first-generation "Series 0" Apple Watch.
For a complete rundown on the list of features that are included in watchOS 5, head over to Apple now.
Now, learn more about the newly-introduced Apple Watch Series 4.