Apple has introduced a lot of its products in the market including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac or Apple TV, and a lot more. Due to its deep insight and learnings about the market, it has been able to survive and lead for so many years. Apple occasionally offers updates to its products as closed developer previews or public beta formats. This time too, Apple came up with new updates for watches and iPhones.
On Monday, March 14, these new updates were made available. After the introduction of iPhoneOS 15.4, Apple published WatchOS 8.5, which was made available to users for free. This new version is available to Apple Watch users who have a Series 3 or higher model.
How to update your device to the new version, WatchOS 8.5?
To download this new version in your Apple watches, firstly it is important to have iOS 15.4 on your iPhones. These are the steps to follow to download the new update in your iPhones:
- You need to first go to the Settings.
- Then tap on General.
- Tap on Software Update.
- And finally, tap on Download and install option and agree to the Terms and Conditions.
Once the download is finished, this will restart your phone.
For WatchOS 8.5 update you need to follow these steps
- Go to Watch App.
- Then tap on General.
- Tap on Software Update.
Features in WatchOS 8.5 version
Apple TV Purchases and Subscriptions – The Apple Watch can serve as a password device but now, according to Apple, WatchOS 8.5 users will be able to have more of Apple TV. The users with this new update will be able to authorize purchases through its Apple TV iTunes Store Service to watch their favorite movies and TV episodes.
Update in Heart Rhythm Detection – Apple watches are known for their health monitoring capabilities. The Apple users have great integrity and faith in this particular product as this product is in much news regarding detecting and alerting its users with heart-related issues. Therefore, in this new update, Apple updated atrial fibrillation (the most common type of irregular heartbeat) which can identify and notify the risk in prior. This new detection software is now available in the United States, Hong Kong, Chile, South Africa, and many other regions.
Improvement in Apple Fitness Plus – Apple watches are a fitness partner for its users, therefore to maintain this integral partnership Apple has included optional audio commentary which will describe visually demonstrated moves in a workout. Though the Apple watch already takes care of its users with disabilities as Apple Fitness Plus service provides a program for disabled users at $10 per month like a wheelchair workout detection mode. Hence this particular innovative update will help many such users.
Covid-19 Vaccination Cards – Vaccine cards have become an integral part of our lives since the Covid-19 outbreak. Because every company/industry permits its employees to enter with this card, it serves as the identity for those who have been vaccinated. The tech industry had already gotten engaged in bringing Covid health records to our phones. Hence, the Apple Watch will now support the EU Digital Covid Certificate format for usage when traveling.
Apart from this, WatchOS 8.4 version was pretty weak which was released in January and featured only a few bug fixes. Also, if you have Apple’s Series 3 watch, then the process of updating it to the new WatchOS 8.5 version may be more complicated due to its limited storage capacity.
