What's hot in watchOS 7

Your Apple Watch is getting a major upgrade: watchOS 7 records more useful data, tracks more activities, and delivers more personalization than ever before

- CARRIE MARSHALL

THE NEW WATCHOS 7 will put you to sleep. Not because it’s boring. Far from it. The new OS introduces something that many Apple Watch users have been wanting for a long time: native sleep tracking. And in typical Apple style, there’s more to the sleep tracker than just sleep tracking. As we’ll discover, it’s part of a whole bedtime production that’s designed to help you relax and sleep soundly.

That’s not all watchOS 7 has to offer, though. The improvements to Siri are spectacular, and the way Siri Shortcuts work opens up all kinds of exciting personalization possibilities. There are new features in Maps for cyclists, (although some countries may have to wait a while to get them). There are new faces, new ways to get them, and new complications to use with them. And as we’re sure you’ve seen, there’s a new handwashing sensor that can help you scrub long enough to kill coronavirus.

We’ve certainly come a long way since the first Apple Watch, which to an extent felt like something from a Douglas Adams book. It was the answer to something, that was clear, but nobody — including Apple — seemed entirely sure about what that something was.

Now we do. It’s a truly personal computer, a do–anything device that can track your fitness and keep an eye on your health, control your smart home, get you from A to B, translate between languages, and do all kinds of amazing things. And with watchOS 7 it’s the most flexible and customizable Apple Watch the world has ever seen. Let’s find out what it can do for you.

watchOS 7 won’t work with… Watch Series 2, Watch Series 1

watchOS 7 works with… Watch Series 6, Watch SE, Watch Series 5 Watch Series 4, Watch Series 3