XDA developers: Everything new in watchOS 9: Watch faces, workout views, medication tracking, and more

Apple revealed watchOS 9 during the main keynote of WWDC 2022. This operating system comes packed with changes and additions that further make this all-day buddy a handy wearable. From a rich set of accessibility features, to new watch faces, workout views, and fitness-focused improvements — watchOS 9 further supercharges the tiny display that lives on our wrists. There’s a lot to unpack here, and we aspire to make your lives easier. Here’s everything you need to know about this version, including its release date, supported Apple Watch models, brand new introductions, and more.

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Does my Apple Watch support watchOS 9?
When was watchOS 9 released?
How can I install watchOS 9?
watchOS 9: All of the new features

Does my Apple Watch support watchOS 9?

watchOS 9

Here are the models that are compatible with watchOS 9:

Apple Watch Series 4
Apple Watch Series 5
Apple Watch SE
Apple Watch Series 6
Apple Watch Series 7
Apple Watch Series 8
Apple Watch SE 2
Apple Watch Ultra

It’s worth noting that your paired device needs to be an iPhone 8 or a newer model running at least iOS 16.

When was watchOS 9 released?

After three months of beta-testing, Apple made watchOS 9 available to the public starting September 12, 2022. If you have a compatible model, you should be able to see the update prompt in the settings.

How can I install watchOS 9?

watchOS 9

Launch the Watch app on your iPhone.
Click on General.
Tap the Software Update section.
Give the page a few second to refresh. Tap Download and Install when the watchOS 9 update appears.
Agree to the Terms of Service after reading them thoroughly.
Voila! Your watch will update itself after it finishes downloading and preparing the package. Make sure to keep your Apple Watch on its charger during the installation process.

watchOS 9: All of the new features

watchOS 9 Changelog

watchOS 9 brings great new ways to keep you active, healthy, and connected with Apple Watch. You have more ways to train and measure your workouts, a completely redesigned compass app, a new app to track your medications, more powerful sleep tracking with sleep stages, and better insights and support for your heart health if you have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

Watch Faces

Astronomy now displays current cloud coverage and star map
Lunar includes a Chinese, Hebrew, or Islamic lunar calendar wrapped around a moon with a live rendering of moon phases
Playtime includes animated numbers designed by Chicago artist Joi Fulton with editing options for background colors
Metropolitan features a type-driven watch face with numbers that dynamically change in style and weight as you turn the Digital Crown
Nike Analog, Nike Bounce, Nike Compact, Nike Digital, and Nike Hybrid, all with a tappable Nike Swoosh that launches Nike Run Club, are now available for more models of Apple Watch
Rich Complications, Chinese script options, and background color editor available on Breathe, California, Modular, Typograph and more
Portraits now supports portraits of dogs and cats and landscapes with the ability to customize the color of the background or entire photo
Ability to choose the watch face displayed when a Focus is active

Workout

Ability to customize and scroll through multiple Workout Views during a workout including Splits, Segments, Activity Rings, and more
Heart Rate Zones view uses max and resting heart rate to create personalized zones and shows time spent in each zone
Elevation view displays current elevation and elevation gain and visually maps your elevation progress during Outdoor Run, Outdoor Cycle, Outdoor Wheelchair Run Pace, Hiking, Outdoor Walk and Outdoor Wheelchair Walk Pace
Running Power view, measured in watts, shows an instantaneous measure of how much power is generated during your run (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 6 and later)
Running Form Metrics including Stride Length, Ground Contact Time, and Vertical Oscillation available in Workout Views to monitor and trend running efficiency (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 6 and later)
Custom Workout enables you to create Workouts with repeating sets of intervals that can be based on a time, distance or an open goal with automatic or manual advancement to your next set
Pacer provides a training experience to help you sustain a desired pace using alerts and a dedicated workout view
Multisport Workout supports duathlon or triathlon training with automatic detection of Open Water/Pool Swim, Indoor/Outdoor Cycle, Indoor/Outdoor Run, and transitions to the next leg
Workout alerts can be customized for metrics like pace, power, cadence, and heart rate zones
Pool Swim workouts automatically detect kickboard
SWOLF swimming efficiency metric calculated as stroke count plus time to complete lap

Fitness+

Trainer guidance displayed on-screen including targets for Intensity, strokes per minute for Rowing, revolutions per minute for Cycling, and incline percentage for Treadmill
Trainer guidance and personal fitness metrics displayed on-screen for compatible third party TVs and devices

Compass

Redesigned compass app with more in-depth information and zoomable views (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 5 and later)
Primary face supports both an analog compass dial and a digital view of current bearing and direction
Zoomed view provides analog view of bearing plus your elevation, incline and coordinates
Compass Waypoints allow you to mark your position or point of interest (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 6 and later)
Backtrack uses GPS to track your historic path in case you get lost or disoriented (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 6 and later)

Sleep

Sleep stage tracking using data from the accelerometer and heart rate sensor to detect time spent in REM, Core, and Deep sleep, as well as awake
Comparisons chart provides a view of heart rate and respiratory rate alongside time asleep in the Health app on iPhone

Medications

Capabilities to log as-needed and scheduled medications, including the amount and time taken
Ability to view medication schedule and what you have logged for the day
Reminders to log scheduled medications
Medications complication to see your schedule or quickly open the app

AFib History

Weekly notifications with estimate of the percentage of time spent in atrial fibrillation during previous calendar week
Highlights show which day of week and time of day when AFib is highest
Tracking of lifestyle factors that may influence time spent in AFib including Exercise, Sleep, Weight, Alcohol Consumption, and Mindful Minutes in the Health app on iPhone
Sharable PDF for richer conversations with healthcare providers
Support for users 22 years or older with diagnosis of atrial fibrillation

Family Setup

Podcasts app is now available and includes ability to search, download, follow shows, and explore curated content
Third party email support extended to Yahoo and Outlook
Editing and sharing contact photos now available

Accessibility

Expanded Quick Actions with AssistiveTouch for play and pause in Now Playing, pause and resume in Workout, take a photo using Camera Remote, and toggle between map view and turn-by-turn directions in Maps
Bluetooth keyboard pairing with Apple Watch
Apple Watch Mirroring lets you control Apple Watch remotely from your paired iPhone via AirPlay with support for assistive technologies like Voice Control or Switch Control as an alternative to tapping the Apple Watch display

Other features and improvements:

Low Power Mode maintains core features of Apple Watch while temporarily disabling select background features such as always on display and heart health notifications to extend battery life
Support for international roaming allows you to stay connected to your cellular network while traveling abroad (Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 5 and later)
Expanded keyboard languages including French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish available on Apple Watch Series 7 and later
Communication safety setting in Screen Time gives parents the ability to enable warnings for children when they receive or attempt to send photos that contain nudity in Messages
Cycle deviation notifications alert you if your logged menstrual cycles show a pattern of infrequent periods, irregular periods, prolonged periods, or persistent spotting
New Cardio Recovery metric estimated by Apple Watch available in the Health app
Reminders app updated to support editing so you can add key details like location, tags, and due times
Calendar app redesigned to support creation of new calendar events with ability to switch to day, list, and week views
Enhanced Podcast experience with support for search, ability to follow and unfollow shows, and discover new content in Listen Now
Dock updated to show apps running in background at the top
Notifications redesigned with streamlined slimline banner when actively using Apple Watch

Workout additions

watchOS 9

Fitness tracking is one of the biggest selling points of the Apple Watch. It indeed does an excellent job providing various metrics — calories, distances, steps, elevation, intensity, and much, much more. watchOS 9 adds new workout views, allowing you to view different metrics during a workout. This makes it easier to focus on the goals you’re aiming at, by viewing the relevant statistics. Additionally, you now get to customize your workouts and even race against your past self.

Medication tracking

watchOS 9

Many people, especially adults, take medications on a daily basis. Sometimes keeping track can be challenging, especially when there’s a variety of them. watchOS 9 simplifies this aspect of our lives by introducing medication reminders. This allows you to log the pills you take and notifies you when it’s time to consume them. That’s not to mention that it also warns you about mixing certain meds with alcohol, etc.

Richer sleep tracking

watchOS 9

Sleep tracking has always been a weakness on the Apple Watch. The smartwatch isn’t smart enough to tell when you’re sleeping if it’s not within the stable schedule you assign. So for those of us with messed up sleep cycles, the feature is pretty much useless and inaccurate. watchOS 9 can track the time spent in REM, Core, Deep sleep, or when you might’ve woken up. Of course, this doesn’t fix sleep tracking, but it’s a welcome addition nonetheless.

New watch faces

watchOS 9

With every major release, we get new watch faces, and watchOS 9 is no different. This version introduces Metropolitan, Playtime, Lunar, and Astronomy faces. It additionally tweaks some of the existing ones — allowing users to further customize them with a refreshed and expanded color palette. This makes the Apple Watch an even more customizable device that users can tweak based on their clothing, appearances, or moods.

Apple Watch Nike

Apart from these faces, Apple has also unlocked the exclusive Nike watch faces to all users. So even if you have a non-Nike Apple Watch, watchOS 9 will allow you to use these branded faces.

Family setup

watchOS 9

Apple is a business — so it wants to sell as many watches as it possibly can. To further tempt parents to buy one for their child, this update improves Family setup. iPhone-less kids can now listen to podcasts, access smart home devices, and unlock compatible doors using their wrists. These changes further push the company’s watch to becoming an independent device.

Accessibility

watchOS 9

Apple announced a while back that it is bringing new accessibility features to the Apple Watch. watchOS 9 makes this promise a reality. Users can now mirror their watches to their iPhones using AirPlay. This allows them to view the tiny screen on the bigger one and interact with it. Additionally, users can now double pinch to start a workout or take a photo.

Productivity

watchOS 9

Our watches’ small displays shouldn’t limit us from being productive. This release brings new calendar views — allowing users to easily create events and check what their days or weeks look like. Additionally, to avoid distracting you, notifications will now appear as a small banner on top rather than a full-screen alert when you’re using your watch. This doesn’t interrupt whatever task you’re working on. If you’re not using your watch, then the notifications will show up as they would normally do as full-screen alerts that display the full details.

Low Power Mode

watchOS 9 introduces Low Power Mode — a feature that allows users to preserve the battery life. Unlike the original Power Reserve Mode, this one doesn’t break all smart features of the Apple Watch. Instead, it limits battery use by disabling certain nonessential features, such as Wi-Fi.

Compass Backtrack

Apart from the aforementioned additions, watchOS 9 makes the Compass app more useful. Users can now use Compass Backtrack to log their steps into the watch if they’re exploring uncharted territories. This way, if a user gets lost, they can find their way back — through the detailed log on their Apple Watch.

WWDC 2022 introduced some major changes on iOS 16, especially when it comes to the Lock Screen. watchOS 9 on the other hand was relatively lacking — in my opinion. We had higher expectations for the smol OS, and we only hope to see them come to life in next year’s version bump. Nonetheless, to many of us, WWDC22 was more enjoyable than last year’s conference. We have our fingers crossed for a more packed one in 2023.