A small but substantial update for watchOS this year.
While watchOS 8 releases today for the Apple Watch, an Apple Watch Series 7 was confirmed at the September 14 event, but there wasn’t a release date. The new software update brings a new Mindfulness app, sleep app updates to track Respiratory Rate, Fitness Plus updates, and more. They don’t look like huge changes, but check watchOS 8 features below for all the new perks coming to your Apple Watch. And there’s good news for older Apple Watch owners: the watchOS 8 support devices list hasn’t changed from last year’s watchOS 7, meaning Apple Watch 3 and newer devices will be able to download the operating system. A watchOS 8 public beta was released at the end of June, and it’s available to anyone with a watchOS 8-compatible Apple Watch (scroll below for the full list). If you want an early look at what’s coming in the full release, you can download it now. However, Apple announced an event for September 14, which revealed updates to its iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch line, alongside today’s release date for watchOS 8. If you missed the event, you can catch up with what was announced. The watchOS 8 update will lands today on September 20, not long after the September 14 event, where the Apple Watch Series 7, the iPad (2021), iPad mini (2021) and the iPhone 13 line were all confirmed. While the Apple Watch Series 7 is yet to have a release date, you can update to watchOS 8 on your existing watch from September 20, so you can take advantage of the latest features. The watchOS 8 update is officially compatible with all models from the Apple Watch 3 onwards, according to Apple’s official WWDC 2021 announcement. This doesn’t shift from the watchOS 7 compatibility list, so if you’ve gotten last year’s big update, you’ll be able to run this year’s new software, too.
