Here are all the great new features your Apple Watch will get later this year
Interactive notifications
Instead of simply telling you things, notifications will be more interactive in WatchOS 5.
Some examples Apple showed off included checking in to flights and checking flight details in the Lufthansa app, rating your car ride and paying with Apple Pay, and extending restaurant reservations up to 30 minutes from the Yelp app.
Siri gets smarter
Siri on WatchOS 5 will give you live sports scores, commute time to home or work, or your heart rate.
Siri Shortcuts will let you enable often-used activities based on the time you usually use them when you raise your Watch, like turning on smart light bulbs when you get home from work, playing music when you leave work, or starting a walk.
Plus, third-party apps can appear on the popular Siri watch face, which presents you with contextual information, when and as you need it.
You can view websites on the Apple Watch with WatchOS 5
You can view web content on the Apple Watch and click on links in Mail or Messages.
You no longer need to say "Hey Siri"
You can simply raise your wrist to give Siri commands. No other wake words required.
The Podcasts app finally comes to WatchOS 5
You can finally listen to podcasts without your phone, as the Podcasts app finally hits the Apple Watch with WatchOS 5.
New app: Walkie Talkie
You can have immediate conversations with your contacts, like you would with a walkie talkie. Hold the button to talk, and let go to listen.
Automatic workout detection
WatchOS 5 will automatically detect when you've started a workout. Even if you start the workout mode after starting the activity, you'll get credit for what you've already done, retroactively.
It will also detect when you end your workout by sensing reduced movement or a lowered heart rate, and it'll make a suggestion to stop your workout tracking.
Challenge friends to seven day competitions
In WatchOS 5, you'll be able to challenge friends to a seven-day activity competition. If they accept, you each try to win the week to close the rings and earn points by performing fitness activities, like running or hitting the gym. You earn one point for each percentage of a ring you close.
In the middle of a competition, progress is updated for both you and your friends. And you get an award badge if you win.
Rolling mile pace and cadence for running
On top of the current and average pace you get now with the Watch, you'll get rolling mile pace tracking in WatchOS 5 (which shows how fast you ran the previous mile). You can set a custom pace alert, and the Apple Watch will tell you if you're under or over the pace you've set for yourself.
You'll also be able to count your steps per minute with cadence tracking.
New workout types: Yoga...
The new Yoga workout mode works primarily through tracking your heart rate.
...and Hiking
Add your student ID card to the Wallet app
Adding a college student ID to your Watch running WatchOS 5 will let university students get access to dorms, dining halls, gyms and libraries, campus events, pay for things at shops or bookstores, pay for laundry and vending machines, and even register you class attendance.
Student IDs on the Apple Watch, as well as iPhones running iOS 12 will be available this fall, starting with Duke, Temple, Johns Hopkins, The University of Oklahoma, Santa Clara University, and The University of Alabama. More colleges and universities will get support for student ID implementation on Watch and iPhone "over time."
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