Here are all the new features expected to come to your Apple Watch later this year

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Here are all the new features expected to come to your Apple Watch later this year
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Crystal Cox/Business Insider

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  • Apple typically releases a new software update for the Apple Watch every September, and this year is expected to be no different.
  • This year's Apple Watch update, expected to be called watchOS 7, is expected to come with sleep tracking, parental controls, and new watch faces, according to 9to5Mac.
  • Here's a look at everything to expect.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Apple's smartwatch is about to get a bunch of new features that will make the device more customizable and better at monitoring your health.

If the rumors and reports turn out to be true, Apple's next major Apple Watch software update will bring new watch faces and the ability to track your sleep.

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The company typically announces its new software in June during its Worldwide Developers conference, which will be taking place virtually for the first time this year because of coronavirus-related concerns. Apple usually releases its new software every fall, typically alongside a new Apple Watch model.

Here's a look at everything we've heard about the new software so far.

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There will probably be new watch faces.

There will probably be new watch faces.

Each Apple Watch software update typically brings new watch faces, and that's likely to hold true yet again in 2020.

The Apple Watch is expected to get a handful of new watch face designs, according to 9to5Mac, including a new version of its Infograph watch face that will come with a tachymeter, a numerical scale found on analog watches for measuring speed.

Another new option, as 9to5Mac also reported, could be an international flag-themed watch face, which would display flags from different countries.

You might be able to share your personalized watch face with others.

You might be able to share your personalized watch face with others.

You may soon be able to share your specific watch face configuration with others, according to 9to5Mac, which reported that this appears to be a supported feature in watchOS 7.

The Apple Watch allows you to customize Apple Watch faces with complications, or specific pieces of information from apps and services that update in real time. Complications can include the three rings from Apple's Activity app, the weather, your calendar, and a slew of other options.

Based on 9to5Mac's report, it sounds like you'll be able to share your watch face with these specific customizations with other people through the iPhone's share sheet.

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Apple could bring parental controls features to the Apple Watch.

Apple could bring parental controls features to the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch may finally have parental controls, according to 9to5Mac.

With the future software update, a parent may be able to manage a child's Apple Watch directly from their iPhone, the report says. While you can currently pair more than one Apple Watch to your iPhone, only one Apple Watch can remain actively connected to your iPhone at a time. That means if you own more than one Apple Watch, you'll have to switch between them.

But if 9to5Mac's report turns out to be accurate, a parent could manage both their own and their child's Apple Watch without having to switch.

A parent may also be able to manage which apps and complications are accessible on a child's Apple Watch during certain hours of the day through a feature called School Time, according to the report.

Sleep tracking may be coming to the Apple Watch.

Sleep tracking may be coming to the Apple Watch.

One of the headlining features of the next Apple Watch, and Apple's next software update for the watch, is expected to be sleep tracking. Bloomberg first reported that Apple is testing sleep tracking capabilities for the Apple Watch back in February 2019, but based on that report it's unclear whether this feature would be software-enabled or based on new hardware.

A report from 9to5Mac in September 2019 provided more detail about how sleep tracking on the Apple Watch would work. The watch would be capable of tracking a person's movement and heart rate during sleep, and data about your slumber would be accessible in Apple's Health app and a new sleep app for the Apple Watch.

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You may be able to set sleep goals in the Apple Watch's Health app.

You may be able to set sleep goals in the Apple Watch's Health app.

In addition to providing data about your sleep, the Apple Watch may be able to help you meet specific sleep-oriented goals, according to 9to5Mac. The publication reported that Apple Watch owners will be able to set sleep goals on the device and will receive tips for improving sleep through Apple's Health app.

It will probably be called watchOS 7.

It will probably be called watchOS 7.

If Apple keeps with the current naming convention it's used for Apple Watch updates so far, we can probably expect the next update to be called watchOS 7, the seventh generation of Apple's smartwatch software.

In September, Apple launched watchOS 6, which brought the ability to download apps directly onto the watch and new health-tracking options, among other capabilities.

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