Earlier this week, Apple showcased a significant software upgrade for the Apple Watch at its annual developer conference, WWDC. The upcoming version of watchOS, watchOS 10, is set to be released to the public this fall. At the keynote, Apple said, “watchOS 10 is a major milestone and an energizing new approach for Apple Watch, introducing a fresh new design for quickly viewing information, delightful new watch faces, new features for cyclists and hikers, and important tools for health.”
Now you may already know that watchOS 10 is a major upgrade for the Apple Watch. It comes with a big list of new features, if you want to try out the new watchOS 10 developer beta on your watch, here’s an easy guide you can follow to download and install watchOS 10 on your Apple Watch.
Apple releases the first beta of watchOS 10 with the 21R5275t software version number. It is a pretty big upgrade measuring around 1.1GB in size. With the release of iOS 16.4, Apple changed the way of installing beta updates on Apple devices including the watch, there’s no need to install a beta profile, instead, you can opt for the developer beta in the settings and install it on your watch.
Table of Contents
watchOS 10 Supported Devices
Apple wants to provide the major watchOS upgrade to a wide range of users, so, the company didn’t change the list of eligible devices. watchOS 10 is available for Apple Watch Series 4 and later models. Here’s the complete list of supported Apple Watches.
- Apple Watch Ultra
- Apple Watch Series 8
- Apple Watch Series 7
- Apple Watch Series 6
- Apple Watch Series 5
- Apple Watch Series 4
- Apple Watch SE
Another thing to keep in mind is, make sure your iPhone is running on iOS 17. It is available for iPhone Xs and later models.
watchOS 10 Features
watchOS 10 brings a new look to the Apple Watch with the new Smart Stack. Smart Stack is a new screen on the watch that can be accessed with a swipe-up gesture and shows a carousel of widgets with day and time displayed on the top.
Redesigned system apps is another big feature of watchOS 10, apps now utilize more Apple Watch display. Apple updates the Weather, Stock, Home, Maps, Messages, World Clock, and more apps.
As always, there are two new watch faces coming to the watch – Palette and Snoopy face. The Palette face depicts time in a wide variety of colors using three distinct overlapping layers, and as time changes, the colors on the display also shift. Additionally, the beloved comic strip Peanuts comes to life on Apple Watch with a new watch face featuring Snoopy and Woodstock. The characters interact and play with the watch hands, react to the weather conditions in the area, or even get active when the user does a workout.
There are a number of health features coming to the watch, including the new Cycling feature which let users connect any Bluetooth-enabled bike accessories such as power meters, speed sensors, and cadence sensors. When cycling the information will be displayed on your iPhone as a live activity, you can also put your iPhone on a mount and access all data on a big screen. For Hiking, the Compass app gets two new waypoints – a last cellular connection waypoint and a last emergency call waypoint, as well as, a new topographic map featuring contour lines and more.
Apart from these features, the app gets Mental Health improvements, a new way to access Control Center using a side button, NameDrop for sharing contacts, and more. You can check more details about the watchOS 10 Preview here.
Now let’s take a look at how you can download and install watchOS 10 beta on your Apple Watch.
How to Download watchOS 10 Beta on Apple Watch
If you own Apple Watch Series 4 or later, then you can install watchOS 10 developer beta on your watch. Before moving to the steps, just want to mention that developer betas are not primarily made for daily use, you may encounter some issues. Whether you are a developer or simply want to try out the new operating system you can install the developer beta on your watch freely by following these steps.
Note: Make sure to update your iPhone to iOS 17, you can do it by navigating to Settings > General > Software Update > select iOS 17 Developer Beta in Beta Updates option. Once done, you will see iOS 17 developer beta OTA update on your screen, simply install it.
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
- Tap General > Software Update > Beta Updates.
- Enable the watchOS 10 Developer Beta option.
- Go back and download the first beta of watchOS 10.
- That’s it.
Make sure that your Apple Watch is charged at least 50% and connected to the magnetic charging.
Now the watchOS 10 beta update will download and transfer to your Apple Watch. And after the completion of the installation process, your watch will restart. Once all done, you can start using your Apple Watch.
My Experience with watchOS 10 Developer beta
watchOS 10 developer beta works fine, everything is working. However, I have noticed a few stutters or lags when opening the new Smart Stack feature. One thing which I didn’t like about the watchOS 10 first beta is, the battery experience. Based on my usage, the battery backup has significantly decreased compared to the stable watchOS 9.x version.
Related Article:
