watchOS 11 Announced: Vitals App, Training Load, Live Activity Support, and More

Published On: June 11, 2024

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Alongside the iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, Apple has also announced the watchOS 11. The latest iteration of watchOS gets a new Vitals app, live activity, intelligent smart stack, interactive widgets and more. The WatchOS 11 also implements Double Tap API allowing app developers to incorporate double tap functionality. Take a look at the watchOS 11 features and the list of compatible smartwatches.

Table of Contents

Apple watchOS 11: Health Features

Apple Vitals App

The Apple Vital app allows users to quickly view their health metrics during sleep such as sleep duration, heart rate, blood oxygen, and wrist temperature. The Apple Watch analyses these stats to help users understand their daily health status. The Apple Watch notifies users when two or more metrics are out of the typical range. These notifications also detail how these changes might be linked to illness, elevation changes, and more aspects.

Additional Support During Pregnancy

With the watchOS 11 and iOS 18, Apple is bringing additional support for pregnant women letting them keep track of their physical and mental health. The Cycle tracking app on the Apple Watch shows gestational age if users log a pregnancy in the Health app. The Health App will also let users opt for a monthly reminder to take a mental health assessment.

Training Load

With the training load, Apple Watch users can understand how workout intensity and duration impact their bodies over time. It takes into consideration the training data of seven days to help users make an informed decision about their training when preparing for an event. After each workout, Apple Watch will ask the user to rate the workout difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10.

Apple says that its innovative algorithm can generate an estimated effort rating. Users can manually adjust this rating so that other factors such as stress can also be taken into consideration. These training loads are classified into four categories: below, steady, above, or well above after comparing the recent seven-day training load with the 28-day training load.

Apple watchOS 11: Other Features and Changes

Intelligent Smart Stack: Apple watchOS 11 can suggest widgets based on time, date, location, and daily routines. Apple has also included new widgets for popular apps such as Shazam, Photos, Distance, and more. Users can also interact with an app directly from Smart Stack with new interactive widgets.
Live Activities: Apple introduced Live Activities for iPhones in 2022 with the iPhone 14 Pro series. The company is now extending Live Activities to Apple Watches with the watchOS 11.
Check-In: After introducing Check-In for iPhones last yet, the tech giant is now bringing the feature to the Apple Watches. With the Check-In feature on Apple Watches, users can start a check-in directly from the Workout and the Messages apps.
Redesigned Photos Face: Apple has included a new custom algorithm with the watchOS 11, which finds the best composition for the subject’s position within the frame and creates a sense of depth. Users also get an option to personalise the face with time seizes, layouts, fonts, and more. There is also a new Dynamic mode which presents a new image every time the user raises their wrist.
Customisable Activity Rings and Fitness App: Apple is bringing the functionality to pause activity rings for a day, week, month, or more. Users now also have the option to customise their goals by the days of the week. Apple Fitness app also has the option for users to customise the summary tab and opt to see new metrics for several workouts including running, hiking, swimming, and more.

Apple has also redesigned the Fitness+ app on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and tvOS 18. The Fitness+ app now includes For You, Explore and Library Spaces, and more.