First impressions of watchOS 10. What works and not, is it possible to install

Many Apple Watch owners, myself included, have been looking forward to version 10 of watchOS. several times mentally exclaim “Wow!” while getting to know watchOS 10.

Yes, and the occasion was excellent: the light has already seen 9 generations of watchOS, so the tenth was supposed to be an anniversary. This means that something had to be done to attack this particular series.

I’ve been using watchOS 10 for the third day now and I’m ready to share my impressions – it’s worth relying on the primary beta at your own risk or not.

To the point:

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I tested watchOS 10 on an Apple Watch Ultra.

Spoiler: “Wow!” I never thought so.

How watchOS 10 works on my Apple Watch Ultra

Third day with watchOS 10. Great flight.

The new operating system appeared in the software update menu in the Clock app after installing the first beta version of iOS 17 on the iPhone. Downloading 1.2 GB and then installing it on the watch took about 15 minutes, and the lion’s share of the time was preparing for installation.

I want to note right away that the first version of watchOS 10 is stable. The battery is discharged in normal mode, it comes, applications do not slow down.

If you’re worried about slow watch battery life with watchOS 10, don’t worry. Checked on myself.

The sensor, which reacts to the activation of the screen when lifting the wrist, also works. That’s just, according to tangible sensations, it works with a slight delay of a fraction of a second. It seems to me true that on watchOS 9 the screen lit up a little faster.

In a few days of using watchOS 10, I had no dependencies, crashes, or reboots. On this planet, the first beta can be called stable.

What’s new in watchOS 10

Two new dials. Both are so-so.

Here is something to remember. First, the dials. Apple added their truth, one with a cartoon character, the second performance with beautiful gradients.

However, the Apple Watch cartoon screen is more suitable for young mobile devices, intended for the majority of domestic mobile device users over 18 years of age.

Dial numbers without. Well, how can you understand the time from the meeting to the minute?

And I personally consider redundant dials without numbers to be uninformative, because it is difficult to count time with memories up to minutes with them.

One of Snoopy’s hobbies in the comics of the same name is reading the novel “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy at the speed of one word a day.

Why exactly this character was chosen as one of the two new watch faces in the anniversary version of watchOS is completely incomprehensible to me. Well, okay, maybe among the owners of the Apple Watch, he will find his fans.

Secondly, Apple has changed the functionality of the button and wheel. Now, when organizing an organization, the Control Center, which in the past watchOS had to be activated by swiping from the edge of the edge of the watch screen up.

This menu is made possible after we focus on the watch case.

When launched on the wheel, as before, a menu with icons of all meetings on the application clock. If the user has the “cloud” display mode selected, then now this cloud is strictly in the side borders of the screen and scrolls only up and down, but not left and right.

But if the wheel is not pressed, but twisted, widgets will appear. This is also one of the main innovations of watchOS 10, although at the moment it is not possible to use them. If only because I can’t delete unnecessary ones or add new ones: the buttons don’t work at the same time.

This is what the widgets look like. Until it works as it should.

How does the application menu open now to close them manually, you ask? All you need is a fast European Digital Crown. A non-obvious solution, but inconvenience does not arise.

The updated compass interface and improved topographic maps also failed to evaluate. Maps only work in the US, and I don’t use a compass. Although in my opinion nothing much has changed in its interface.

In the Mindfulness app, items I’ve recently started using, there’s a new item called Mood. This is a kind of mental diary that takes place as a record of mood, choosing from several options from “Very unpleasant” to “Very pleasant”.

You can also choose from the proposed options what kind of sensation is felt on the mood (joy, excitement, peace and so on) and what caused the feelings (friends, money, weather and so on).

The watch records your mood of Europe daily. While testing, if suddenly after some time my mental map appears in the Health app, it will be interesting to see.

Yes, cycling has been actively added to the list. So now, instead of external apps like Strava or Relive, you can use the Apple Watch+iPhone pairing while cycling.

And… everything.

I did not find anything new and useful in watchOS. So I go around with a new watch face (yes, not Snoopy, but another one with a gradient!) And use the watch as if it still has watchOS 9 installed.

Is it worth enjoying the new watchOS

The menu with installed applications has not changed the design.

We expect to refrain from installing watchOS 10, at least until some of the Cupertinos are received. Upgrade to the first beta of iOS 17, then roll over watchOS 10 (and there is no other way), only technologists will do this.

Well, or maybe you always wrote about the watch face with Snoopy. Then of course, this watchOS is for you.

As a reminder, watchOS 10 compatibility with Apple Watch:

▪️ Apple Watch Series 4
▪️ Apple Watch Series 5
▪️ Apple Watch Series 6
▪️ Apple Watch SE (all generations)
▪️ Apple Watch Series 7
▪️ Apple Watch Series 8
▪️ Apple Watch Ultra

How to install the first beta of iOS 17 is described in this article.

Once again, I note that the operating system works stably and without unpleasant surprises. Another thing is that there is nothing in it that will make you definitely attract to it. Wait that the next with subsequent revisions may be more interesting.