Apple officially took the wraps off the next Apple Watch’s operating system, watchOS 11, during WWDC keynote on Monday. As usual, watchOS 11 introduces several new health features, with one exciting addition being Live Activities.
Indeed, Live Activities is among the nifty features accessible on iPhones. These are dynamic notifications crafted to stay updated, enabling you to monitor real-time updates directly from the lock screen or Dynamic Island (if you own an iPhone 14 Pro or later). Apps such as Uber, MLB, NBA, and others have already elevated the experience with Live Activities notifications.
Live Activities build upon the existing Smart Stack feature on Apple Watches, which already shows useful info based on what you’re doing. Now, with Live Activities, the Smart Stack gets even better, focusing on the most important updates for a personalized experience. It also helps keep users safe by letting them check info easily without messing around with their phones — amid third-party claims that Apple Watch could potentially replace the iPhone.
Moreover, Apple is pushing Live Activities to the Apple Watch in a smarter way. As such, the Apple Watch mirrors the Live Activities on the paired phone, so it’s useful as not all iOS apps have a watchOS counterpart.
watchOS 11 is currently available in developer beta, with plans for a public beta shortly, and the public release scheduled for this fall. Therefore, we might have to wait a little longer to unlock these features. Regular users should avoid installing the watchOS 11 developer beta, as it’s intended for developers. It’s worth noting that you must have an Apple Watch Series 6 or later to run Live Activities.
watchOS 11 packs a bang of updates, and you can explore the top features in a separate post. In addition, check this post where we pit watchOS 11 against watchOS 10.