In addition to OS X, Apple Pay, iOS 9 and Swift, we also have news about the watchOS at WWDC 2015: yes, native apps are coming to Apple Watch (according to Tim Cook, a new opportunity for developers to change the world)!
It is only 6 weeks since the Apple Watch hit the market, but we are already talking about a new version of watchOS, which will come with new features for faces, communications, exercises, Apple Pay, Maps and Siri.
On the watch side, the system comes with new faces including one of photos, photo album (rotates your library), Time-Lapse (Apple took photos in various places around the world to create the faces that pass during the day) all with personalized complications, and now developers can also create them (with the new framework ClockKit). It will be possible to see information about flights, your home, sports, etc. in the complications of the different faces of the clock.
It's nice to see the information at the moment, but what next? The watchOS come with a feature called "Time Travel" (Time Travel), which allows you to rotate the Digital Crown on the clock screen to see what comes next in the complications.
Apple also thought of a new interface for the Watch while it is turned on, at night. It can be positioned horizontally and the interface adapted for a night watch, allowing the Digital Crown and the side button to be alarm functions.
By tapping the button below the Crown, the friends screen can now be expanded to more than 12 people with multiple different groups. In watchOS 2, designs sent to other Watch owners can have multiple colors. Other new features include the ability to answer emails in Mail, FaceTime audio support, exercise apps that start to run natively on the watch and integrate with the general Activity graph, possibility to use Siri to start exercises on the Apple Watch, new badges also for achievements made by the exercise app that can be shared with others, integration with third party cards (points / miles / rewards) as presented for iOS 9, Maps public transport routes, public transport directions, control devices in your home via HomeKit and open Summaries screens (Glances) on Watch by Siri, and more!
For developers, Apple is going beyond the existing WatchKit. While today all app logic runs on iPhones today, on watchOS this will be possible directly on Watch. With that, developers will be able to create native / independent apps for the Apple Watch. And the watch pulls information directly from your Wi-Fi network. Apple is also responding to numerous requests from developers, such as access to sensors (accelerometer, Taptic Engine), animations and layout, use of the Watch's microphone, reproduction of sounds over the speaker or a connected Bluetooth headset, video playback, access to HealthKit (including heart rate reading), native HomeKit, etc. Elements of the interface of third-party apps can also be controlled by the Digital Crown, from now on.
WatchOS 2 will be released today in beta for developers and will reach everyone in the autumn of the Northern Hemisphere.
