Apple may be holding back some of the biggest features in watchOS 27 for its September launch. Plus, more hardware details for upcoming models: new optical sensor family, and models with 128GB of storage.

New Readiness app​

Apple is preparing a separate Watch app referred to in code as Readiness or Cobalt. This app is distinct from the existing Vitals app.

The watchOS 27 launcher includes it in its default Home Screen layout ordering immediately after the Workout app. The Watch companion app on iOS 27 also references the same Readiness app in its implementation for arranging apps.

The app’s identifier changed during the betas. In beta 5, both iOS and watchOS referred to the app as com.apple.cobalt.watchapp. In beta 6, watchOS switched to com.apple.readiness, while iOS continues to use the Cobalt identifier in beta 8 today.

The app itself is not included in any watchOS beta, so its interface and feature set are unknown. The name and placement next to the Workout app could mean that Apple is ready to introduce a more substantial readiness or recovery experience on Apple Watch. While Vitals currently have a standalone app on the Watch, training load details are only accessible through the Activity app.

Richer strength workouts​

Apple has also expanded its health infrastructure to accommodate richer details in strength workouts. The new implementation can describe individual sets and store repetition counts, weight, equipment, body side, and duration for each set.

A workout activity can now represent a session with multiple sets, with different loads and repetition counts in each.

These changes were added in iOS 27 beta 1 and expanded to watchOS with beta 3, adding duration and repetition types to individual measurements. iOS and watchOS already ship with the necessary database migrations to accommodate the new records.

Still, the implementation is stubbed in both iOS and watchOS, meaning that apps cannot currently create these new expanded strength workout records.

New optical-sensing system for Apple Watch​

watchOS 27 adds a new optical-sensing family called Sunstone4p0, which may point to revised heart-sensing hardware for an upcoming Apple Watch.

Revised noise modeling​

Apple Watch measures your heart rate by shining light into the wrist and detecting changes in the reflected light. watchOS 27 changes how the software models noise in the new sensor family and adjusts signal filtering. Compared to the previous Sunstone3p75plus implementation, thermal-noise coefficients are 10-20% lower, with many LED-related noise coefficients also lower.

Noise modeling has been updated in this generation as well. While the previous generation used a single set of values, the new Sunstone4p0 family comes with typical and upper-limit values. Some upper-limit values match the model values of the previous generation. All in all, the new sensor family may come with quieter electronics. While there are many factors that go into a good measurement, lower electronic noise may help improve readings when the reflected pulse signal is weak.

Changes to channel selection​

The second big change in the new sensor family is optical channel selection. watchOS uses these channels to determine the signal paths it will use for measurement. While the previous generation returns a fixed pair of optical channels, Sunstone4p0 selects different pairs according to left/right wrist and crown orientation. These changes could mean an updated physical layout, wiring, or a different choice of signals from the existing sensor array.

Hints about 128GB of storage​

The Watch update firmware also includes a clue about the storage capacity for new Apple Watch devices. There's a Samsung storage profile associated with T8320 and labeled 1024gb. Based on standard NAND flash naming, this profile is consistent with 1,024 gigabits, or 128GB of storage.

T8320 has long been identified as the CPU for upcoming Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 models. Interestingly, watchOS 26 contained both 512gb (64GB) and 1024gb (128GB) profiles, but watchOS 27 betas have only included the larger 128GB profile.

Sources

New Readiness app​

• Readiness identifier and Cobalt app identifier added in iOS 27 beta 5

Richer strength workouts​

• Set, measurement, and equipment tables added in iOS 27 beta 1
• Duration and repetition-type fields added in iOS 27 beta 3

New optical-sensing system for Apple Watch​

• Sunstone4p0 noise and filtering parameters added in iOS 27 beta 1
• Sunstone4p0 channel maps, including separate left/right wrist maps

Hints about 128GB of storage​

• T8320 NAND firmware profiles: inside the extracted update ramdisk, inspect /usr/standalone/firmware/t8320/. The 000000031000A1D8.pak entry points to bfh_ofw.t8320.ofw.samsung_tlc_3d_g8_4p_1024gb.bin.

Wasn’t always a downer on Siri. After the last two years, I’m giving up. What’s the point of an assistant on a watch if it can’t access basic data?

Sport Bands: Black, Midnight, Stone Gray, Succulent, Sea Foam, Nike Summit White;

Solo Bands: Midnight, Dark Cherry, Eucalyptus, Winter Blue, Purple Fog, Light Blush, Soft Mint, White;

Braided Solo Bands: Black, Charcoal, Midnight, Midnight (just washed), Lake Green, Aquamarine;

Sport Loops: Nike Black, [no idea]*, Nike Black/Blue, Dark Cherry/Forest Green, Nike Obsidian Mist, Sunshine, Pink Pomelo/Tan, Blue Cloud, Nike Summit White;

And then we also have a Midnight Leather Link and the Milanese Band in Natural Titanium.

*Back in 2019 I was in hospital for a couple of months and gave the watch to my brother, who consequently got this band. But I was not able to find the name again. It is black, but if you look closer it has all kinds of colors in it.

Are you also guilty band collectors or rather someone who finds one band and sticks to it? 😄

Title says it already. What do you hope to see in an Apple Watch? Or maybe better said What would for you be the most optimal Apple Watch features to have in an Apple Watch?

The caseless silver strap is what I wear most of the time. But occasionally depending on my outfit I’ll wear the NASA, Pip-Boy or black set ups. I know most people here dig the smooth, small, minimalist look but it’s fun to shake it up sometimes.

I like mine to be minimal but still practical.

Analog clock with weather and date complications, and a view of the battery’s of my on the go Apple devices with uses a third party app

i have a series 5, and it's battery has erroded to 79 percent.

i could leave it on 80 and wen i wake up, dead.

I am a recreational downhill skier and also a kayaker, primarily Northeast. I’m getting older, 62 and am beginning to get a bit anxious about doing both alone.

Is the Ultra 4, when it comes out in a couple of weeks, any reason to feel a bit more comfortable?

Has anyone used any of the Ultra models in an emergency and can you share your stories?

Thank you!!!!

Question

If I onto wear a Garmin for running will my rings and “trends” still update with the stats for my Activity app / watch

The screen went blank for a few hours in the afternoon. No reset options were working. Even popped it in the freezer for 10mins (from some youtube vid). Now I saw the screen lifted up.

Bought it in late 2020-21ish. Sad to see it go.

edit: The haptics still work. And it is ringing now and then/making notif sounds. Just no display. It unpaired from my phone so couldnt do anything via phone.

I’ve got an Apple Watch Ultra 3 and I’m curious what everyone actually uses the Action Button for.
Workout? Flashlight? Shortcut? Something totally random?
I feel like there are probably some clever setups I haven’t thought of yet 😅
What’s yours set to?

I have a lot of back-to-back 30-minute meetings, and I’d like my Apple Watch to give me a subtle reminder when it’s time to wrap up the current topic.

Ideally, I want something that:

• Alerts me every hour and half hour (9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, etc.)
• Gives me a distinctive vibration/haptic pattern or maybe a few beeps
• Stops automatically after a few seconds, so I don’t have to tap my watch to dismiss it
• Feels different enough from texts, emails, or other app notifications that I immediately know, “This is my meeting wrap-up reminder”

The main reason I don't want to dismiss it manually is that I often have face-to-face meetings. I’d rather not look down at my watch and tap the screen while the other person is speaking, since that can come across as distracting or rude.

Thanks!!

I have a series 5 ceramic with a cracked screen and a series 5 Hermes with a bad battery. What if I gut both watches and put the Hermes components inside ceramic case. Is that possible? Has anyone tried a full body swap?

I have had a Series 6 stainless steel AW that I got on Xmas eve deal from Walmart in 2020. I wear it daily for everything including swimming and it is in like new shape. I was looking at getting the Ultra 4 because my battery life was at 70% and I have to bump charge daily when I got home from work. But before putting out $800 for the Ultra I figured I would try the Apple battery replacement, no apple care, for $105.95 while it was still available on the 6. I didn’t want to do a local shop replacement because I lap swim with it a few times per week and was worried about the waterproofing.

So, 3 weeks ago I sent it in for replacement and it passed inspection but has been stuck on “Replacement product pending” for 2 weeks. I called apple support 10 days ago and the guy had me on hold while he talked to a supervisor and they had me simultaneously open a new case and pay another $106 while they cancelled the previous case to try and “force” the order through I received my refund on the first case on 9/3 but still the watch has not shipped. So I called again this Friday and the guy reviewed both cases on this watch and told me I would have to call back Tuesday, tomorrow, if it still hasn’t shipped to see if they can resolve it.

At this point I have gotten frustrated and used to not wearing my watch and all of my exercise streaks are gone. Has anyone experienced something like this and/or any tips on what I can do tomorrow? Not sure if they can offer a current watch as a replacement since they no longer make Stainless steel.

I recently bought my first Apple Watch, an Ultra recommended by my coworkers. It’s a great technology to have. I love even the simplicity of having maps, clock alarms, and timers right on my wrist at all times.

One thing I am noticing with my iPhone, is that once I turn Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on both devices, syncing between them isn’t always immediate. Sometimes it seems like even after 10 or 20 minutes they haven’t synced.

For example, I have a bunch of reminders today. I created them on my phone in the morning, and it took some time for the watch to pick them up.

And then I completed a bunch of them during the day on my phone, and I get home and I turn my watch off of airplane mode, and I turn Bluetooth and Wi-Fi back on on my phone.

It has been about 20 minutes, and when I look at the Reminders app on my watch, it does not show any of those completed tasks as completed yet.

I just verified that both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on on both devices, and the watch shows the green phone icon, indicating that it’s paired.

Have you had similar issues? Is there a setting or method to have them sync almost immediately? It’s frustrating to have unpredictable and inconsistent syncs, that can result in confusion and drift between the phone and the watch.

First of all I know S12 is coming out, I can’t afford it, I was going to get SE3 but then found a good deal for the S11 so I went ahead and bought it.

My new watch isn’t showing me calls from 3rd party apps like messenger and signal, but it is showing messages from these apps. Notifications for them are turned on under the ‘mirror iphone alerts from’ thing, how do I fix this so it alerts me about incoming calls? It even tells me when I’m in a call through these apps but doesn’t notify about an incoming call.

Please tell me the watch is capable of doing this it’s such a basic function and the main reason I need a smartwatch in the first place :’(

what kind of resolution is possible?

battery health 86%

Just randomly stumbled across the link bracelets on the Apple Store, seems like none of the finishes or sizes could be ordered anymore. I've checked the Singapore and US stores.

Maybe this means Series 12's titanium models are gonna get a different tone of colours?

Ciao! Volevo sapere se sono l’unico ad avere l’ultima beta aggiornata ma Siri non è cambiato per niente.
Come mai?