14 DAY TRIAL // After the release of watchOS 9 in September, Apple continues the work on a new Apple Watch software update. And today, the company shipped the fourth beta of watchOS 9.1 to developers for further testing.
Needless to say, given it’s only aimed at developers, it doesn’t come with too many changes, so most likely, Apple has focused specifically on improvements under the hood.
There are no official release notes at this point, but more information should surface as more developers install the update on their testing devices.
watchOS 9, the biggest update this year
In the meantime, watchOS 9 is the update that everybody seems to be drooling over, especially given it comes with so many improvements.
One of them is support for sleep tracking, something that’s been around for a long time on other competing products and which is now available on the Apple Watch as well.
“The Sleep experience on Apple Watch already empowers users to create Wind Down and Bedtime schedules, as well as track their sleep to help them meet their goals. Sleep tracking in watchOS 9 provides even more insights with the introduction of sleep stages,” Apple said last month when it announced the new software update for the Apple Watch.
“Using signals from the accelerometer and heart rate sensor, Apple Watch can estimate when users are in REM, Core, or Deep sleep, and when they are awake. Users will see sleep stage data on Apple Watch in the Sleep app and can view more detailed information, like time asleep, alongside additional metrics, like heart rate and respiratory rate, in sleep comparison charts in the Health app on iPhone.”
At this point, there’s no ETA as to when Apple could begin the rollout of watchOS 9.1 to production devices, but given the testing continues, we should learn more about it in the coming weeks.