During Apple's WWDC keynote this year the company debuted new features coming in watchOS 4, some of which include fresh watch faces for Apple Watch. Following in the footsteps of the animated Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse faces, watchOS 4 is gaining new Disney characters for Apple Watch wearers in the form of Jessie, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and more from Toy Story.
The Toy Story characters weren't available in the first developer beta of watchOS 4, but with yesterday's launch of beta 2 for the Apple Watch software all of the characters have appeared as watch face options. These include multiple poses and animations of Jessie, Bullseye, Buzz, Woody, Hamm, Rex, and the Pizza Planet aliens.
While the watch faces are animated when the Apple Watch is raised, similar to Mickey and Minnie, as of now they don't speak when tapped upon. Two complications are available for the Toy Story watch face, one above the time in the top right hand corner, and another at the very bottom of the face. The color for these complications changes automatically to match the character on screen and can't be customized.
In the Watch app on iPhone users can choose from Buzz Lightyear, Woody, or Jessie, and after that the Apple Watch will depict a new animation for that character every time the user raises their wrist. For anyone who wants to completely randomize which character and animation they'll get when they check their Apple Watch, a "Toy Box" option is also accessible. Specific faces for any other character -- like Rex or Hamm -- are not available as of watchOS 4 beta 2, and the only way to see these characters is by choosing Toy Box.
Check out the MacRumors watchOS 4 roundup for more information on what's coming to Apple Watch when the software launches to the public later in the fall.
Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app.
Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model.
The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action.
Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by Joe Rossignol
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass.
In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by Joe Rossignol
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory.
A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June.
The original AirTag was announced...
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr.
The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models:
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhon...
Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes.
The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
Tuesday January 21, 2025 6:40 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to release at least one new iPad Pro model this year, according to a supplier-focused report today from Korean website The Elec. It is likely that the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models would be updated simultaneously.
After receiving an OLED display last year, the report said the iPad Pro will receive only "minor" changes this year. Overall, the next iPad Pro is expected to...
Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon.
Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...
Toy story is a great franchise but these watch faces seem silly to me. Why buy such a high-end device and put something like this on it. Maybe I don't represent Apple core demographic anymore or something.
Edit: Thanks everyone for pointing out that Toy Story was Pixar's first movie with Jobs at the helm. That being said, I still wish Apple would push out more sophisticated watch faces.
Time to kill the Apple Watch. It has not caught on, and has had several years to do so. It is an extremely niche product, that makes Apple PENNIES, even less the their Mac lineup nowadays.
Concentrate on fixing iOS and some fresh, new design and stop wasting resources on a product that isn't growing.
This is completely false and is logical fallacy without evidence.
And why are you comparing a Mac to an Apple Watch? What does iOS have to do with WatchOS?
It’s been two years ('https://qz.com/319703/2015-is-the-year-of-the-apple-watch/') to the day since Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced the Apple Watch, the company’s first new product line under his leadership, but revenue figures suggest consumers still aren’t sold.
Apple’s biggest launch since the iPad in 2010, the Apple Watch was expected to be a hit: Given the massive financial success of the iPhone, it stood to reason that a companion device might be something customers craved.
Not so much. Apple has never shared hard numbers on how many wearables it has sold, and doesn’t even break out Watch sales in its quarterly earnings report. Instead, the device is bundled into Apple’s “Other products,” which the company says ('https://www.apple.com/newsroom/pdfs/Q1FY17DataSummary.pdf') includes, “Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, iPod and Apple-branded and third-party accessories.”
In the April-June quarter of 2015, the first quarter that the Apple Watch was on sale, “Other products” revenue jumped to $2.6 billion from around $1.7 billion in the preceding quarter. But after that initial spike, plus a slight bump the following quarter, “Other products” sales have been on a downward trend, and currently represent just 5% of Apple’s overall revenue. An updated version ('https://qz.com/775976/a-rundown-on-the-new-apple-aapl-iphone-7-apple-watch-series-2-and-apple-airpods-launched-at-todays-massive-event/') of the Watch, which debuted in September, doesn’t appear to have significantly impacted sales.
Of course, a multibillion-dollar revenue stream is nothing to scoff at. But “Other products” is Apple’s smallest revenue stream, and only part of it is comes from the Watch. Even in quarters that saw a record number of iPhone sales, Apple could not entice a comparatively larger group of people to try the Apple Watch.
Two years and two iterations after its launch, the Apple Watch has not proven to be as indispensable as the iPhone, or even as lucrative as the Mac, the iPad, or Apple’s services businesses. It’s unclear whether an iPhone-like overhaul ('https://qz.com/816174'), or attempts to market the watch directly to athletes ('https://qz.com/775865/') or millennials ('https://images.apple.com/media/us/watch/2017/9668d32c_f7d1_4350_927b_01ece6a84e74/films/live-bright/watch-live-bright-cc-us-20170417_1280x720h.mp4'), will ultimately make a difference.
What's your benchmark for determining success? Because comparatively speaking, the AW could be a runaway success or a complete dud.
* If your benchmark is iPhone sales? It's a dud, but so is every other product Apple has ever produced. * If your benchmark is Mac sales? It's a success. Less so as a revenue generator because of price point, but still a success * If your benchmark is the smartwatch category sales? It's an unqualified success. * If your benchmark is the entire watch category sales, smart or otherwise? Still, unqualified success.
Will it ever reach iPhone levels of success? Probably not since wearing a watch isn't exactly en vogue these days. But to introduce a product and have it immediately become the most successful product in it's category is not something dismissed so easily as a failure. Mind you, this is coming from someone who has no desire to own a smartwatch.
Two years and two iterations after its launch, the Apple Watch has not proven to be as indispensable as the iPhone, or even as lucrative as the Mac, the iPad, or Apple’s services businesses. It’s unclear whether an iPhone-like overhaul ('https://qz.com/816174'), or attempts to market the watch directly to athletes ('https://qz.com/775865/') or millennials ('https://images.apple.com/media/us/watch/2017/9668d32c_f7d1_4350_927b_01ece6a84e74/films/live-bright/watch-live-bright-cc-us-20170417_1280x720h.mp4'), will ultimately make a difference.
Well obviously its won't be as indispensable as the iPhone, Mac or iPad. Its an accessory and not a stand alone product. Thats been known from the beginning.
