Apple Seeds Seventh Beta of watchOS 7 to Developers

Tuesday September 1, 2020 10:06 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded the seventh beta of an upcoming watchOS 7 beta to developers, one week after releasing the sixth beta and two months after unveiling watchOS 7 at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

watchOS dev beta 7 Feature
To install the watchOS 7 beta, developers need to download the proper configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the ‌watchOS 7‌ beta can be downloaded through the dedicated ‌Apple Watch‌ app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

To update to the new software, the ‌Apple Watch‌ needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the ‌‌iPhone‌‌. It would be wise to install the beta on a secondary device rather than a primary device as this is an early version of the watchOS software that could have bugs that still need to be addressed.

watchOS 7 brings a new watch face sharing feature that lets you share your watch faces with others through Messages or Mail, the App Store, through websites, or through social Media.

There are new Chronograph Pro watch faces, plus a filter option for the Photos face and rich complications for the X-Large face. Developers can now offer more than one complication per app, and Apple has introduced new complications for Shortcuts, Moon phases, the World Clock, and more.

‌watchOS 7‌ introduces a new Sleep Tracking feature for the first time that uses the ‌Apple Watch‌'s accelerometer to detect small movements associated with breathing when asleep. Sleep Tracking provides information on sleep duration and offers a Wind Down feature for helping users get ready for bed to increase sleep times.

Putting the Apple Watch in Sleep Mode turns on Do Not Disturb and automatically darkens the watch screen while you're sleeping, while an alarm feature uses haptic feedback or gentle sounds to wake you up with a greeting and a weather report.

In addition to Sleep Tracking, Apple also added a new handwashing tracking feature to help people wash their hands for at least 20 seconds. There's a 20-second countdown timer that comes up whenever the ‌Apple Watch‌ detects handwashing motions and sounds, and the Health app will also show the frequency and duration of the user's handwashing.

Additional details on the other new features in watchOS 7 can be found in our watchOS 7 roundup.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10

Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)

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Top Rated Comments

mppn

60 months ago

Is this the GM version???

GM will be after they announce the new watches with new features

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

DaveMcM76

60 months ago

since we cannot NAME our watches like iPhones seeing “Watch” listed several times is VERY confusing.

Watches can be named in exactly the same way as phones and iPads.
Watch App -> General -> About -> Name will change the name for the currently selected watch.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Dougteeshot

60 months ago

Everyone seems to be assuming that the watchOS GM will be released before or on the day they announce new Apple Watches. Apple does have to have watchOS 7 on the new Apple Watches when they package them up and ship 'em out, sure.. They very well could have done that already or are in the process of doing so now. But they can release an update to watchOS 7 at any time to address any number of issues. I for one have had TERRIBLE battery life on watchOS 7 b7 (dropped from 100% at 7am CST down to 59% at 10:48am CST, or 40% in just under 4 hours). I would assume I'd have better battery life than I am now, or at least be on par to what I've had the last 3-4 betas.. if it was a GM release candidate.

It's pretty clear that the whole remote WWDC worked well, better for more people than normal, even. I'd assume they could do something equally great for a new product announcement, too. And it doesn't seem very "Apple" to me that they'd just put new watches up on their site for order without going into their normal detail about what's new to hype them up. They might keep the watches in hiding until the new iPhone announcement day and then say that the "new Apple Watches are available to order today" or something like that, and then say whatever their staggered release for the iPhone will be. Which, IMO, still puts a watchOS 7 GM into week #38.

I’m glad I’m not the only one with major battery drain on this build. It’s definitely noticeable. I drain 10% an hour while idle on my wrist. I restored my phone and re-paired the watch last night (not from backup) and still have the drain. This is most definitely not the GM build.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

techish

60 months ago

I keep unpairing/repairing with each beta build o_O

Same here. Amazing how Apple conveniently ignored this major issue for almost the entire beta cycle. Why allow Apple Watch 3 users to download & install beta profile if you knew they will never be able to download & test the beta software!

Let down by Apple ??????!!

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)