Apple Seeds First Beta of watchOS 10.4 to Developers

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming watchOS 10.4 update to developers for testing purposes, with the beta coming a week after the release of watchOS 10.3.

Apple Watch Faces watchOS 10 Feature Blue
To install the ‌watchOS 10.4‌ update, developers need to open the Apple Watch app, go to the Software Update section under "General" in Settings, and toggle on the watchOS 10 Developer Beta. An Apple ID linked to a developer account is required.

Once beta updates have been activated, watchOS 10.4 can be downloaded under the same Software Update section. To install software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life and it must be placed on an Apple Watch charger.

watchOS 10.4 includes new emoji characters such as a lime, an edible brown mushroom, a phoenix, a broken chain, shaking head vertically (as in a "yes" nod), and shaking head horizontally (a "no" head shake).

Related Roundup: watchOS 11
Related Forum: Apple Watch

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Top Rated Comments

MrGimper Avatar
15 months ago

While I understand updates on the watch are “limited” I think Watch OS updates needs something worthwhile, even major updates have very little to brag about.

Alwas waiting for Apple to come up with something “revolutionary” on the watch os.
More than 2 useful watch faces would be a start

There are currently more faces for kids than there are useful ones.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yabeweb Avatar
15 months ago

More than 2 useful watch faces would be a start

There are currently more faces for kids than there are useful ones.
Well an app for Mac to develop watchfaces would be a great start.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nortonandreev Avatar
15 months ago
Wondering when they will remove the WiFi only and connected to charger requirements for installing updates.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Simon89 Avatar
15 months ago
Underwhelming as always for WatchOS.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rwilliams Avatar
15 months ago

Wondering when they will remove the WiFi only and connected to charger requirements for installing updates.
That really is so irritating. If I’m on the go and want to risk the battery hit or whatever to install it, make it an option.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Fuzzball84 Avatar
15 months ago
What would be really cool is seeing a version os Watch OS for vintage and obselete Apple watches.. there will come a point where there are millions of unsupported Apple Watches that dont get returned to Apple for recycling etc.

They could make a version of watch OS that caters to these older watches that is a sort of extra few years or so of life as a cut down watch that is still a bit smart. Maybe a small fee like adding 10 dollars onto the proce of the battery replacement at the end of the watches support cycle and they hand you the watch back with that custom OS on it. Maybe just a set of stock apps for heart rate, timers, calculator etc and a battery runtime of days instead of hours?

My current Series 4 watch is coming to the end of its life… and its pristine.. just needs a new battery but the latest full OS it supports kind of killing it… and not in a good way.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)