Apple launches watchOS 9 with new faces, enhanced health features

Tech giant Apple has launched watchOS 9, which brings new features, including watch faces, an enhanced Workout app, sleep stages, a first-of-its-kind AFib History feature, and more.

The company said that Apple Watch users now have more watch faces to choose from, with richer complications that provide more information and opportunity for personalisation.

"In the updated Workout app, advanced metrics, views, and training experiences inspired by high-performing athletes help users take their workouts to the next level," the company said in a statement.

The Sleep app includes sleep stages, and for users diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AFib), the new FDA-cleared AFib History feature provides deeper insights into a user's condition.

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 watch OS 9 provides even more insights with the introduction of sleep stages. 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.

The new Medications app makes it easy for users to conveniently and discreetly manage, understand, and track medications.

The update brings enhanced and modernised complications to some classic watch faces, such as Utility, Simple, and Activity Analog, along with background colour editing for Modular, Modular Compact, and X-Large for additional personalisation.

The Portraits face showcases the depth effect on more photos, including cats, dogs, and landscapes, while Chinese scripts have been added as options for California and Typograph watch faces.

For the first time, any Apple Watch user running watchOS 9 -- even those without a Nike model -- can access all the Nike watch faces, including the fresh colours coming to the Bounce face.

Focus now allows users to select an Apple Watch face to automatically appear when they start a specific Focus on iPhone, such as the Photos face during a Personal Focus, helping users stay in the moment.

watchOS 9 is available as a free software update for Apple Watch Series 4 or later paired with iPhone 8 or later and iPhone SE (2nd generation) or later, running iOS 16.