Introduced the widgets support to iOS a few years ago. The company keeps up improving them over time with new features. Now, it is aiming to bring the widgets to the Apple Watch interface. More precisely, with the upcoming watchOS 10 update, Apple will introduce an all-new widget system. This new Widgets feature will play a central role in the watchOS 10 in terms of new features. New info comes straight from the very reliable Mark Gurman from Bloomberg.
watchOS 10 to introduce widgets as part of a new experience
In the latest edition of Mark Gurman’s “Power On” newsletter, Gurman states that the widgets will be a “central part” of Apple’s watchOS 10. He compares the new system to Glances. The widgets interface arrived back on the original Apple Watch but was scrapped. However, it will bring the same visual as the iOS widgets introduced back with iOS 17. The new Widgets UI will resemble the Siri watch face that came with watchOS but will be an overlay for any Apple Watch face. Further, it is also similar to widget stacks, a feature in iOS and iPadOS. It allows the users to pile many widgets into one and scroll through them.
Gurman states that Apple plans to allow users to scroll through a series of different widgets to get info. It will be possible to check the weather, calendar appointments, activity tracking and etc. This will save special time on wearOS without you needing to launch apps to get the information. Since the watch tends to be a device of more practical use, this will be quite interesting.
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One example that the “widgets are the center” of watchOS 10 is that Apple is studying new interactions with the buttons. For example, with a press for the Digital Crown, the user can launch the new widgets view, rather than having to navigate to the home screen.
Gurman believes that Apple is finally realizing that an iPhone-like experience does not work on a Watch. In fact, the “Apple Watch apps have barely caught on” so Apple is studying new things. Worth noting, however, that the new take may be optional. Apple takes careful and conservative steps, so it won’t make such a drastic change from the app experience to something totally disruptive. The widgets are just part of what Gurman claims to be one of the Apple Watch’s biggest software updates ever. It will also be the most significant change to the Apple Watch series this year. After all, they will bring minimal hardware updates.
The new Apple Watches should come only in September, but we will get a glimpse of watchOS 10 in all its glory during the WWDC 2023 that happens in July. Apple will also introduce iOS 17 which, taking the rumors as base, should be one of the biggest updates.
