watchOS 11: 3 features you should enable quickly

Apple has released watchOS 11! Have you installed the latest update yet? Here are three features you should quickly enable in watchOS 11.

wachOS 11 is out

There is an update available for the Apple Watch! With watchOS 11, Apple brings a number of new features to your smartwatch. After installing the new watchOS version, your Apple Watch can detect sleep apnea, a new Vitals app appears and you can better track your workouts. To do this, you have to enable a number of settings. These are the most important new features!

1. Detecting sleep apnea

The biggest feature coming to your Apple Watch with watchOS 11 is sleep apnea detection. Apple announced this as a feature of the Apple Watch Series 10, but is also bringing the new health feature to the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. Do you have one of these smartwatches? In order to detect sleep apnea, your Apple Watch needs some data. Here’s how to enable the feature:

Please note that your Apple Watch needs at least 30 days to detect sleep apnea. Once you enable the feature in watchOS 11, you need to wear your Apple Watch at night for a month. The smartwatch will then record your breathing during your sleep to detect breathing disorders. If there is an abnormality, you will automatically receive a notification after a month. Information about your breathing can also be seen in the Health app under ‘Data > Sleep’.

2. Live activities at ‘Smart stacks’

With watchOS 10, Apple brought Smart Stacks to the Apple Watch, automatically displaying relevant widgets on your watch face. The feature has been improved in watchOS 11, as Live Activities are now also displayed on the Smart Stack. This means you can also see exactly where your delivery is or what the current score is of a sports match via your Apple Watch. Here’s how to activate Live Activities in watchOS 11:

• Open the Watch app on your iPhone;
• Go to ‘Smart Stack’;
• Turn on the switch behind ‘Allow Live Activities’.

Want Live Activities to start automatically? Turn on ‘Automatically start Live Activities’ as well. This will keep the Smart Stack open while the Live Activity is active. That means your Apple Watch screen will stay on even if you don’t raise your wrist. Apple has made the feature a lot smarter in watchOS 11.

3. Track your workouts better

Do you exercise regularly and track workouts on your Apple Watch? Then watchOS 11 brings a handy feature to the Fitness app. In the latest watchOS version, you can better track the intensity of your workouts. This gives you better insight into whether you should increase your workouts or maintain the same level. It is advisable to set an exercise reminder so that you don’t forget. Here’s how:

• Open the Watch app on your iPhone;
• Select ‘Workout’;
• Scroll down and turn on ‘Exercise Reminder’.

With this feature enabled, watchOS 11 will send you a notification after each workout to rate your effort. You can also edit any estimated effort by rating it on a scale of one to ten, with increasing difficulty. The effort rating will then appear in your Fitness app for that workout.

More about watchOS 11

With watchOS 11, you also get a new app on your Apple Watch. In the Vitals app, you can see important health data such as your heart rate, breathing rate, wrist temperature, sleep duration and oxygen saturation. This gives you more insight into your health and important measurements. Your activity rings are also better adjusted, for example by planning a rest day in your training schedule.

Apple released watchOS 11 on Monday, September 16, so the update is now available to everyone. You can find the new software version in the Watch app on your iPhone under ‘General > Software Update’. Select watchOS 11 there and install the update on your Apple Watch. Don’t see the software update? Then there is a good chance that your Apple Watch is no longer supported. Read here which Apple Watches can update to watchOS 11.