Apple Officially Explains watchOS 9 Release: New Dial, Enhanced Physical Training, and Refreshed Compass

Apple announced the official release of watchOS 9 today, bringing new dials, an enhanced physical training app, a sleep phase, a refreshed Compass App, and a new medication app all in one.

Apple watchOS 9 Official Release: Support for Four New Dials, Medication Tracking, and More (with Updates)

Three Apple Watch devices side-by-side showcase the Heart Rate Zone feature in the Fitness App, a new "Metropolis" dial, and a sleep phase.

Apple today introduced watchOS 9, bringing new features and enhancements to the world's leading wearable operating system, and Apple Watch users now have more dial options, richer complications to display more information and a more personalized experience. The updated Fitness App helps users improve their training by providing more advanced metrics, views and a training experience inspired by great athletes. The Sleep App introduces sleep stages to provide greater insight into physical conditions. New Medication App allows users to manage, understand and track medication use in a convenient and disciplined way.

Expanded, new dial options

watchOS 9 introduces four new dials: the "Moon Phase" dial, which depicts the relationship between the solar and lunar calendars (commonly used by several cultures, including Chinese, Islamic, and Hebrew); and the "Happy Hour" dial, a unique and dynamic design created by Apple Watch and artist Joi Fulton. Fulton; the "Metropolis" dial featuring a classic lead-print font that changes in style as the user rotates the digital crown; and the completely remastered "Astronomy" dial, which introduces new star chart features and cloud data feature.

watchOS 9 introduces enhanced and modernized features on several of the most iconic dials, such as the "Utility" dial, the "Minimalist" dial and the "Fitness Logger" dial, and provides a new and improved way for users to keep track of their workouts. The "Modules" and "Compact Modules" dials add background color editing, while the "Large Text" dial adds personalization. The "Portrait" dial provides depth-of-field effects on more photos of cats, dogs and landscapes, while the "California" and "Typography" dials add Chinese characters to choose from. For the first time, all Apple Watch users with watchOS 9 (including non-Nike watch owners) will have access to all Nike dials, including the upcoming new colorway of the "Rebound" dial.

Focus Mode now allows users to select a dial for a specific focus mode, and when they turn on that focus mode on their iPhone, the Apple Watch dial will automatically switch, for example, to show the Photos dial when in Personal Focus mode, helping users better focus on the moment.

Apple Watch Series 8 displays the color editing interface on the red and pink background of the "Module" dial.