During Wednesday’s Far Out keynote, Apple announced the new Apple Watch lineup that includes Series 8, SE 2, and the high-end, rugged Apple Watch Ultra. In addition, the compass app has been refreshed and features in-depth information and three distinct views.
The new watches will come with watchOS 9 built into the system. The software will officially roll out to Series 4 and onward on Monday, September 12. Furthermore, the new Compass app will not be exclusive to the new watches but will be installed on all previous smartwatches that support watchOS 9.
The release note for watchOS 9 confirms that the Compass app will be compatible with all Apple Watches from Series 4 to the (current) latest Series 7:
“watchOS 9 brings great new ways to keep you active, healthy, and connected with Apple Watch. You have more ways to train and measure your workouts, a completely redesigned compass app, a new app to track your medications, more powerful sleep tracking with sleep stages, and better insights and support for your heart health if you have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.”
However, not all Compass features will be available to all watches. For example, waypoints for position marking are available starting with Series 6 and SE. It is also the same for the Backtrack capability for tracking users’ historic paths.
watchOS 9 brings new capabilities to the Apple Watch. Improvements to the Workouts app, new Medications, watch faces, AFib history, and Sleep Stages are the biggest new developments to the software.
The Apple Watch Series 8 will start at $399 and launches on September 16. Meanwhile, Apple Watch Ultra starts at $799 and launches on September 23. See the new features of the latter product which is the biggest watch Apple has ever made here.
