Apple announces watchOS 8 for Apple Watch: Here’s what’s new – Times of India

At its annual developer conference, Cupertino-based tech giant unveiled watchOS 8 for Apple Watch. New features like Respiratory rate, added features to Breathe app and more are coming. Here are some of the important new features coming to Apple Watch with watchOS 8:
Respiratory rate monitoring
After heart rate and SpO2 monitoring, Apple is now bringing respiratory rate tracking to Apple Watch. The feature will measure a user’s respiratory rate during sleep tracking. To do this, Apple Watch uses the built-in accelerometer to measure respiratory rate while sleeping.
Breathe App gets a new name and new features
Apple has baked in new features in the Breathe app, which will now be called Mindfulness. In watchOS 8, the Breathe app becomes the Mindfulness app, featuring an enhanced Breathe experience, plus a new session type, Reflect. Reflect offers a mindful intention to focus on for as little as one minute that can be done anywhere and at any time
Two new workout modes
watchOS 8 introduces two new popular workout types that are beneficial for both physical fitness and mindful movement: Tai Chi and Pilates.
Redesigned Photos App, Portrait Watch face
Apple claimed that the Photos face is the most popular Apple Watch face, and watchOS 8 sees a revamped version of it. The new Portraits watch face brings images clicked on iPhone with a multilayered effect to the Apple Watch. The Photos app is also redesigned, offering new ways to view and navigate collections, Memories and Featured Photos now sync to Apple Watch, and photos can be shared through Messages and Mail with the new Share Sheet.
Messages app gets new features
Apple Watch will get new features in Messages with watchOS 8. Users can combine the use of Scribble, dictation, and emoji all within the same message. To easily add even more expression to a message, users can simply enter a word or phrase and select from hundreds of GIFs.