Jay Peters
Google Calendar for Wear OS is out now, too.
Gmail for Wear OS came out last week, and now Google Calendar is here, as reported by 9to5Google. Nice to see these finally come out!
Smartwatch
Jay Peters
Don’t get your hopes up for a blood glucose monitoring feature in the Apple Watch anytime soon.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says it “won’t happen” in 2024 and “possibly” won’t arrive in 2025, either. That’s not a huge surprise — my colleague Victoria Song wrote a piece in March about the challenges facing noninvasive blood glucose monitoring, so it’s not surprising that the technology might be very far away even for Apple.
Kuo also says that we might not see an Apple Watch with a Micro LED screen until 2025 or 2026.
Jon Porter
OnePlus is rumored to be working on a new smartwatch after its rocky first attempts.
According to leaker Max Jambor, OnePlus is gearing up to release a new smartwatch next year with a round display. It’ll follow the “big, basic, and boring” OnePlus Watch in 2021, and last year’s affordable and India-exclusive OnePlus Nord Watch. Parent company Oppo is also rumored to be working on a round-faced smartwatch of its own, coincidence?
Victoria Song
The Samsung Galaxy Watch will get sleep apnea detection… in Korea.
Samsung says its Galaxy Watch series will be getting a sleep apnea feature early next year after getting cleared by Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. It’ll be part of Samsung’s Health Monitor app and users only need to track their sleep twice for at least four hours in a 10 day period.
That’s neat! But it’s also limited to Korean users. For that feature to work in the US, it’d need to go through the FDA clearance process — and that can take a very, very long time. Just ask Fitbit. It’s been working on a similar capability since 2017 and we’re still waiting.
Sheena Vasani
Monica Chin
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Nathan Edwards
Victoria Song
Freediving comes to the Apple Watch Ultra’s Oceanic Plus app.
Huish Outdoors announced a ton of updates to its Oceanic Plus app for the Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2. That includes a new freediving mode that allows divers to receive custom alarms for target depth, max dive time, sequential depth, surface time, and max session time. It supports freedives up to 130 feet.
There’s also a new stealth mode that dims the display so you don’t scare the fishies. That’s only scratching the surface, but you can find the full list of features here. And while you’re at it, check out the diving section of our Ultra video review.
Victoria Song
Got any questions about the Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2?
My review of the latest Apple Watches is here. I’ll be here live from 12:30-1:30PM ET today answering any lingering questions about the new double tap gesture, S9 SiP, Siri, Precision Finding — you name it.
Just drop any questions you have in the comments of this post. See ya in a bit!
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Iterative updates aren’t flashy, but these smartwatches are mainly for folks who don’t have Apple Watches yet.
Victoria Song
Victoria Song
Garmin’s back with yet another smartwatch.
This time, it’s the Vivoactive 5. It’s been roughly four years since this smartwatch has been updated and it’ll now sport a shiny new OLED display and many of the new features introduced with the Garmin Venu 3 like nap detection and wheelchair mode. It’s actually kind of difficult to tell these two watches apart, now that the Vivoactive 5 no longer has an MIP display. (Though, as always, DC Rainmaker has an extensive list spelling that out.)
To be fair, that happens when you have this many smartwatch lines.
1/3The new Garmin Vivoactive 5
Victoria Song
The new Fitbit app is here.
Earlier this year, Fitbit said the app would get a refresh this fall. Well, that refresh is rolling out starting today and simplifies the app down to three tabs — Today, Coach, and You. In a Keyword blog, Google notes you can now track workouts without a device and customize which metrics you see based on your goals.
The timing isn’t at all surprising either. We’ve seen FCC filings for a new Fitbit, and the Pixel Watch 2 will be launching aside the Pixel 8 in October. Makes sense there’d be a new Fitbit app to along with them.
Victoria Song
Victoria Song
Victoria Song
Apple has a new head for its blood glucose tracking team.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Tim Millet has taken over Apple’s secretive division exploring noninvasive blood glucose monitoring. Millet is currently Apple’s VP of platform architecture and was an important figure in transitioning from Intel chips to Apple Silicon.
That said, I would take any news of progress toward noninvasive blood glucose monitoring on the Apple Watch (or any wearable!) with several grains of salt. I did a deep dive into this topic earlier this year and after speaking with a few experts in the field, this tech is still quite a ways off from ever reaching consumers.
Sheena Vasani
Ruben Salvadori
The $30,000 Apple Watch Apple didn’t make.
Have you ever wished your Apple Watch did absolutely nothing other than tell you the time and lasted 96 hours without charging? Then let me remind you of this $30,000 mechanical watch that came out a few Apple Watches ago. The high-horology world can be snobby, so it’s refreshing to see a brand be playful (price-tag aside) and troll a huge cultural moment.
Victoria Song and Jay Peters
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Monica Chin