Smartwatch

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

The future where you speak into a wrist communicator is getting closer. While many smartwatches allow you to dictate texts on your wrist, Google says it’s rolling out voice memos on the Wear OS Messages app over the next few weeks. As noted by 9to5 Google, it’s not clear whether you’ll be able to play back any messages on the wrist.

One of the best things about Garmin is it often brings newer features to older models for free. Starting today, owners of the second-gen Epix, Fenix 7 series, Forerunner series, and Venu series can get some of the cool stuff introduced earlier this spring on the Epix Pro and Fenix 7 Pro. That includes the new Endurance and Hill Scores, muscle maps, weather map overlays, and... a fish forecast. You can check out the full list at the link below.

A new Bloomberg report says Apple is tinkering with 3D printing for the stainless steel version of the Apple Watch Series 9. The main goal is to purportedly streamline production, and if things go well, Apple may consider using 3D printing for its other products.

Google did it again. For a hot second, the Pixel 8 Pro and what appears to be the Pixel Watch 2 popped up on a Google Store page. While it’s pretty clear this is the Pixel 8 Pro, it’s hard to definitively say this is the Pixel Watch 2 because of the angle. I’ve been holding up my Pixel Watch next to this picture for a good while and it does appear thinner and flatter than the current watch.

Wear OS 2 users have started getting notifications that Google Assistant support is ending soon. At first, we didn’t have any concrete timing but Google spokesperson Ivy Chen tells The Verge that “The last day Google Assistant on Wear OS 2 devices will work is August 31, 2023.”