Apple Seeds watchOS 10.1 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Apple today seeded the release candidate version of an upcoming watchOS 10.1 update to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, with the beta coming a week after the release of the third watchOS 10.1 beta.

Apple Watch Faces watchOS 10 Feature Blue
To install the ‌watchOS 10‌.1 update, developers will need to open the Apple Watch app, go to the Software Update section under "General" in Settings, and toggle on the ‌‌watchOS 10‌‌.1 Developer Beta. An Apple ID linked to a developer account is required. Public beta testers will need to follow the same steps after opting in to the beta through Apple's public beta testing website.

Once beta updates have been activated, ‌watchOS 10.1‌ can be downloaded under the same Software Update section. To install software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life and it must be placed on an Apple Watch charger.

watchOS 10.1 adds NameDrop support for sharing contact information with another Apple Watch or an iPhone, plus it includes Double Tap.

NameDrop can be used by tapping into the Apple Watch Contacts app, selecting your profile, and tapping on the "Share" option. From there, touching the Apple Watch to another Apple Watch running watchOS 10.1 or an ‌iPhone‌ running iOS 17 will initiate a contact transfer.

Double Tap is a gesture exclusive to the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra, and it allows users to tap their thumb and index fingers together to do things like bring up the Smart Stack, start a call, pause a song, and more.

Related Roundup: watchOS 10
Related Forum: Apple Programming

Top Rated Comments

jonnysods Avatar
8 weeks ago
Resurrect my AW6's battery life please!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dadiy Avatar
8 weeks ago
Really miffed by double tap. Been using it for years on aw6, you enable it in accessibility so why can I use that in watchOS 10 but not the “new” double tap.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacNut Avatar
8 weeks ago
Hopefully it fixes the altimeter readings.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pdaholic Avatar
8 weeks ago

Interesting. Of all the things I don't like, I think the redesigns are mostly good. Which app redesign did you not like?

I don't like the game of musical chairs they played between control center, app view, and dock.

I also wish they had a corner digital time complication, while we're at it.
A couple of things that come to mind immediately--the scrolling list view of the calendar and its fonts having a similar color to the background on the entry; calendar entries in the widgets have bright white backgrounds, while the rest of the OS looks to be in "dark mode"; tapping the calendar complication takes me now to a detailed list of information about the entry that I don't need...I could keep going. There also seems to be a bug with third party calendar apps not showing entries, but I'm hoping that will be fixed.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jhonjhon236 Avatar
8 weeks ago
Hopefully this fixes battery issues. My Series 5 barely gets 6 hours of use before it fire dies.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CC77 Avatar
8 weeks ago
This image always makes me miss the leather magnetic link band...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

ios stolen device protection

iOS 17.3 Beta Adds New Stolen Device Protection Feature to iPhone

Tuesday December 12, 2023 10:20 am PST by
The first iOS 17.3 beta rolling out to developers today includes a new "Stolen Device Protection" feature that is designed to add an additional layer of security in the event someone has stolen your iPhone and also obtained the device's passcode. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen reported about instances of thieves spying on a victim's iPhone...
iOS 17

33 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 17.2

Tuesday December 12, 2023 1:57 am PST by
Apple has made available for download its major end-of-year iPhone software update, iOS 17.2, featuring a large number of features and changes that users have been anticipating for quite a while. Below, we've listed 33 new things that your iPhone can do once you've installed the update. Check Settings ➝ General ➝ Software Update on your device to get downloading. 1. Help You Keep a Daily ...
iPhone 16 Mock Back 1

iPhone 16 Early Prototypes: What Apple's Next-Generation iPhone Will Look Like

Tuesday December 12, 2023 3:07 pm PST by
With the launch of the iPhone 15, Apple introduced design changes like a curved frame and a frosted glass back. Information acquired by MacRumors suggests that Apple's next-generation iPhone 16 will build on these updates with modifications to the buttons and the camera layout. We have details on early pre-production designs for the iPhone 16, including a look at the variants and hardware...
CarPlay Phone Call

GM Says It's Nixing CarPlay to Make Drivers Safer

Tuesday December 12, 2023 1:47 pm PST by
Earlier this year, General Motors (GM) announced plans to phase out Apple's CarPlay and Android Auto in its future electric vehicles, with the company instead relying on an infotainment system co-developed with Google. This has not been a popular decision with iPhone users, and today, GM provided some additional insight into the decision in a discussion with MotorTrend. According to Tim...
iPhone 16 Side Feature

iPhone 16 Pro Rumored to Have These 12 New Features

Monday December 11, 2023 10:46 am PST by
While the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are still over nine months away from launching, there are already several rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped new features and changes expected for the devices so far. These are some of the key changes rumored for the iPhone 16 Pro models as of December 2023:Larger displays: The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped...
Apple TV 2022 Feature Blue

Apple Releases tvOS 17.2 With Revamped Apple TV App

Monday December 11, 2023 9:58 am PST by
Apple today released tvOS 17.2, the second major update to the tvOS 17 operating system that came out in September 2023. tvOS 17.2 comes more than a month after tvOS 17.1, an update that expanded the availability of the Enhanced Dialogue feature. tvOS 17.2 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the ‌Apple TV‌. Go to System > Software Update to get the new software. ‌Apple TV‌...
maxresdefault

Top Five Features in macOS Sonoma 14.2

Wednesday December 13, 2023 3:21 pm PST by
When Apple releases new software, iOS updates tend to get most of the attention, and there are sometimes useful new features in Mac updates that go under the radar. That's the case with macOS Sonoma 14.2. It doesn't have flashy features like the Journal app that came in iOS 17.2, but there are a number of useful improvements that make it worth installing. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube ...