Apple’s upgraded the underlying OS on the Apple Watch to version 1.01. Here’s how to manage the upgrade process.
The Apple Watch doesn’t have its own data connection, so the actual upgrade has to be managed from within Apple’s Watch app on an already paired iPhone handset. You’ll also need the Apple Watch to be at least 50 per cent charged, and sitting on its charger during the upgrade process.
The upgrade itself is reasonably small by Apple standards — for my install it required a 51.6MB download — and involves going into the Watch app on your iPhone.
From there, click on General and then Software Update. That will then check if the update is available or applicable — you can’t update an already updated Watch — and allow you to Download and Install the update.
As with most things Apple updates, it’s reasonable to expect the servers to be hammered a little on day one of an update, although my own download was relatively brisk. The Apple Watch will reboot itself and run an updating animation for some time, however, so don’t start the upload process if you know you’re going to have to rush out the door rapidly.
The upgrade itself touts improved performance for Siri, measuring stand activity, calculating calories for indoor cycling and rowing workouts, distance and pace during outdoor walk and run workouts, accessibility and third party apps. No, I don’t know what the “third party apps” bit means either. You also gain new Emoji characters, and language support for Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Thai and Turkish.
How Do I? covers the basics, because we’ve all got to start somewhere.