It’s just a few days until Apple likely announces a new Apple Watch Series 12 and, while the hardware isn’t expected to wow us this year, the software still might.
That’s according to an eagle-eyed code scanner who discovered hints of some yet-to-be-revealed features lurking within the watchOS 27 beta. According to the MacRumors forum user posting under the name “pdfu” Apple is planning a new Readiness health app, along with changes to the way workouts are displayed, and even new heart-rate sensing hardware.
In terms of the latter watchOS 27, the MacRumors forumite reckons he’s spied a new optical sensing family going by Sunstone4p0 – suggesting new hardware within the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. This could improve how Apple is able to measure a weaker signal.
A little over a week ago, the Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said Apple may offer always-on heart rate tracking for the first time, and this new sensor may assist with that.
Furthermore, Gurman asserted that “Apple is also working on revamping its fitness and health app software to show more wellness-related metrics in a similar fashion to increasingly popular app offerings from Whoop and Oura.”
This could key into another finding from “pdfu” pertaining to the Readiness app. The leaker wrote: “The app itself is not included in any watchOS beta, so its interface and feature set are unknown. The name and placement next to the Workout app could mean that Apple is ready to introduce a more substantial readiness or recovery experience on Apple Watch.”
Finally the firmware also offers a hint that Apple may offer an Apple Watch variant with 128GB of storage available for apps and music.
The discoveries do offer a little more intrigue when it comes to the Apple Watch Series 12, which may be the first to offer always-on heart-rate tracking.
Given the software-based features mentioned are unannounced and haven’t been available to test in beta, it’s unlikely anything will be available at launch when watchOS 27 arrives later this month. However, perhaps before the year is out, we may be ushering in some great new features.
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