Hands-on with WatchOS 11: Give it a rest (day)

It’s 10am on Sunday morning. You’ve woken up with a monster headache, a hankering for some greasy food, and you’re beginning to regret those last couple of drinks at the bar last night. You feel a buzz on your wrist. “Time to stand!” your Apple Watch declares. Despite your desire to keep up your months-long streak of closed rings, you know the only reason you’ll be getting out of bed is to greet your Uber Eats guy. 10 standing hours? A workout? Forget it.

For the last nine years, the Apple Watch has famously shunned the concept of a rest day, meaning streak lovers either had to push through sick days and hangovers or break their hard-won streak. I’ve been testing the WatchOS 11 for the last month, and I’m happy to confirm that, finally, Apple is letting us give it a rest.

Here’s everything you need to know, plus all the other features to look out for when WatchOS 11 drops later this month after the iPhone 16 event (where a new Apple Watch is expected.)

In WatchOS 11, Custom Workouts are now available for pool swims, enabling users to create interval-based swimming workouts. You’ll receive haptic alerts when it’s time to start a new workout segment and a quick glance at your watch will show you what’s left of your remaining interval (as well as a snapshot of what’s coming up next).

There’s also added support for tracking distance and route maps in more workout types, including golf, outdoor rowing, downhill skiing, snowboarding and more.

The Smart Stack has had an influx of new widget types. Live activities show real-time information, like seeing how far away your Uber is or tracking a takeaway delivery. Suggested widgets pop up based on factors like date, time, sleep schedule and more to suggest widgets you might find handy, for example, a Shazam widget when you’re listening to music. There are also interactive widgets that allow you to control switches and toggles (where supported), like locking or unlocking a smart lock right from the widget. Finally, Smart Stack now includes new widgets that provide direct access to the three last used items in an app (e.g. the last three workout types).

We’re living in the future, folks. The new Translate app allows you to translate speech in real-time, with support for 20 languages including French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese and more.

The Health app is now better equipped to help you track your pregnancy. Instead of predicting your period, Cycle Tracking will track gestational age and allow you to log any symptoms you might be experiencing. You’ll also be prompted to review your high heart rate notification threshold, walking steadiness and mental health, and your pregnancy will be added to your Medical ID.

We’ve all done the whole “text me when you get home so I know you’re safe” thing with our friends and family, and now it’s easier than ever. The ‘Check In’ safety feature introduced to the iPhone last year is making its way to the Apple Watch, enabling you to mark yourself as safe when you arrive at your destination. It’s also integrated into the Workouts app, so you can let your loved ones know you safely returned from your run or bike ride.