[Hands-On] watchOS 3 Beta 4 Impressions

My Apple Watch is running watchOS 3 Beta 4 and has been for about a week now. I feel confident I can give my impressions of this Beta iteration right now. Keep in mind this post will focus on the changes and impressions moving from Beta 3 to Beta 4.

What’s New

First of all, I have only found two meaningful changes so far in watchOS 3 Beta 4. When replying to a message the watch reply bubble colors are now updated to mimic the iPhone. So if you are messaging with iMessage you will see the reply options in blue. If you’re replying via SMS it will be green.

SMS reply options.

iMessage reply options.

Secondly, the other change I noticed is in the Workouts app. Normally when I finish my workout session I have to force press my Apple Watch screen to get my End/Resume/Lock options. When on the Workout HUD screen you can just swipe left and these options are available.

Initial workout screen.

Swipe left for these options.

Bugs

I’ve yet to experience many bugs in Beta 4. The one I did experience was when the “Time for Bed” notification alarms goes off it will continue to go off even after you have performed an action on it. This is fixed by rebooting your Apple Watch. Documentation for the known bugs is found here.

How to Download

Ensure Wi-Fi is turned on for your iPhone
Launch the Watch App on your iPhone
Tap the My Watch option
Select the General option
Tap Software Update
Select Download and Install
Type in your iPhone Passcode
Tap the Agree button
Tap Install (your Apple Watch must be charged at least 50% and be connected to the charger throughout the installation process.)
Once your Apple Watch has finished installing it will reboot.

Overall Impressions

Finally, this beta is the most polished Beta for watchOS 3 yet. I realize that seems obvious but it really is nice to have a smooth beta experience this early. Overall this wasn’t the sexiest beta release so far, but it has to be my favorite because the stability is excellent. In the earlier beta build I experienced random 10-20% battery loss daily. That hasn’t been a problem so far in Beta 4. If you’re a current Apple Watch owner the Fall software updates will be promising.

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