Hands-on with watchOS 3 beta

Apple has released the first developer beta for watchOS 3. In our hands-on, we'll take a look at new features, and try to figure out if Apple can keep its promises of a faster Apple Watch.

Rich Woods former Senior Editor for North America Neowin @TheRichWoods · Jun 17, 2016 18:26 EDT · Hot! with 28 comments

Apple held its annual Worldwide Developer Conference this week. To kick it off, the firm had its usual keynote, where it announced iOS 10, macOS 10.12 Sierra, tvOS 10, and watchOS 3.

Following the event, developer betas were released. Of course, it's once again worth noting that if you choose to install the watchOS 3 beta, there's no way for you to roll back on your own.

But then again, that's why we're here.

watchOS 3 has some considerable changes in store for the Apple Watch. It now has a Control Center (like iOS), where you used to find Glances.

There are also a number of new stock apps, such as Breathe, a way to help users perform meditation-style breathing. There is a new app for Home as well, as that's also new to iOS.

Perhaps the biggest change is that Apple promises that watchOS 3 will be up to seven times faster. Apps in the dock will now be held in memory, and apps previously used will be held in memory for longer.

Here is our hands-on video with the watchOS 3 beta: