Apple Seeds Third Beta of watchOS 11 to Developers - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Apple Seeds Third Beta of watchOS 11 to Developers

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 11 update to developers for testing purposes, with the beta coming two weeks after the second beta was released.

watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1
To install the ‌watchOS 11 update, developers need to open the Apple Watch app, go to the Software Update section under "General" in Settings, and toggle on the watchOS 11 Developer Beta. An Apple ID linked to a developer account is required.

Once beta updates have been activated, watchOS 11 can be downloaded under the same Software Update section. To install software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life and it must be placed on an Apple Watch charger.

watchOS 11 introduces a new Vitals app that aggregates health metrics collected during sleep like heart rate and respiratory rate, providing day-to-day health insights to track whether something has changed. There's also a Training Load feature for monitoring the intensity of workouts and how that impacts the body over time.

The Smart Stack has been updated with new widgets and support for Live Activities and Translate, plus it is better able to suggest widgets based on time and daily routine. The Photos watch face includes suggestions for the best images to use, and the Check In safety feature now works with Workouts.

Activity Rings can be customized to change the goals for each day, and there is an option to pause for rest days or when ill without losing an activity streak. Double Tap now works for navigating through apps with one hand, and Apple Maps lets users create their own walking and hiking routes.

Related Roundup: watchOS 26
Related Forum: Apple Watch

Popular Stories

General visionOS watchOS and tvOS Betas Feature Redux

Apple Releases Second watchOS 26.5, tvOS 26.5 and visionOS 26.5 Betas

Monday April 13, 2026 10:06 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the second betas of upcoming watchOS 26.5, tvOS 26.5, and visionOS 26.5 betas for testing purposes. The software comes two weeks after Apple released the first betas for each platform. The software updates are available through the Settings app on each device, and because these are developer betas, a free developer account is required. There's no word ...
General visionOS watchOS and tvOS Betas Feature Redux

Apple Releases Third watchOS 26.5, tvOS 26.5 and visionOS 26.5 Betas

Monday April 20, 2026 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the third betas of upcoming watchOS 26.5, tvOS 26.5, and visionOS 26.5 betas for testing purposes. The software comes a week after Apple released the second betas for each platform. The software updates are available through the Settings app on each device, and because these are developer betas, a free developer account is required. There's no word on ...
General visionOS watchOS and tvOS Betas Feature Redux

Apple Releases Fourth watchOS 26.5, tvOS 26.5 and visionOS 26.5 Betas

Monday April 27, 2026 10:01 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with the fourth betas of upcoming watchOS 26.5, tvOS 26.5, and visionOS 26.5 betas for testing purposes. The software comes a week after Apple released the third betas for each platform. The software updates are available through the Settings app on each device, and because these are developer betas, a free developer account is required. There's no word on ...

Top Rated Comments

honglong1976 Avatar
24 months ago
If anyone updates and it gets stuck on “estimated time …” the fix I used:

Iphone wifi off
iphone Wi-Fi on

Updated then :)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
honglong1976 Avatar
24 months ago

Yeah, what I really mean is that I can’t believe there aren’t more face options every release.
Watch faces are the worst thing about the watch. They are all terribl.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
24 months ago

There doesn't seem to be any outrage happening here - no bricks, no excessive battery drain etc. ;)
Sure, it's been a few hours, but... :D
I'm tempted to install it on my Ultra 2.
Here on iPhone 12 + Ultra 2. No problems whatsoever!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
honglong1976 Avatar
24 months ago

Am I the only one who basically just wants a bunch of new face options and doesn’t care about much else??
Me too. But training load is great.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
24 months ago
The watchOS betas have been stable for me and I like the Smart Stack changes (live activities) but I just want better battery life. We'll see what happens over the next couple of days on both my Series 9 and 15 Pro Max
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Related Apple News: Entertainment | Local News | Iphone | Business | Culture