The anticipation around Apple's updates often centres on their major innovations, but sometimes, the smaller, more nuanced changes can significantly impact our daily lives. While much of Apple's focus this year has been on Apple Intelligence and other iOS 18 upgrades, the watchOS 11 update has quietly made substantial improvements to the Apple Watch experience. We've identified several features that stand out, perhaps even more than last year's big watchOS 10 update.
Here are the three key watchOS 11 features making the biggest impact for us at iSTRAP:
Smart Stack with Live Activities
Smart Stacks haven't been the most compelling feature for many Apple users, ourselves included. Whether on iPhone widgets or in StandBy mode, the 'Smart' aspect often felt lacking. Widgets that swap out randomly rather than stay consistent haven't been particularly useful.
However, watchOS 11 has transformed the Smart Stack into a genuinely beneficial feature for the Apple Watch. Apple now automatically displays the Smart Stack when relevant, replacing the watch face in certain scenarios. For example:
- Now Playing Integration: If you’re listening to music or a podcast, the Now Playing screen is integrated into the Smart Stack, keeping it at the top instead of taking over the entire watch face.
- Timers and Stopwatches: When you set a timer or stopwatch, the Smart Stack becomes the default view with the appropriate Live Activities at the forefront.
- Weather Events: Though we haven't experienced it yet, the Smart Stack will also appear for noteworthy weather events, an addition we're eager to see in action.
- Other Live Activities: Live Activities such as sports scores or your Uber status will display within the Smart Stack.
These scenarios make the Smart Stack more prominent and naturally increase engagement with the other widgets it offers.
Pausing Activity Rings for Rest Days
It's surprising that it took a decade, but watchOS 11 finally allows you to 'pause' your Activity rings. Whether you're sick or on vacation, you can now take a break without sacrificing your streak. This feature is a game-changer for maintaining motivation. As 9to5mac’s Ryan Christoffel has said in the past:
"It’s not uncommon for someone with a streak to completely abandon their healthy habits after missing a day or two. The streak is gone, so there’s less motivation for staying diligent. But now, the Apple Watch finally accommodates those situations when ‘life happens’ and you can’t close your rings on a given day."
Setting Custom Activity Ring Goals by Day of the Week
Another significant enhancement in watchOS 11 is the ability to set different Activity ring goals for different days of the week. This feature has been on our wish list for years. For those of us who have varying levels of activity throughout the week, this change is incredibly beneficial.
For example, if you go to the gym four days a week but stay moderately active on other days, you can now set higher goals for gym days and lower goals for rest days. Previously, the solution was to set a universally low goal, which could be easily exceeded on gym days but not challenging enough to encourage activity on rest days.
