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Installing the Apple Watch 1.0.1 Update

Apple has released the first Apple Watch software update, Apple Watch OS 1.0.1, which claims to improve performance for Siri, measuring stand activity, calorie calculations for indoor cycling and rowing workouts, distance and pace during outdoor walk and run workouts, accessibility, and third-party apps. Watch OS 1.0.1 also adds support for the new emoji characters introduced in OS X 10.10.3 and iOS 8.3 (see “Apple Releases OS X 10.10.3 with Photos,” 8 April 2015, and “iOS 8.3 Triggers an Avalanche of Improvements,” 8 April 2015), and adds language support for Brazilian Portuguese,
Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Thai, and Turkish. There are also a wide variety of security updates.

But how you install the update isn’t immediately obvious. Don’t bother looking in the settings on the watch itself. Instead, open the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, and then, in the My Watch view, tap General > Software Update. Before you tap Download and Install, you need to do the following:


  • Be sure the Apple Watch is in range of your iPhone.
  • Connect the Apple Watch to its charger.
  • Make sure the Apple Watch is charged to at least 50 percent.

Apple’s goal here would seem to be to prevent a partial update from bricking your watch, since it’s not as though you can just connect it to iTunes like you can with an iOS device. It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to make sure your iPhone has enough battery power to run for 10–30 minutes, or to connect it to a charger during the update.

If for some reason the update won’t install, first try restarting your iPhone by holding the Sleep/Wake button until the Slide to Power Off switch appears, sliding it to the right, and then pressing the Sleep/Wake button again to turn the phone back on. If that doesn’t do the trick, try rebooting the Apple Watch by holding the side button until the Power Off switch appears, slide the switch from left to right to turn the watch off, and then press the side button again to turn the watch back on.

So far, we haven’t noticed any major changes with the update. Various functions may be slightly faster, but it’s hard to say for sure.

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