Favorite Beta Features One Month In
Favorite Beta Features One Month In
We’re on the cusp of entering August, a shocking fact not only because time is moving so strangely in 2020 but also because Apple held WWDC later than usual this year, causing summer to feel shorter than ever. I’ve been using beta releases of iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS ever since they were first released over a month ago, so I thought now would be a good time to check in and see which features and changes were making the most meaningful difference in my life. I’m sure by the time these beta releases are fully baked and launch publicly this fall, the list below will change in some ways, but one month of use seemed like a good time for a check-in. As my list of current favorite changes will demonstrate, sometimes it’s not the tentpole features but the small tweaks that can make the biggest difference in everyday use.
Sleep-related features. I’ve been sleep tracking using watchOS 7’s new feature for the past month, and while it’s extremely basic as this point – my hope is that new Watch hardware this fall will enable a richer set of data – it’s been a nice addition regardless. There are two small aspects of the sleep tracking experience, however, that I want to highlight. One is that when my Watch detects activity in the morning, it will send an “Early start” notification volunteering to turn off my alarm if I’ve decided to start my day early. This is a great detail because far too often in the past I’ve started getting ready for the day only to have to go back to my nightstand to turn off an alarm I no longer needed. The other useful option is that in both the Health app on iPhone and the Alarms app on Apple Watch, your sleep alarm schedule now lets you disable or adjust your alarm only for the next day. In the past if I wanted to make changes to the next day’s alarm, I would need to remember to later change the alarm back to its original settings. Now, I can adjust a single day’s alarm without impacting the rest of the week.