Will watchOS 8.1 bring new features? We'll know soon enough now that the latest beta of watchOS 8.1 is out. This is the first major update to the watchOS 8 release, which adds the Mindfulness app, Focus support, and new style notifications. In watchOS 8.1, Apple irons out any bugs and may include some minor changes and improvements as well. We'll dive in as soon as possible.
Latest watchOS 8.1 Beta
watchOS 8.1 beta 1
September 21, 2021– Apple has released the first beta of watchOS 8.1 with build number 19R5541f.
The watchOS 8.1 beta is available to developers and public testers with the appropriate beta profile. If you have already installed a previous beta of watchOS, you will see the update appear automatically. We expect the beta to be available to public testers soon.
Note: these betas are for developers only and public testers are not suitable for use on devices you need every day.
About watchOS 8.1
The major release of watchOS 8 has just ended, so we don't expect any major new features. Should we nevertheless make discoveries, we will of course update this article. However, we mainly rely on bug fixes.
Timeline watchOS 8.1 beta
Below is a timeline of the watchOS 8.1 beta's. We expect watchOS 8.1 in October 2021.
- watchOS 8.1 beta 1: September 21, 2021 (released, build number 19R5541f)
- watchOS 8.1 final: October 2021 (expected)
About testing beta's
When testing beta's you can often run into problems. First of all, not all functions are usually available immediately, but they are added and expanded during the test period. You may also suffer from crashes or some apps may not yet work properly. So keep this in mind if you decide to test a watchOS update. It is therefore not recommended to install a beta on a device that you use every day, because there can still be many problems in the beta. WatchOS also doesn't allow you to downgrade.
This article will be republished with new betas as we update the newly added features.