Apple has been seeding developer (and public) betas of tvOS 11 and watchOS 4 for weeks, and now, following the big September event, the company has released the final golden master (GM) release.

Now, the final developer beta has seen the light of day, being released for developers ahead of the public release of the same software later this month. As is par for the course with the GM release, while this is still technically a developer beta, it is the final build of the software, which means it will reflect the public version in features and scope.

The GM allows for developers to build and test their apps on the final build before the public gets their hands on it. Here are the new features, as per the previous beta seeds:

tvOS 11

To test the latest generation of tvOS, the Apple TV 4 must be connected to a computer via the USB-C cable, and installing the latest software by that means. The software can be downloaded from the dedicated developers website.

While Apple wasn’t keen on revealing too much information regarding the next big update for tvOS on stage at WWDC this year, in the weeks since the keynote some interesting details have emerged. Most interesting, we recently saw that Apple is starting to tag certain movies within iTunes as “4K, HDR.” Right now that doesn’t mean anything, as that format isn’t supported by the Apple TV, but it could be a clear indicator of things coming down the pipe. Rumor has it that Apple may unveil a fifth-generation Apple TV at some point before the end of 2017, which would support 4K HDR content, something that the fourth-generation was seen as missing when it launched.

watchOS 4

Similar to how Siri shows relevant information on iOS, Siri face on watchOS 4 will show relevant reminders depending on your schedule and your location. The Kaleidoscope watch face is simple in nature and shows very minimum information. Apple is also adding new Toy Story watch faces comprising of Toy Story characters like Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Every time one brings up their Apple Watch, the Toy Story watch face will animate the character.

Apple Music

There is also a new Apple Music app in watchOS 4 that allows one to easily access their music library. It now also integrates with the Activity app so when you start a new workout, a relevant playlist will also start playing by Apple Music.

Activity and Workout

The Activity app is getting an update with watchOS 4 and will now show recommendations and suggestions depending on your workout history. The Workout app has also been enhanced and now lets one quickly start a workout tracking. Apple has also created a custom algorithm to track High Intensity Interval Tracking which is becoming more popular with time.

With watchOS 4, Apple is also enabling two-way data sync that will allow the Apple Watch to communicate with various gym equipment and sync data with them. This will be done by pairing the Apple Watch with the equipment via NFC. Then, data recorded by Apple Watch will be synced to the treadmill or any other gym machine you are using and vice versa.

New APIs

watchOS 4 also comes with a number of new APIs that will allow developers to create more powerful apps for the platform. This includes applications being able to go into a full screen mode, overlapping layers, Water Lock API, background audio recording and navigation, and single-process runtime. The new Core Bluetooth API will allow many devices to directly talk to Apple Watch. So, for example, an external glucose meter will be able to connect to Apple Watch and sync data with it.

The GM is available through the official developer portal.

Source: iPhonehacks