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Release appearance

watchOS 7.0 Public

Full article
Public release

Recorded context

About this appearance

watchOS 7.0 reached the public channel on September 16, 2020 with face sharing, sleep and handwashing tools, Family Setup, fitness, health, communication, navigation, and security changes.

Date
Sep 16, 2020
Availability
available
Revision
No

Release notes

What changed

Original editorial synthesis. Linked references appear with the claims they support and in the source ledger.

Public release

Apple made watchOS 7 available on September 16, 2020 for Apple Watch Series 3 and later paired with a compatible iPhone. The launch notes span personalization, health, family use, fitness, communication, navigation, and system utilities.[1][2][3]

Documented scope

The structured occurrences below group related launch-note bullets without copying Apple's prose. The security occurrence summarizes the version-specific advisory; later point-release fixes and unsupported undocumented observations are excluded.[4][5]

Source ledger

References

Sources are linked to the claims they support. Publication and access dates are shown when available.

  1. About the security content of watchOS 7.0

    Apple Support · Apple · 2020-09-16T00:00:00.000Z · Released September 16, 2020

    Back to text ↑
  2. Apple Watch Series 6 delivers breakthrough wellness and fitness capabilities

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2020-09-15T00:00:00.000Z · watchOS 7 available September 16

    Back to text ↑
  3. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7

    Back to text ↑
  4. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · Watch Faces; Sleep; Handwashing; Family Setup; Memoji; Maps; Siri; Other features and improvements

    Back to text ↑
  5. About the security content of watchOS 7.0

    Apple Support · Apple · 2020-09-16T00:00:00.000Z · watchOS 7.0 security content

    Back to text ↑
  6. About the security content of watchOS 7.0

    Apple Support · Apple · 2020-09-16T00:00:00.000Z · Audio; CoreAudio; CoreCapture; CoreText; Disk Images; FontParser; HomeKit; ImageIO; Kernel; Sandbox; SQLite; WebKit

  7. Apple Watch Series 6 delivers breakthrough wellness and fitness capabilities

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2020-09-15T00:00:00.000Z · Family Setup requirements and availability

  8. Apple Watch Series 6 delivers breakthrough wellness and fitness capabilities

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2020-09-15T00:00:00.000Z · Pricing and Availability — watchOS 7

  9. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7 — Family Setup

  10. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7 — Handwashing

  11. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7 — Maps

  12. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7 — Memoji

  13. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7 — Other features and improvements

  14. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7 — Siri

  15. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7 — Sleep

  16. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7 — Watch Faces

Release changes

Changed in this release

Features, fixes, removals, and regressions first observed in this release record.

enhancement · changed

Siri translation, on-device dictation, and announcements

documentedconfirmed

The update expanded wrist-based language help and message access while moving supported dictation processing onto the watch.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Siri

enhancement · changed

New faces, face sharing, and discovery

documentedconfirmed

The launch expanded face design choices and turned configured faces into portable items that could be shared or installed from curated sources.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Watch Faces

feature · introduced

Automatic handwashing detection

documentedconfirmed

Motion and microphone signals were combined to recognize washing activity and encourage the recommended duration, with history visible in Health.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Handwashing

enhancement · changed

Health metrics and heart-feature availability

documentedconfirmed

The launch added low-range cardio and mobility context in Health, centralized safety setup, and broadened regulated heart-feature access.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Other features and improvements

feature · introduced

Cycling directions in Maps

documentedconfirmed

watchOS 7 introduced wrist-based cycling navigation in selected cities, including route context tailored to riders.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Maps

enhancement · changed

Messages threads and Shortcuts

documentedconfirmed

watchOS 7 made group communication easier to follow and provided direct wrist access to supported personal automations.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Other features and improvements

enhancement · changed

Wallet, media, and utility updates

documentedconfirmed

Related system updates expanded what users could access without waking the display and improved management of keys, audio, weather, and time information.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Other features and improvements

feature · introduced

Sleep tracking and schedules

documentedconfirmed

watchOS 7 introduced an overnight workflow for setting sleep goals, preparing for bed, detecting sleep, waking, and monitoring charging readiness.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Sleep

security · fixed

watchOS 7.0 security repairs

documentedconfirmed

Apple's advisory documents fixes across Audio, CoreAudio, CoreCapture, CoreText, Disk Images, FontParser, HomeKit, ImageIO, the kernel, Sandbox, SQLite, and WebKit.

  1. [1] About the security content of watchOS 7.0 · Audio; CoreAudio; CoreCapture; CoreText; Disk Images; FontParser; HomeKit; ImageIO; Kernel; Sandbox; SQLite; WebKit

enhancement · changed

New workouts and adjustable Activity goals

documentedconfirmed

watchOS 7 broadened movement tracking and let users customize exercise and stand or roll targets in addition to the Move goal.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Other features and improvements

feature · introduced

Memoji app and watch face

documentedconfirmed

The release brought Memoji creation and editing to the wrist and integrated the results into Messages and face personalization.

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7 — Memoji