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Release record

watchOS 7.1

Full article
Public release
Recorded milestones
5
Beta cycle
49d
Average interval
12d
Public release
Nov 5, 2020

Release notes

Overview

Editorial synthesis with inline references and a source ledger when citations are available.

Release overview

watchOS 7.1 was released on November 5, 2020 with headphone-level warnings, ECG and irregular-rhythm availability in South Korea and Russia, two user-facing fixes, and security repairs.[1][2]

Evidence boundary

The security advisory adds fixes across audio, font and image processing, privileges, the kernel, XML, logging, WebKit, and XNU. Apple flags reported exploitation for selected font and kernel issues; this page does not infer further undocumented behavior.[3][2]

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 7.1

    Apple Support · Apple · 2020-11-05T00:00:00.000Z · Released November 5, 2020

    Back to text ↑
  2. About watchOS 7 Updates

    Apple Support · Apple · 2026-07-30 · watchOS 7.1

    Back to text ↑
  3. About the security content of watchOS 7.1

    Apple Support · Apple · 2020-11-05T00:00:00.000Z · Audio; FontParser; ImageIO; Kernel; libxml2; Logging; WebKit; XNU

    Back to text ↑

Documented & observed

Changes in this version

Source-linked features, fixes, known issues, removals, and community-observed behavior recorded across this version’s appearances and verified builds.

Release changes

Changed in this release

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

security · fixed

watchOS 7.1 security repairs

documentedconfirmed

Apple's advisory records a broad repair set and says exploit reports existed for selected FontParser and kernel vulnerabilities.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About the security content of watchOS 7.1 · Audio; CoreAudio; FontParser; Foundation; ImageIO; IOAcceleratorFamily; Kernel; libxml2; Logging; WebKit; XNU

bugFix · fixed

Mac Auto Unlock correction

documentedconfirmed

Apple repaired an interoperability failure in the watch-assisted Mac unlock workflow.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7.1 — unlock Mac fix

compatibility · introduced

ECG availability in South Korea and Russia

documentedconfirmed

Apple expanded regulated ECG support to compatible watches in South Korea and Russia.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7.1 — ECG app availability

compatibility · introduced

Irregular-rhythm notifications in South Korea and Russia

documentedconfirmed

The release extended irregular-rhythm notification support to the same two countries.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7.1 — irregular heart rhythm notifications

bugFix · fixed

Series 6 wrist-raise display correction

documentedconfirmed

Apple addressed a display-wake failure affecting a subset of Series 6 watches.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7.1 — wrist raise fix

feature · introduced

Headphone audio-level notifications

documentedconfirmed

watchOS 7.1 added a hearing-health warning based on potentially harmful headphone audio exposure.

Recorded at Public

  1. [1] About watchOS 7 Updates · watchOS 7.1 — headphone audio level

Milestones

Release history

Every recorded channel appearance in chronological order. Open an appearance for any available build, scope, notes, and sources.

  2. +12 days
  3. +14 days
  4. +9 days
  5. +14 days

    Public release

    Public

    Full articleEditorially verified

    watchOS 7.1 reached the public channel on November 5, 2020 with hearing notifications, regional heart-feature support, Mac-unlock and display corrections, and security repairs.

    Availability
    available
    Sources
    9 linked
    Open this appearance

Historical context

Cycle comparison

Pace, intervals, and duration compared with earlier releases on the same platform.

Historical avg for .1 releases

40 days, 5.5 milestones

Based on 11 previous watchOS .1 releases

Cycle vs. platform average

49d (avg: 58d)

9 days shorter than the watchOS average

Longest gap in this cycle

14 days

Between Beta 2 and Beta 3

Previous .1 releases (watchOS)

Previous comparable watchOS releases
VersionYearCycleMilestonesAvg. Interval
watchOS 9.1202240d77d
watchOS 8.1202134d76d
watchOS 6.1.1201935d59d
watchOS 6.1201936d67d
watchOS 5.2.1201946d512d
watchOS 5.1201842d68d

Scroll horizontally to compare every historical field.

Official release notes