watchOS

watchOS
Logo
watchOS 8 running on an Apple Watch SE
watchOS 8 running on an Apple Watch SE
DeveloperApple, Inc.
Initial releasewatchOS 1
(24 April 2015)
Latest releasewatchOS 9.0.1 (20R8380)
(22 September 2022)
Latest previewwatchOS 9.1 (20S5055e)
(27 September 2022)
Supported platformsARM64 (as of watchOS 5), ARM32 (prior to watchOS 9)
Kernel typeHybrid (XNU)
User interfaceCocoa Touch
LicenseProprietary (with open source components)

watchOS is an operating system developed by Apple for the Apple Watch.

watchOS 1 through watchOS 8 was 32- and 64-bit compatible. However, watchOS 9 dropped support for 32-bit software. watchOS 9 is also the first version of watchOS to support only 64-bit software. watchOS 5 was the first version of watchOS to bring 64-bit support.

Timeline[edit | edit source]

Name Darwin version Release date Notes
watchOS 1 14 April 2015
watchOS 2 15 September 2015
watchOS 3 16 September 2016
watchOS 4 17 September 2017
watchOS 5 18 September 2018 First version of watchOS to bring 64-bit support
watchOS 6 19 September 2019
watchOS 7 20 September 2020
watchOS 8 21 September 2021 Final version of watchOS with 32-bit support
watchOS 9 22 September 2022 First version of watchOS with only 64-bit support and to drop 32-bit support