Apple Watch

Apple has been working to untether the Apple Watch from its iPhone dependency at least since the debut of the Series 3 with its own cellular radio, and it looks like watchOS 6 is going to take another big step in this direction.

According to the report, Apple is adding the App Store directly to the Apple Watch, so you’ll no longer need to use your iPhone to install apps, and will also be adding the Voice Memos and Calculator apps to the wearable device — two apps that have seemed like rather odd omissions from the very beginning, especially when you consider how popular calculator watches were in the eighties. These will join the Books app for listening to audiobooks, and two new health-tracking apps, Dose and Cycles, for handling medication reminders and menstrual cycle tracking, respectively.

As we’d expect in a major watchOS update, Apple is also said to be working on several new Watch Faces, along with additional Complications for tracking more information such as audio book status, hearing aid battery life, and measurements for external noise and rain data.