IOS 10 and Watch OS 3 was released this past Tuesday. Have you upgraded yet? Here’s my thoughts after I’ve had almost a week to play with the new features on my iPhone 6S Plus, Apple Watch and iPad Air 2

iOS 10 Highlights

Although gimmicky at first glance, the new messaging app is loaded with features that makes it more fun and engaging for us iPhone users! While there’s many 3rd party apps that are comparable, having then native app with these built in new functions makes the user experience much better and means everyone will be posting stickers, GIFs and etc.

The raise-to-wake feature is pretty awesome too. Very simple but very welcome. I can’t stop lifting my phone just to watch it turn on by itself. Kinda makes you feel like you have a whole new phone.

Third party support to Siri is pretty dang cool too. You can ask Siri a lot more that you wouldn’t think she could answer and viola – she does!

Watch OS 3 Highlights

They say this new update makes you feel like you have a whole new watch and while that’s moderately true.. it does feel more like a Watch OS 2.5 instead of a Watch OS 3. I mean, the update to the messaging is a welcome change too. Being able to scribble full sentences when your phone isn’t within reach works like a dream, and oddly enough, the breathing app is more helpful than I expected. I definitely pay more attention to when my watch asks me to breathe than when it asks me to stand. So, kudos there.

The new watch faces are definitely a welcome addition but let’s be honest.. it’s just like 3 new faces plus they added Minnie to the Mickey watch face. Just about all the current watch faces got an update allowing for more customization so of course, I’m not complaining. The only thing I can complain about is even now, the choices are very limited. I wish they would allow for third party development over the watch faces like Samsung and Pebble do. Apple usually needs a lot of convincing before they do what other companies do so let’s hope that at some point soon they’ll finally realize how much of an impact allowing devs create faces could be.

I love the app tray… Kinda sad the contact function when pressing the button is gone but to be honest, I hardly ever used it. So, I guess I’ll get over it.

Also, I can’t wait for next week’s MacOS update… For one, we’re getting Siri on Mac desktops and laptops, but for two, with the new Watch OS 3, we can unlock our computers with just our watch! It’s just cool!

Everything else about Watch OS 3 is fine and I’m definitely glad I updated… It just feels as thought it could have done more. It’s almost there… just not quite fully there.

Watch my video for my full thoughts and drop me a comment below if you agree or disagree with my thoughts!