5 Things to Know About the watchOS 10.4 Update

Apple’s pushed its new watchOS 10.4 update to Apple Watch users.

watchOS 10.4 is a milestone upgrade, the fourth for the company’s watchOS 10 operating system. It brings a mix of new features, enhancements, and fixes to compatible Apple Watch models.

It’s an important upgrade and most Apple Watch owners should install the update today, or at some point in the near future.

In this guide we’ll cover everything you need to know about the watchOS 10.4 update for Apple Watch.

Our walkthrough goes over the software’s changes, provides some thoughts about its performance, and take a look at some of the issues impacting the software.

We’ll start with some quick thoughts about watchOS 10.4’s performance.

watchOS 10.4 Review

This quick review will provide Apple Watch users with a look at the software’s performance in key areas like battery life, connectivity, and speed.

If your Apple Watch is currently running watchOS 10.3.1, you’ll see a fairly small download. If you’re moving your device up from watchOS 9, or a much older version of watchOS 10, the download will be larger.

The installation took around eight minutes on an Apple Watch 4.

We’ve been using watchOS 10.4 on an Apple Watch 4 for several days now and performance is holding up quite well in key areas like battery life and speed.

watchOS 10.4 Battery Life & Connectivity

• Battery life is stable, we haven’t noticed into any abnormal drain
• Wi-Fi connectivity is fast and reliable
• Bluetooth is working normally
• GPS is also working properly

App Performance

• Third-party apps including All Trails, ESPN, Spotify, and JetBlue are all working fine
• First party apps like Podcasts are also running well

Speed

• watchOS 10.4 feels fast and we haven’t noticed abnormal lag, lockups, or freezes

If you’re dealing with bugs and/or performance issues on watchOS 10.3.1, or an older version of watchOS, you might want to install the watchOS 10.4 update right now.

watchOS 10.4 Problems

We haven’t run into any bugs or performance issues during our time with the software, but some Apple Watch users are struggling after the upgrade.

We’ve heard about installation issues, problems with notifications, GPS issues, Bluetooth issues, problems with first and third-party applications, UI lag, abnormal battery drain and pairing issues.

For more about watchOS 10 problems and how to fix them, head over to our guide.

watchOS 10.4 Features

Apple’s milestone updates (watchOS x.x) typically bring a mix new features, enhancements, and fixes to Apple Watch devices. That’s what watchOS 10.4 brings to the table.

The software delivers new emoji characters including a lime and a phoenix.

Apple’s also added a new setting that lets Vision Pro users disable the Double Tap feature on the Apple Watch. The company did this because Double Tap gestures can be enabled accidentally when using the Vision Pro.

watchOS 10.4 also ushers in quantum security protection for iMessage. The company says the upgrade gives iMessage “the strongest security properties of any at-scale messaging protocol in the world.”

Here are the update’s release notes:

New Features

• Tap to Show Full Notification setting now allows you to double tap to expand the notification
• Using Apple Pay with Confirm with AssistiveTouch will require a passcode for additional security and will not support double clicking the side button

Bug Fixes

• Resolves an issue that causes some users to experience false touches on the display
• Fixes an issue that prevents contacts from syncing to Apple Watch for some users

watchOS 10.4 also has security patches on board and you can learn more about those changes over on Apple’s security site.

watchOS 10 Downgrade

Many Apple Watch owners already know this, but if you’re a new user, or you’ve simply forgotten, here’s your PSA.

Unlike iOS, iPadOS, and macOS software, you can’t downgrade watchOS software to an older version if you run into trouble.

Because of this, you’ll want to approach the watchOS 10.4 update with a sense of caution. If you’re having a good experience on your device’s current version of watchOS, make sure you read reviews before you install the software.

What’s Next

watchOS 10.4 was the last confirmed upgrade in Apple’s pipeline, but we expect Apple to push a new version of watchOS 10 into beta testing sooner rather than later.

There’s a good chance watchOS 10.5 will enter beta later this month, culminating in a release in either April or May.

Don’t be surprised if we see a watchOS 10.4.1 update bridge the gap between the two milestone releases.

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