Apple Watch Update Targets Siri, Fitness, 3rd-Party Apps

Apple has pushed out its first Apple Watch update, a combination of performance improvements and bugfixes for early-adopters of the wearable. The firmware, Apple Watch OS 1.0.1, boosts Siri according to Apple's support notes for the download, while health and fitness tracking has also been improved. Meanwhile there's also broader language support, including Russian, Thai, and Danish.

The Apple Watch's ability to measure stand activity is one named improvement, while its ability to figure out calorific burn after indoor cycling and rowing has also been tweaked.

It should also be more accurate figuring out distance-traveled and pace for outdoor walking or running.

Accessibility is another area of change, and new emojis have been added. Other new languages include Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, and Turkish.

Perhaps most importantly, the software also claims to improve the performance of third-party apps. That's something many have criticized – ourselves included – about the wearable, with non-Apple software often sluggish to load, if indeed they run at all.

That's believed to be in no small part down to how the apps actually run: on the iPhone and then passing data to the Apple Watch over its wireless tether, rather than locally on the wearable itself. Only time will tell whether this update makes a significant difference there.

Apple Watch OS 1.0.1 is a 52.6MB download, which you can access through the Apple Watch companion app on your iPhone. The Watch itself will need to be connected to the charger in order to install the new firmware, as well as have at least 50-percent charge.