Apple Seeds Second Beta of watchOS 9.4 to Developers

Tuesday February 28, 2023 10:03 am PST by Juli Clover

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 9.4 update to developers for testing purposes, with the software update coming two weeks after launch of the first beta.

Apple watchOS 9 Feature
To install the watchOS 9.4 update, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center.

Once installed, ‌watchOS 9.4 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update. To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it has to be placed on the charger, and it will need to be in range of the ‌iPhone‌ it is paired with.

watchOS 9.4 gains support for new emoji characters that include donkey, goose, black bird, shaking head, hyacinth, pea pod, and more, with 31 new characters available in total.

Through iOS 16.4, the update adds support for Web Push notifications that are sent to an iPhone, with the notifications able to be set up for a website that is added to the iPhone's Home Screen.

watchOS 9.4 will go through several rounds of beta testing, and it is expected to see a launch in the spring alongside iOS 16.4.

Related Roundups: watchOS 26, watchOS 27

Related Forum: Apple Watch

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Top Rated Comments

PrecisionGem

48 months ago

Those new emojis are a real game changer! Can't wait to get this update.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

rictus007

48 months ago

What issue?

It was a lot of issues - watch crashed multiple times per day, crown or the other buttons were not responding, some apps crash, and many other issues.

Everything is here: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/725120 (I reported it on my side, but this is what other MR member reported - he/she was able to describe the issues better than me)

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

rictus007

48 months ago

I have issues with Beta 1 / apparently only affected the AWU. I hope they were able to fix them, but it is the nature of a beta release (so I’m not complaining)

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)