WatchOS 10: The Future of Apple Watch Home Screen Design with Widgets

Several weeks ago, an anonymous source claimed that Apple was developing a new Home Screen for Apple Watch owners to be released with watchOS 10. Now, in his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has confirmed this information, reporting that watchOS 10 will indeed bring a Home Screen with a focus on widgets.

Gurman notes that Apple is trying something new by bringing back widgets and making them a central part of watchOS 10. The new interface is said to resemble the Siri Watch Face that was introduced with watchOS 4, along with widget stack features found in iOS/iPadOS. Users will not only be able to view the main Watch Face, but they will also be able to scroll through other widgets, similar to the redesigned workout interface in watchOS 9 that allows users to access important data by scrolling the Digital Crown.

According to Gurman, current tests for watchOS 10 include the ability to press the Digital Crown to view widgets instead of the traditional Home Screen with apps. He believes that this move signifies an acknowledgment that the app format, which is similar to that of the iPhone, does not always make sense on a watch. The goal of watchOS 10 is to provide users with quick and easy access to small bits of information without requiring them to navigate through multiple menus.

While it remains unclear whether these changes will be mandatory in the first iteration of watchOS 10, they will likely be optional. Gurman emphasizes the importance of these software changes because he expects the next generation of Apple Watches to be very similar to the 2022 lineup, given that Apple has already made significant hardware changes.

Interestingly, designer Parker Ortolani recently created a mockup of what a revamped watchOS 10 Home Screen might look like. With WWDC 2023 only a month away, Ortolani’s mockup may provide us with the best glimpse yet of what the future watchOS 10 interface might look like.