New watchOS beta adds SiriKit and keeps you from annoying people at the movies

Enlarge / The Apple Watch Series 2 and some of its bands. (credit: Valentina Palladino)

Every spring, Apple releases a last round of major updates to the current versions of its operating systems before starting work on the new versions it reveals at WWDC in the summer. Last week, Apple put out the first betas of iOS 10.3 and macOS 10.12.4. Today, the company is releasing the first beta of watchOS 3.2 for developers (unlike iOS and macOS, Apple typically doesn't issue public betas for watchOS).

The update introduces two new features, one familiar and one new. The familiar one is SiriKit, the same API that Apple introduced in iOS 10 (and is expanding ever-so-slightly in iOS 10.3). It lets specific kinds of third-party apps tie into Siri, letting you issue commands by voice. Since Siri is the primary input method in watchOS and messaging apps and workout apps are among SiriKit's supported apps, the API seems like a good fit.

The second feature is called "Theater Mode," and as the name implies it's meant to be used while you're out at the movies. Turn it on, and Theater Mode mutes the sound on your watch and keeps the screen from lighting up when you raise your wrist. The watch will continue to buzz as you receive notifications, but you've got to tap the screen or press the Digital Crown to actually use the screen.