The Apple Watch might not be quite so closely tied to your iPhone after WWDC. MacRumors reports that developer Khaos Tian has discovered App Store profile info referencing unannounced Watch-native versions of the Contacts and Tips apps found on other Apple devices. While there isn’t much to see beyond the names, this suggests watchOS 8 might offer more independence you could manage your contact list or get Apple Watch interface help solely from your wrist.
The profile data also makes a reference to a “Mind” app that isn’t available on any Apple hardware. It’s not clear what this might be, although Apple’s focus on health suggests it could be a mental health or mindfulness app. Bloomberg sources recently claimed the Apple Watch would get “health-tracking” improvements in watchOS 8, but didn’t elaborate.
Developer Khaos Tian has noted that the App Store manifest has been updated, and now contains references to several mysterious app bundles such as:
com.apple.NanoTips
com.apple.NanoContacts
com.apple.Mind
com.apple.findmy.finditems
It is important to note that “Nano” typically refers to watchOS apps, which suggests that Tips and Contacts will be launching as standalone apps in watchOS 8, similar to the existing app landscape in iOS.
9to5Mac reports that there have been several rumors in the past about Apple working on mental health features, so the third entry could be a dedicated app in that domain. Finally, the last entry’s identifier is different from the existing “Find My” app which suggests that Apple could be launching support for finding items as a standalone app. Considering that the last two bundle IDs do not contain “Nano” in their respective names, it’s likely that these two apps will be present on both iOS and watchOS.
That said, it is important to remember that this is all speculation for now, and we’ll be learning more about Apple’s plans in this space between June 7 and June 11.
