9to5Mac has detailed several changes new to the Apple Watch user experience to accommodate the new widget system on watchOS 10. Interestingly, for Apple Watch Ultra users, one of those changes is especially welcome.
Turning Night Mode on/off
Apple Watch Ultra includes hardware-exclusive faces called Wayfinder and Ultra Modular. These watch faces are capable of shifting its standard color mode to a black and red version. This is how it originally worked in watchOS 9 for Wayfinder:
The biggest and brightest Apple Watch display. The Always‑On Retina display is 2000 nits at its peak and twice as bright as any other Apple Watch. The bigger display provides more room for workout metrics and detail‑packed watch faces. The Wayfinder face lets you rotate the Digital Crown to activate Night Mode for better viewing in low light situations.
Apple
As Apple put it, switching between modes was done by spinning the crown. The new widget area now uses this input method in watchOS 10.
How does Apple Watch Ultra handle the conflict? Summoning gestures takes the crown, and toggling in and out of Night Mode has been banished to the basement of watch face customization.
It takes many more steps, potentially meaning Ultra customers are less likely to use it. On the other hand, displaying Night Mode in the watch face customizer makes it more discoverable than a hidden gesture.
Auto Night Mode
Regardless of which method is preferred, there’s now a third mode that just might make all the shuffling around worth it. Auto Night Mode is new to Apple Watch Ultra in watchOS 10, and how it works is pretty sweet.
Human eyes don’t require manual mode switching to adjust to different lighting environments. Now Night Mode on Apple Watch Ultra doesn’t either. Auto Night Mode uses Apple Watch Ultra’s ambient light sensor to determine when light levels are low enough that Night Mode would be easier on the eyes.
This is now the new default setting for an Apple Watch Ultra running watchOS 10. It doesn’t address the complaint that Night Mode only changes the watch face’s color and nothing else. Hit those new widgets, and you might need to blink a little before you can see clearly. Nevertheless, it shows that someone at Apple was interested in taking Night Mode as we knew it and improving how it works.
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