Apple is ending support for three older Apple Watches with new update

Apple will no longer support three older models of its smartwatch after announcing a new watchOS operating system.

Owners of the Apple Watch Series 5, Series 4 and the original SE, the most recent of which launched in 2019, will be unable to download the new watchOS 11 when it launches later this year.

The tech giant quietly confirmed that support for the older models would end during its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in California this week, placing the announcement at the bottom of a 2,800-word press release detailing the new wearable operating system.

The company wrote that watchOS 11 will be available “as a free software update for Apple Watch Series 6 or later paired with iPhone Xs or later”.

The lack of updates for the older Apple Watch models does not mean that they will stop working immediately, though their functionality will be limited compared to more recent models.

They may also become slower and more glitchy, while a lack of security updates mean they could potentially be more at risk to security threats.

The new watchOS 11 will be available as a public beta next month, with the official launch taking place in “fall 2024”.

The new Apple Watch operating system comes with a new app called Vitals, which offers a way to quickly analyse and view key health metrics.

Earlier this year, Apple announced that it would remove one of its Watch’s central features following a long-standing dispute with the health tech firm Masimo.

The legal proceedings briefly led to the Apple Watch being banned from sale due to claims that Apple had infringed Masimo’s patents with its pulse oximetry feature.

In January, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Apple could no longer sell future versions of its smartwatch with the feature.