Apple today announced that it has added support for tracking snow sports like skiing and snowboarding to its Apple Watch Series 3 smartwatch through software updates that are now available in the App Store for all users.
If you own an Apple Watch Series 3 and are in the mountains right now skiing or snowboarding and reading this, update your device because you can now track snow activities like skiing or snowboarding by recording the number of runs, as well as total vertical descent and horizontal distance.
It can also show average and maximum speeds, as well as the total time spent on these snow activities. Apple says the new metrics will be available to you at a glance directly in the Apple Watch Activity app, and will track sports like skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing.
“Being able to track the details of your runs with Apple Watch is an incredible benefit for everyone from athletes to skiers and riders just looking to have fun and stay active,” said Jonny Moseley, Olympic Moguls Gold Medalist and Squaw Alpine Mountain Ambassador.
Apple also said that the new snow tracking activities would be calculated daily and could be automatically paused and resumed when needed, just like other activities. Also, workout information would be automatically recorded in the Health app on your iPhone.
You're probably wondering by now if these activities will be available for the Apple Watch Series 1 or earlier models. Well, they won't take advantage of the built-in GPS and altimeter of the Apple Watch Series 3 running watchOS 4.2 or later.
The new snow activity features also leverage the smart assistant Siri, which helps you get started on the slopes and Snowshoes, a revolutionary ski tracking app developed by Eddy Healey, which appears to be behind the new snow tracking feature on the Apple Watch Series 3.
