LG Says UltraFine 5K Display Back In-Stock Soon
LG UltraFine 5K Display - Image via BestBuy
18 MARCH 2022 - If what you like when choosing a display is having an actual choice, good news - an early name in 5K displays is making a return. Earlier this week we heard word that Apple had pulled the LG UltraFine 5K from its stores. Reports also had the display sold out on LG’s own sight, with questions around whether the device’s days were simply done.
They’re not.
iDownloadBlog cites a piece from the The Wall Street Journal. That had LG explaining the device’s disappearance. Same as every other device maker, they’ve got problems with pieces and parts. According to iDownloadBlog:
LG says that the display has been out of stock due to component shortages, something that a lot of companies across various product categories have been dealing with. LG expects availability of the standalone monitor to ramp up directly from the company’s website beginning sometime in April.
iDownloadBlog figures the display will start showing up through third-party sellers soon after. It does not expect Apple to be one of those, though. Apple does not list LG’s 5K display as sold out. It simply does not list the device at all, probably because they’re selling their own super-swanky display now. Not sure you’ve heard.
Smart-Home Platform Matter Pushed to Fall 2022
18 MARCH 2022 - The home automation standard Matter has been pushed back again. Cult of Mac has the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) letting the world know on Thursday. Matter is meant to make smart devices and internet of things things play nice with other such gizmos regardless of who made the things in question - provided they’re built on the Matter standard. Big names in the field, including Apple’s HomeKit, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Home are onboard.
The plan had been to have the platform and SDK done and out the door early in 2022. Now, the organization says it’ll be late 2022. Quoting the CSA statement:
To further improve code quality and stability and accommodate the breadth of Matter devices and platforms, we’re extending our testing and validation events. While this will have the effect of pushing the public launch of Matter 1.0 by a few months, we’ll be launching with a larger pipeline of Matter-enabled devices, and a robust supply chain of development platforms for more devices to come.
Variety: “Puffins Impossible” Headed to Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video
Image Iervolino via Variety
18 MARCH 2022 - There’s a story in Variety this week that’s difficult to believe. Not impossible, but difficult. According to the show business site, Johnny Depp will once again lend his voice to the character “Johnny Puff” for the Arctic Dogs spinoff “Puffins Impossible.” Well, it’s actually a spinoff from “Puffins,” which was a spinoff from Arctic Dogs.
None of that’s hard to believe, of course. He’s voiced the animated puffin before. The part that’s hard to get one’s head around - Variety says “Puffins Impossible” will stream on Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime video.
The show itself sounds like something Apple would go for. According to the piece:
In “Puffins Impossible,” the lives of puffins Johnny Puff, Didi, Pie, Tic and Tac are disrupted when a meteor lands, which leads them to gain superpowers. Led by Johnny Puff, they morph into Tactik, Didi Damage, Megapie and Mystic — a unified superhero team. Just like in “Puffins,” positive themes of gender and race equality and environmental protection are weaved into the narrative.
Certainly sharing is the kind of positive theme Apple might want to display as well. It’s not really one Apple practices a lot though, and - as far as I can remember - they’ve not shared Apple TV+ content, unless you count the Charlie Brown holiday specials, which were already things before they were Apple things.
It’s just kind of a strange story.
Apple TV+ Announces DreamWorks Kids Animated Series “Pinecone and Pony”
18 MARCH 2022 - News of another new kids show coming soon to Apple TV+. Apple Insider says the Cupertino-streamer has announced a new animated, family-focused show coming in less than a month. The show is called “Pinecone & Pony.” It’s an animated series from DreamWorks, based on the Kate Beaton book The Princess and the Pony. In a press release, Apple says the show is:
…about a young girl named Pinecone who, with the help of her best friend Pony, is learning that there’s more than one way to be a warrior. Together they’ll show their world how to challenge expectations, and that life can be a fun-filled adventure if you let it.
All eight episodes of “Pinecone and Pony” hit Apple TV+ on Friday 8 April. You can catch the trailer below.
Apple Books “Tell All” Ties Into Apple TV+ Show “Severance”
18 MARCH 2022 - It’s the kind of cross-promotion for which the word “synergy” was made. iMore says Apple Books has published a free book today, exposing the secrets of Lumon.
Is Lumon a cult? Is Lumon part of a world girding conspiracy? Actually, Lumon is the company at the center of the Apple TV+ series “Severance.” Apple TV+ posted a message on Twitter Thursday, saying:
[Friday 18 March], @AppleBooks will release a free tell-all from inside the Lumon office, the company behind the controversial #Severance procedure. They have been a mystery to all “outies”, but one brave whistleblower risked everything to expose the truth. Available on eligible devices.
If you’re not watching “Severance,” most of that won’t make sense to you. If you are watching “Severance,” you’ll likely agree, it’s the kind of cross-promotion for which the word “synergy” was made.
Keep an eye out for those scary numbers.
Foxconn Restarts Shenzhen Factory in “Closed Loop”
17 MARCH 2022 - Well that was fast. Just a couple of days after closing down its factory in Shenzhen, a piece from 9 to 5 Mac says Foxconn has fired the plant back up.
Wait: Wasn’t Shenzhen supposed to be locked down to keep a regional resurgence in COVID cases from spreading? A few days ago we heard from Apple Insider that:
With the exception of companies supplying food, fuel, and essential goods or services, all businesses were ordered to close or implement work-from-home policies. It is expected that the lockdown will persist until March 20 at the earliest.
How is Foxconn going around that? Apparently by not letting its employees go anywhere. While Shenzhen is still in lockdown, 9 to 5 Mac says government officials have given Foxconn an exemption to resume operations using the “closed loop” employed by companies in Wuhan when the pandemic started. 9 to 5 Mac says:
‘Closed loop’ in this context means that the employees live on-site in company accommodation and move between housing and factory without leaving the campus.
Apple Shares Up After Factory Reset
The markets were up across the board on Wednesday, so reopening the Shenzhen facility was probably not the only factor sending Apple shares up. At the same time, didn’t hurt. A piece from Barron’s (via Apple News+) credits the Foxconn factory with at least some of that rise. The piece had Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives commenting on the reopening. Quoting the analyst:
This is a shot of much-needed good news in the arm for Apple after some nervous times since the Covid China shutdown… The supply chain needs all the good news it could get, and this averted a mini-disaster for Apple’s iPhone production for now.
Ives has an “Outperform” rating on Apple shares. His price target on the shares is $200.
Also quick with a response was Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani. Of course, he wasn’t worried before and a lot of the note posted Wednesday by Apple 3.0 seriously appeared to have been cut-and-pasted from a note posted a day earlier.
Eh. We’ve all done it.
Quoting the new part of his note addressing the reopening, Daryanani said:
While we suspect the site is operating at limited capacity it is important to note: a) the site accounts for a fraction (20-25%) of iPhone production, Apple’s main production site in Zhengzhou (aka iPhone City) has not been affected.
“b)” and “c)” were the cut-and-pasted parts:
b) the shutdown is occurring during a time when seasonal demand is lower, which should mitigate any impact, and c) Foxconn has implemented mitigation plans to shift production to other sites to limit disruption.
Daryanani has an “Outperform” rating on Apple shares. His price target on the shares is $210.
Report: EC Nears “Political Agreement” on Digital Markets Act
17 MARCH 2022 - The European Commission is looking to move ahead with the Digital Markets Act, and soon. This one has been out there for a while, and I had to go back and re-familiarize myself with the particulars. I found a write-up I did from a December 2020 edition of “Mac OS Ken.” That had the BBC explaining:
The Digital Markets Act centres on the regulation of "gatekeepers" - those behind "entrenched" services that other businesses use to provide their own products.
This covers the operators of search engines, social networks, chat apps, cloud computing services and operating systems, among others.
They are likely to include Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.
The idea is to prevent the firms gaining unfair advantages via their elevated positions.
Under the proposed legislation, companies would be required to:
Tell competition regulators of any acquisition plans
Not give their own services place of prominence when displaying them and competing services
“Not use data gathered via their main service to launch a product that will compete with other established businesses”
Let users pull pre-installed apps and use other software in its place
Failure to comply would not be pretty. For the Digital Markets Act, the European Commission could issue fines of up to 6% of a company’s annual take in Europe. “And,” the BBC said:
...“recurrent infringers” are warned that they could be made to divest “certain businesses, where no other equally effective alternative measure is available to ensure compliance.”
That is a threat to break-up big tech companies if they can’t follow the rules…
The legislation has been batted around since, though a piece from Apple Insider has Margrethe Vestager, competition commissioner for the European Union saying it’s time to wrap things up. The piece has her indicating “that there has been good progress in negotiations…” She and hers are hoping to reach a “political agreement” by the end of this month. Citing a Reuters report, the piece has her saying, “If we manage that, that will be legislation with almost the speed of lightning…” Indications in the piece are that lawmakers want all of the “i”s dotted and “t”s crossed by the end of June.
Apple Pre-Announces Third Store for South Korea
Image via Apple Korea
17 MARCH 2022 - Apple is teasing its next big store in South Korea. Correction: Apple is teasing its biggest store in South Korea. iMore has word of a pre-announcement announcement posted to Apple’s South Korea site. Announcing Apple Myeong-dong in Seoul, a Google translation has Apple saying:
The largest Apple Store in Korea is coming soon to the heart of Myeong-dong, where people from all over the world continue to visit, in the heart of splendid Seoul. Through this store, we aim to provide a source of inspiration that is open to all, where imagination and creativity are constantly springing up. Apple Myeong-dong, a place where you and us can communicate and inspire each other. With everyone's sparkling ideas, a brightly shining place awaits you.
I did say it was a machine translation, right?
No word on exactly when the store will open, but with Apple teasing it publicly, it stands to reason that it’s opening soon. When it does, Myeong-dong will be Apple’s third store in the country.
Apple TV+ Tweets First Glimpse of “The Essex Serpent”
Still from “The Essex Serpent” from the Twitter account of Apple TV+
17 MARCH 2022 - Interested parties got a glimpse of “The Essex Serpent” on Wednesday. iMore says Apple TV+ teased the series on Twitter, saying, “Something dark is in the depths.” That also had a picture of the show’s leads, Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston.
If you’ve forgotten what this one’s about, the piece says:
The series is based on the best-selling Sarah Perry novel by the same name and follows the widow Cora Seaborne [played by Danes], who moves to Essex following her escape from an abusive marriage. Seaborne is drawn to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, (…) by rumors of a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent. Hiddleston stars as Will Ransome, the leader of the small local community.
The Apple TV+ tweet also refers to “a mysterious Victorian romance” between the two. The mystery starts to unravel in a couple of months. The first two episodes of “The Eseex Serpent” are scheduled to hit Apple TV+ on 13 May.
Analysts Analyze Apple Amidst Shenzhen Shutdown
16 MARCH 2022 - Apple analysts seem cautiously optimistic about Apple and iPhone production amidst the Shenzhen situation. We heard a few days ago that the government in China had put Shenzhen in lockdown due to a surge in COVID infections in the region. A piece from Apple Insider said then that:
With the exception of companies supplying food, fuel, and essential goods or services, all businesses were ordered to close or implement work-from-home policies. It is expected that the lockdown will persist until March 20 at the earliest.
That meant that Foxonn had to shut down its production facilities in Shenzhen, which got Apple watchers wondering what that would mean for Apple. Now, a few Apple analysts have opined on the subject.
Mr. Mohan Sees Cause for Concern
Expressing the most concern is BofA analyst Wamsi Mohan. To be clear, he expresses concern, not worry. At least, not yet. Seeking Alpha (via MacDailyNews) highlights his note on the issue. Basically, his level of concern rides on how long the lockdown persists. While most of Foxconn’s iPhone production happens in Zhengzhou, Shenzhen is still “a hub for a material part of the iPhone supply chain,” according to the analyst. The way he sees it:
Apple/Foxconn have the ability to relocate production to other areas in the short term provided that there is not a significantly higher duration of lockdown…
Mr. Mohan has a “Buy” rating on Apple shares. His price target on the shares is $215.
Amit and Harsh Stay Mellow
While Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar and Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani are absolutely keeping eyes on the issue, theirs are not quite as jaundiced as our man Mohan’s. Apple 3.0 ran excerpts of notes from both analysts.
Piper’s Kumar points out that most of Foxconn’s iPhone production happens in Zhengzhou and Zhengzhou is not locked down. Plus, it’s a slow time of year for iPhone demand, and besides - iPhone buyers will wait. Quoting his note:
…we view iPhone demand as sticky, so consumers will wait to make their purchase until any supply impact is resolved. Overall, we do not see a significant impact to iPhone production/ supply due to the current lockdown situation in China.
I can’t help wondering how wild a wildcard the brand new iPhone SE might be. Yes, this time of year is usually a slow time for iPhone, but Apple’s latest budget-friendly phone (announced just last week) has already seen wait times slip to the end of the month. At the same time, people making the move from Android to iPhone by way of iPhone SE don’t know iPhone yet, and may not find it as worth the wait as people upgrading from an old iPhone.
For now, at least, Kumar’s not concerned. He’s got an “Overweight” rating on Apple shares. His price target on the shares is $200.
Saying basically the same things as Mr. Kumar, Evercore’s Daryanani says most of the iPhone production happens in Zhengzhou, not Shenzhen, and - slow time of year for iPhone demand. He’s got an “Outperform” rating on Apple shares and a price target of $210.
Report: Chennai Foxconn Factory to Start iPhone 13 Production in April
16 MARCH 2022 - Partly to tackle India and partly to diversify production, a famous Foxconn facility on the subcontinent will start iPhone 13 production next month. Well, famous… infamous… it’s a fine line.
Apple Insider says Apple’s contract manufacturing partner is set to start rolling iPhone 13s out of a factory near Chennai. What makes the facility infamous is the set of problems it had at the end of last year. Initially, it was thought the facility was hit with food poisoning that sent over 150 people to the hospital, with another 250+ treated as outpatients. That led to protests over poor conditions, which closed a highway, which led to detainments and arrests. Then Apple looked into conditions at the factory, and boy were they bad. Apple’s investigation found overcrowded living quarters, toilets with no running water, and - according to one village-level administrator, “no safeguards to prevent COVID-19 infections.”
Plus, there was the whole food poisoning thing.
Apple put the plant on probation. Foxconn then undertook corrective measures and began slowly reopening the plant. Now, a couple of months later, they seem ready to go full bore. Citing a report from Business Standard, Apple Insider says:
…Apple is expected to use the (…) facility [near Chennai] to manufacture the iPhone 13 in April. The iPhones produced at the plant will be intended both for domestic sales and for export to other territories.
iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro Hit Apple Refurbished Store
Image via Apple Refurbished Store
16 MARCH 2022 - If iPhone SE is too little for you, but iPhone 13 is too much, Apple’s refurbished store may have your answer. Cult of Mac says the Cupertino-company has started selling iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro in its refurbished store.
5G and MagSafe, so that’s cool. Plus that sweet, sweet Pacific Blue if you go Pro. The piece also points out that buying a “like new” iPhone from Apple gets buyers the same 12-month warranty that comes with iPhones that are actually new.
Prices start at $619 for a 64GB iPhone 12 running up to $1,019 for a 512GB iPhone 12 Pro. Assuming they’re there. Checking the refurbished store Tuesday night, it looked like Apple had already sold through the the 128GB iPhone 12s it had to sell. Such is the nature of the refurbished store, though. Things come and go. Worth noting - iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max have not made it into the refurbished store. Cult of Mac suspects those models will make the refurbished scene in the not too distant future.
iOS and watchOS Updates Fix IP Address Leaks in Mail on Apple Watch
16 MARCH 2022 - Great news from this week’s updates. The watchOS 8.5 update and the iOS 15.4 update fix an information leak tied to Mail on Apple Watch.
“Last year,” says a piece from MacRumors, “it emerged that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection feature was undermined by a lack of Apple Watch support.” Basically, a researcher named Tommy Mysk found out that, if you had email activated on Apple Watch, the device was downloading all of the remote content associated with an email using a users actual IP address — even if they had Mail Privacy Protection turned on on iPhone. That happened even if the user didn’t open the email, basically undoing Mail Privacy Protection. We actually talked a lot about this on an episode of The. Checklist by SecureMac: Checklist 256 - A Lack of Mail Privacy Protection. At the time, the only way to keep Mail Privacy Protections in place was by disabling Mail notifications on Apple Watch. Now though, Apple has quietly fixed the issue. MacRumors had Mr. Mysk, one the guys who found the issue in the first place posting about the fix. Yesterday on Twitter he said:
Good news: As of iOS 15.4 and watchOS 8.5 the Mail app on the watch no longer leaks the IP address when downloading remote content. Remote content is blocked on the watch even when Mail Privacy Protection is on.
Apple Pay Goes Live in Argentina and Peru
16 MARCH 2022 - Apple Pay has hit a couple of new countries. After Apple teasing early in the year that the contactless payment service was “coming soon” to Argentina, Chile, and Peru, 9 to 5 Mac says the service has gone live in two of the three countries. Citing a report from the Spanish language site Pisapapeles, 9 to 5 Mac says, “Apple has updated its Apple Pay availability page to add Argentina and Peru as the latest countries to bring the service to iPhone users.” The site has six banks supporting Apple Pay in Argentina along with five banks in Peru. Chile, meanwhile, is still hanging in Apple Pay limbo.
Applications Open for Second Apple Impact Accelerator
Image via Apple
16 MARCH 2022 - Applications are open for Apple’s second Impact Accelerator. Apple Insider says that’s a program from the company “that provides training to minority-owned businesses in the environmental sector.” According to the report:
The program is designed to support equity and opportunity in the environmental sector for Black-, Hispanic/Latinx-, and Indigenous-owned businesses on “the cutting edge of green technology and clean energy,” as well as combatting systemic barriers to opportunity.
Commenting on the initiative, Apple VP of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson was quoted as saying:
We cannot build a greener economy without building a more just one, where communities most impacted by environmental harms lead us toward solutions… Our Impact Accelerator models the approach we need - bringing bold, innovative, and diverse businesses together to speed progress to a carbon-neutral future.
Proposals are due in by 30 April. More info is available on Apple’s site.
Apple TV+ Orders Spanish-Language Series “Midnight Family”
16 MARCH 2022 - Apple TV+ has ordered its first all-Spanish-language original series. The Cupertino-streamer issued a press release Tuesday, announcing the 10-episode medical drama “Midnight Family,” or “Familia de Medianoche.”
“Currently in production in Mexico City,” the release says, “the new series will feature an entirely Hispanic cast and crew…” The show follows:
…an ambitious and gifted medical student by day, who spends her nights saving lives throughout a sprawling, contrasted and fascinating Mexico City aboard her family’s privately owned ambulance.
No word in the piece on when the series will hit Apple TV+.
Apple TV+ Titles Win Early PGA Awards
16 MARCH 2022 - News of two awards for Apple TV+, neither of which were for “Ted Lasso” nor CODA. iMore says early winners of the Producers Guild of America Awards have been announced, ahead of the award ceremony on 19 March. Taking home awards - “Carpool Karaoke: The Series,” and “For All Mankind,” kind of.
Not “kind of” for “Carpool Karaoke.” iMore cites a Variety report, saying, “[The awards named] the producing team for "Carpool Karaoke: The Series" (Season 4) [as winners of] outstanding short form program…”
As for “For All Mankind,” the award was not for the show, but for an associated app. According to Variety:
“For All Mankind: Time Capsule” was presented with the PGA Innovation Award, “which celebrates outstanding entertainment endeavors across VR, AR, experiential and other emerging media.”
It’s a free app. It’s a cool app. And now, it’s an award winning app. You can pick it up now in the App Store.
Apple Releases iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4
15 MARCH 2022 - Apple on Monday released iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4. So much new stuff, it’s kind of difficult to parse. Top of everybody’s list for new features is the ability to use Face ID while wearing a mask. Specific to iPhone, MacRumors says the feature does what it says on the box - letting users unlock their iPhone 12 or newer using Face ID, even when wearing the type of COVID-fighting mask that’s become so common over the past couple of years. Apple Pay and password autofill in applications and Safari will even work with Face ID while wearing a mask, provided you set it up to do so. The update’s kind of unusual, prompting people to set up Face ID right away if you plan to use Faced ID while wearing a mask. You can bypass that if you want and activate it in Settings later.
There are a couple of changes of note for Siri. One lets Apple’s virtual assistant hit you up with Time & Date info even when the phone is offline, provided the phone is an iPhone XS or newer. Also, the less gendered voice for Siri we heard about a few weeks ago has made it into the mix.
Our friends in the European Union get new functionality around Vaccine cards - no physical card required. Apple has added EU Digital COVID Certificate support in Health. This lets folks download verifiable versions of COVID-19 vaccination, lab results, and recovery records and store then in Apple Wallet.
Specifically for iPad, Universal Control has finally made the scene. That’s the one that allows the same the mouse or trackpad and keyboard to control multiple iPads and Macs in close proximity.
And one of my favorites when they come around - new emoji! There are somewhere between 37 and 123 new emoji, depending who you ask. MacRumors puts the number at 37. Apple Insider puts it at 123. I’m pretty sure they’re counting multiple skin tones of a lot of the new ones though. Speaking of what’s new, you get pregnant man, melting face, troll, and a number of handshake combos. Apple says “Handshake emoji allows you to choose separate skin tones for each hand.” Apple Insider puts the possible number of combinations for that one at 25, and you can see how they end up with 123 new emoji to MacRumors’ 37.
Perhaps more important than any of that are the 36 security fixes for the iOS and iPadOS updates listed in Apple’s security notes. The updates are free and easy. They’re available now in Settings on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Updates to the Macs
Image via Apple
Apple Releases macOS Monterey 12.3
15 MARCH 2022 - Pairing nicely with Monday’s iPadOS update is the release of macOS Monterey 12.3. Pairing, I say, because of its inclusion of Universal Control. Explaining it from the computer-shaped computer side, MacRumors says:
Universal Control is designed to allow you to use a single mouse/trackpad and keyboard across multiple Macs and iPads (with iPads running iPadOS 15.4). After updating your devices to macOS 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4, Universal Control works automatically, allowing your Mac's cursor and keyboard to work on the iPad and vice versa.
Also landing on Apple’s most recent Macs, support for Spatial Audio. Apple says, “Dynamic head tracking is available in Music with supported AirPods on Mac computers with the M1 chip…” My three-year-old Mac will not support that, but my iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV 4K do and boy is that a crazy thing. The company’s also put controls in Control Center for spatial audio for people who don’t want it or only want it now and then.
The update also includes either lots of new emoji or lots and lots of new emoji, depending who you ask. Another neat feature - the update lets users add customized notes to saved passwords, bringing password management in Apple’s ecosystem closer to features found in third-party password managers.
Plenty more where that came from, including a few bug fixes and 45 security issues addressed, according to Apple’s security page. macOS Monterey 12.3 is a free update. It’s available now through settings on an eligible Mac.
Security for the Stay Behinds
Some Macs can’t handle the latest version of macOS. Others are owned by people who simply won’t take them to Monterey. Whatever the reason they’re not making the trip, Apple’s released some security focused updates for them. macOS Big Sur 11.6.5 hit Monday, packing 19 security fixes and nothing else as far as I know. Hopping a little further back in time, Apple’s security update site brings word of Security Update 2022-003 Catalina. That one’s for machines that run Catalina, tackling 16 security issues, by my count.
Apple Releases watchOS 8.5
15 MARCH 2022 - What should one look for when watching Apple Watch? MacRumors lists a few new features tied to watchOS 8.5, also released on Monday. With the update:
Users can now authorize Apple TV purchases and subscriptions from the watch
AFib identification is said to have been improved
Fitness+ adds a bit of accessibility, with audio guidance for moves demonstrated visually during workouts
EU COVID vaccination records have made it to the Wallet on Apple Watch, just like they did in iOS 15.4
Restoration: Hardware
There’s also an updated feature that belongs not to iPhone, nor to Apple Watch, but to both. A piece from iDownloadBlog says users can now restore an Apple Watch with an iPhone, assuming the phone is running iOS 15.4 and the Apple Watch is running watchOS 8.5.
To be honest, I’m having a hard time figuring out why this would be something you need. Turns out though, I don’t have to. The hardware combo will apparently let you know. According to the piece:
…if a problem arises with the Apple Watch which means it needs to be restored or updated, a nearby iPhone can handle that now.
[An Apple] support document says that if the Apple Watch in question is indeed having an issue, an animation should appear on the nearby iPhone saying as much. It will indicate that the user simply needs to bring the Apple Watch and iPhone together to start the restore/update process.
All of that and 22 security fixes, too! Made for Apple Watch Series 3 and up, the watchOS 8.5 update is available through the Watch app on an associated iPhone.