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Bug forces Apple to halt watchOS 2 update – still emits iOS 9 on time

Cupertino says its arm-candy update not yet ready for primetime

Apple has delayed its planned September 16 rollout of watchOS 2, blaming a bug in the firmware update.

"We have discovered a bug in development of watchOS 2 that is taking a bit longer to fix than we expected," Apple has told the press.

"We will not release watchOS 2 today, but will shortly."

Apple has not let slip anything further about the nature of that bug or just when it will be able to deliver the update to Apple Watch owners.

The watchOS 2 release has been touted by Apple as a major overhaul to its smartwatch firmware. The update will bring the first support for native watchOS applications, rather than those built through iOS.

The addition of native applications promises to give developers greater access to the hardware components in the Apple Watch (such as the microphone and speaker) and can interact with Apple's HealthKit and HomeKit APIs.

Apple has also added a number of its own new features, including a "Time Travel" option to view upcoming appointments and the addition of customization options to set the default screen to a watch face, photo, or one of several time-lapse photo collections.

The watchOS 2 update has been in preview since it was first unveiled in June at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference. Last week, Apple said it would be releasing watchOS 2 on September 16 along with iOS 9.

Thus far, it appears iOS 9 updates are being pushed out by Apple according to plan – devices should be offering the update to people any time now. The iPhone 4S and later, the iPad Mini, the iPad 2, the iPad Air and later, and iPod Touch 5th generation and later, can all install the new operating system for free.

As well as new features, iOS 9 also packs a load of security vulnerability fixes.

Apple's other big September release, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, is on track to take place on September 25, though there are reports that the 6S Plus will be in short supply due to manufacturing problems. ®

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