Apple retail employees in wheelchairs invited to test the new watchOS 3

Apple has reportedly sent out invites to retail employees in wheelchairs so they can help the company in testing a new watchOS 3 feature. The feature adds a wheelchair mode to the Apple Watch. The new watchOS update was announced at WWDC 2016 earlier this month, which will reach consumers later in fall. The wheelchair feature on watchOS 3 will bring in customised activity options for users who use a wheelchair including wheelchair push based calorie goals, wheelchair-based workouts and a special ‘time to roll’ reminder. Apple was working on bringing the wheelchair tracking features before they were announced at WWDC this year . The company had partnered with the Lakeshore Foundation and the Challenged Athletes Foundation, where 300 people in wheelchairs participated in more than 3,000 hours of activity research. According to a memo sent by Apple, retail employees in wheelchairs are being invited to test watchOS 3 to improve the Apple Watch experience for users in wheelchairs. While retail employees have been invited to test iOS and macOS betas in the past, watchOS 3 betas are restricted to developers and internal corporate testers because downgrading from a watchOS beta is not possible without a proprietary adapter. This move is a clear indication that Apple is not only committed to bring new features to the Apple Watch, but wants to make sure that it works perfectly well before it is actually pushed out to the end-users.