Dvij Kotadia | 10 Jun 2025 01:50 AM
Get ready for a serious boost to your wrist game! Apple has officially unveiled watchOS 26, the next big software update for Apple Watch. It's bringing a host of smart new features designed to make staying active, healthy, and connected easier than ever before.
One of the headline additions arriving is Workout Buddy, a clever new fitness feature powered by Apple Intelligence. It taps into your personal workout data and fitness history to deliver personalised, spoken motivation right when you need it during your session. Imagine getting real-time insights on your pace, heart rate, or activity rings, all delivered in a dynamic voice. For example, it might tell you your current mileage for the week or congratulate you on hitting a new yearly distance milestone – it's like having a personal trainer cheering you on, right on your wrist!
WatchOS 26 also boasts a fresh new look, thanks to a sleek Liquid Glass design. This visual overhaul gives a vibrant feel to everything from the Smart Stack and Control Centre to the Photos watch face and in-app controls. The popular Workout app itself gets a significant redesign, with a new layout and easier access to customisation features. Plus, you can set up music and podcasts to automatically play when you start a workout, with Apple Music even suggesting playlists based on your workout type and personal tastes.
The Smart Stack gets smarter, improving its prediction algorithms to provide Smart Stack hints. These are proactive visual prompts that appear discreetly, offering immediate suggestions based on your context – like a Backtrack hint if you're in a remote area without signal or a workout suggestion when you arrive at your usual gym. Messages also receive a boost, with Live Translation allowing incoming texts to be automatically translated on your wrist and intelligent suggestions for actions based on conversation context. You can even respond to polls right from your watch!
Managing notifications becomes easier with a new one-handed wrist-flick gesture on supported Apple Watch models. Just a quick turn of your wrist can dismiss notifications or incoming calls, silence alarms, or return you to the watch face. Your Apple Watch can also now automatically adjust speaker volume for notifications, calls, and Siri based on ambient noise, helping you stay connected discreetly.
Beyond these major updates, watchOS 26 brings the Notes app to your wrist, letting you access, pin, and create notes with Siri or dictation. Hold Assist and Call Screening come to the Phone app (when the iPhone is nearby), streamlining calls. For users who have a hearing impairment, Live Listen controls allow the Apple Watch to act as a remote control for iPhone's Live Listen sessions, with real-time captions available on the Watch itself. The Photos watch face will now intelligently shuffle images from your featured content, and the watch face gallery has been redesigned for easier discovery.