watchOS 26 preview: It is the little issues

At WWDC 2025, Apple introduced it was changing the sequential numbering for OS variations and with 12 months numbers. So as an alternative of watchOS 12, I’ve spent the previous two weeks with the general public beta of watchOS 26. The naming scheme shift is refined, however useful — which is how I’d describe the upgrades the brand new software program brings to the Apple Watch. The AI-powered Exercise Buddy higher contextualizes your Health information and an added gesture provides the watch a enjoyable trick that’s truly useful. Different upgrades — together with higher sensible replies and the Liquid Glass remedy — all mix to make the watch work and look a bit higher than it did earlier than. It’s not a game-changing shift, like other OS 26 releases, nevertheless it manages to make an excellent watch a contact higher.

Luminous Liquid Glass

Each Apple working system obtained the Liquid Glass treatment this 12 months, together with watchOS 26. The change is much less noticeable on the Apple Watch than on the iPhone or iPad, although. You’ll discover the semi-transparent buttons and flowy motion when coming into your password and opening the management middle — the icons seem like they’re surrounded in little drops of water, which is sort of fairly. You’ll see it on the Images watch face, too, particularly if you choose the “glass” coloration for the time readout.

The Sensible Stack now has a liminal glow and the app icons are likewise a contact extra luminous than earlier than. The impact is refined and properly unifies the look of the watch and its companion iPhone. Like all design upgrades, Liquid Glass made me really feel like I used to be utilizing a brand new watch — although, like every thing, the novelty wore off after every week or two.

Revamped Exercise app combines AI stats with a DJ

Along with the Buddy, the Exercise app has a brand new look with icons in every of the 4 corners of the display screen that provide you with simpler entry to regulate your information view, play music, set objectives and tweak Buddy settings. My favourite new function is within the music menu and it’s restricted to Apple Music for now. For those who faucet the music icon, you will have the choice to auto-play music. From there, you may as well choose “Picked for you” or “Select media.” The previous will choose music that matches the kind of exercise you’re doing and what you wish to hearken to. As somebody who will get derailed from just about all my duties when I’ve to work together with my cellphone, I admire something that may make selections for me and stop me from reaching for it.

I used to be introduced with peppy beats that matched the cadence of my run, from bands and artists that had been acquainted in addition to new-to-me picks that match my tastes. Sadly, it didn’t all the time work accurately. Generally I’d get no music, different occasions the music would play however the Exercise Buddy would fall silent. I notice I’m testing a public beta of watchOS 26, so I’m holding out hope the function will work at launch. As a result of when it labored, it was superb.

The brand new Exercise Buddy might be the largest AI play in watchOS 26. It makes use of historic and real-time information collected by your watch to present you a window into the way you’re performing at first, finish and all through a exercise. It really works for strolling, working, biking and different exercises however requires headphones and a close-by Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone. That gave me pause. I hate carrying stuff and/or sticking issues in my ears after I run. However after buying some open earbuds and digging out my outdated Spibelt, I made it work.

There are three voices to select from as of this writing, a vivid female choice, a British male-sounding one and one other female-presenting model with a decrease register. These had been constructed on vocal information from Health+ trainers and have an genuine sound to them. At the beginning of a exercise, you’ll get a quick pep discuss together with some latest milestones. My pre-game strolling and working talks included references to the day of the week, my location and accrued health information. For instance, “Technique to get on the market on a Wednesday morning stroll in Albuquerque. Up to now this week, you’ve achieved three strolling exercises. Let’s get in some steps!”

Relying on the kind of train, you possibly can set goal ranges for cadence, coronary heart price, pace, distance, energy (biking), time and others. Throughout a exercise, the AI will let you understand in the event you’re at, beneath or above these ranges. The primary time I attempted Exercise Buddy, my run was fairly lonely. I didn’t notice I needed to activate the Buddy, in addition to the varied objective metrics throughout the Exercise app. I did that and, on my subsequent run, the AI delivered cadence and coronary heart price updates, and let me know after I hit milestones like distance and period.

On the finish of a exercise, you’ll see a pondering animation because the AI assembles a abstract. It’ll recap information like your tempo, distance, common and peak coronary heart price, in addition to progress in your Exercise rings. It’ll additionally level out comparisons or cumulative milestones you will have hit. For instance, after an extended stroll, it advised me that I’d simply burned probably the most energy on a stroll thus far. One other day, it advised me I’d walked ten miles thus far this week. It closes the replace by encouraging you to take the vitality into the remainder of your day or one thing equally constructive however measured.

That’s an enormous enchancment over the primary few occasions I used the function. My first few pep talks had been cloying, telling me one thing alongside the traces of “It’s not simple to get on the market early within the morning!” and “Your effort is inspiring!” After I finished a run early to fuss with settings, it advised me I did a “Nice job!” on a three-minute run. Fortunately, Apple seems to be tweaking the Buddy behind the scenes, calibrating the AI’s “character.” Current pep talks have grow to be noticeably much less sycophantic and subsequently extra fulfilling. I think about the Buddy will solely proceed to evolve much more from right here.

The Exercise Buddy will not be a coach

The Exercise Buddy is a motivational expertise that gives personalised insights you need to use to gauge your efficiency. However I simply completed making an attempt out Samsung’s AI running coach on the Galaxy Watch and couldn’t assist evaluating the 2. That coach pushed me to run 5 kilometers for the primary time in my life. The Buddy made me really feel like I’d completed one thing particular simply by taking my canine on a stroll. Each have their place, however I’d say Apple’s model might be finest for many who already know what their objectives are and what they should do to hit them. Samsung’s model could also be higher for learners who need some assist shaping their health journey.

Along with the Buddy, the Exercise app has a brand new look with icons in every of the 4 corners of the display screen that provide you with simpler entry to regulate your information view, play music, set objectives and tweak Buddy settings. My favourite new function is within the music menu and it’s restricted to Apple Music for now. For those who faucet the music icon, you will have the choice to auto-play music. From there, you may as well choose “Picked for you” or “Select media.” The previous will choose music that matches the kind of exercise you’re doing and what you wish to hearken to. As somebody who will get derailed from just about all my duties when I’ve to work together with my cellphone, I admire something that may make selections for me and stop me from reaching for it.

I used to be introduced with peppy beats that matched the cadence of my run, from bands and artists that had been acquainted in addition to new-to-me picks that match my tastes. Sadly, it didn’t all the time work accurately. Generally I’d get no music, different occasions the music would play however the Exercise Buddy would fall silent. I notice I’m testing a public beta of watchOS 26, so I’m holding out hope the function will work at launch. As a result of when it labored, it was superb.

Extra hands-free enjoyable with wrist flick

I like the double faucet gesture Apple introduced with the Apple Watch Collection 9 — it’s a pleasure to cease timers, begin auto-detected exercises and reply calls with out getting my different hand concerned. However it took some apply earlier than I may reliably get the watch to acknowledge the gesture. (The trick is elevating your wrist in an exaggerated checking-the-time movement then shortly, however not too shortly, tapping your thumb and finger collectively twice.)

Fortunately, the brand new Wrist Flick movement launched in watchOS 26 takes virtually no effort to get proper. It includes shortly turning the again of your wrist away from you and again up once more. Doing that may silence a name, cease a ringing timer, dismiss notifications and return you to the watch face from any app you open. It additionally makes these irritating useful “Time to face!” reminders go away. The wrist flick doesn’t clear alerts, simply dismisses them — so the crimson indicator dot disappears, however the notification stays and you may see it in the event you swipe down. Simply be aware that it’s solely obtainable to Apple Watch Collection 9, 10 and the Extremely 2.

Wrist flick is a good function — although it is essential to notice that Android wearables since WearOS 2 had an analogous function for some time now. And I’d wish to see Apple undertake extra hands-free interactions like this. Apple already has many gesture-based controls as a part of its present AssistiveTouch function. Actions like fist clenches, wrist tilts and single or double faucets can management many of the navigation on the watch. Sadly, turning on AssistiveTouch turns off the common double faucet function. I’d be occupied with seeing one thing that splits the distinction. Maybe 4 or 5 gestures for primary features that can be utilized along side display screen enter.

Smarter replies may make Messages a usable watch app

The Apple Watch is nice for studying texts, however replying is awkward. That tiny keyboard is an interface for ants — even talk-to-text enter is inefficient because it’s robust to right errors. Sensible Replies are little canned responses that seem as options beneath the reply discipline. These aren’t new, however now Collection 9 watches and later will use an improved on-device language mannequin to provide you with related bits of textual content you possibly can ship with a faucet.

Along with the alternatives which can be all the time supplied — Okay, Sure, No, Thanks and Can I name you later? — I noticed issues like “Okay, let me know” and “That’s so candy!” each of which utilized to their respective conversations. I wasn’t all the time given Sensible Reply options, and a few of them weren’t very related, however once more, it’s an excellent function that may save time when it really works.

One other Messages replace is a carryover from iOS 26 (and borrowed from numerous different messaging apps). Now you can set customized backgrounds for every of your (Apple-only) contacts. Simply be aware that no matter you set shall be seen by all members within the dialog, as soon as they replace to iOS 26. In your watch, the picture, gradient or sample you decide carries over to your conversations. Not solely does it look good, I discover backgrounds assist me to not by accident textual content my mother one thing I meant to ship to my sister.

Notes have arrived

The Notes app is now on Apple Watch. I truthfully hadn’t seen the shortage earlier than this — I do know there are many Notes enthusiasts on the market, however in my world, Alexa handles all reminder and procuring checklist duties. Nonetheless, I can see how the brand new integration may come in useful. After making a easy procuring guidelines within the iOS Notes app, I opened the checklist on my watch whereas I used to be procuring and located it far simpler to verify issues off on my wrist than dragging out my cellphone each time I caught one thing in my cart.

I’m curious to see whether or not Apple’s improved prediction algorithms for the brand new OS will finally add Notes to my Sensible Stack options after I open the Notes app a couple of occasions on the grocery retailer. Because it stands now, the Notes widget will pop up first within the Sensible Stack if that’s the final app you used.

The remainder of the brand new stuff

Face Gallery

The iPhone Watch app has a brand new look and now organizes watch faces by class as an alternative of by title. Groupings embody New, Clear, Knowledge-rich, Images and Well being and Health, amongst others. It’s definitely an enchancment, however one which makes you marvel why it wasn’t all the time like this.

Adaptive sound

One other nice-but-obvious replace adjusts the amount of pings and beeps to suit the atmosphere — quieter in a noiseless workplace and louder at a raucous BBQ. I set a timer to go off after I was quietly working at my desk after which once more with loud music taking part in and I couldn’t actually inform the distinction. However that’s a tough metric for the standard human ear to evaluate. Once more, this can be a function reserved for Collection 9 fashions and later.

Sensible Stack

The Sensible Stack will now add a small immediate to your watch face when it detects sure conditions. For instance, in the event you open the digital camera app in your cellphone, a small digital camera icon seems on the backside of your watch display screen, as a suggestion to open the distant shutter. Apple provides different examples, equivalent to exhibiting the exercise icon once you arrive at your normal pilates studio or the Backtrack navigation function once you journey away from mobile connectivity.

I didn’t see the immediate fairly often, however I did discover that the Sensible Stack rearranged itself in line with my habits — equivalent to placing the medicine widget on the prime of the stack proper across the time it was time to take my prescription, or shuffling Shazam to the highest when it hears music taking part in.

Siri continues to be Siri

Coming contemporary off of reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, I can’t assist however discover a stark distinction between that wearable’s absolutely built-in, AI-powered Gemini and Apple’s same-old Siri. Gemini on the Samsung watch helped me discover new stuff in my metropolis, carried out convoluted duties and answered some fairly esoteric questions. I take advantage of Siri on my watch to reliably set timers, textual content individuals and add occasions to my calendar. However it’s not fairly on the extent of Gemini’s contextually-aware, generative capabilities that may work together with a number of apps. Asking one thing like “The place ought to I’ve lunch?” gave me a listing of companies with lunch within the title adopted by Siri asking me: “Which one?” Undecided what that meant. Gemini, then again, gave me native and related concepts for locations I’d truly need to eat.

Even earlier than AI swallowed everybody’s thoughts, I had a comfortable spot for digital assistants. When Alexa sings the “You’re very, very, oh so very welcome” tune, I get a dopey smile on my face. I’ve tried to like Siri, however I get annoyed by being misunderstood, misdirected, misheard and flat-out ignored. I do know Apple doesn’t wish to launch new tech till it’s absolutely as much as snuff, and I’m wanting ahead to seeing what lastly occurs with new Siri. However for now, the disparity reveals.

Wrap-up

The modifications watchOS 26 brings to the Apple Watch are maybe not as grand as these for different Apple gadgets. Liquid Glass right here isn’t as all-encompassing as it is on the iPhone. The brand new watch options don’t make the wearable lastly notice its full potential like iPad OS 26 does for the pill. And there isn’t one main function improve that transforms the watch expertise, like macOS 26 does with Spotlight on Macs.

However the updates do push the expertise of utilizing the watch ahead. Liquid Glass is fairly and properly ties the wearable with its companion gadgets. The Exercise app, which was already good at monitoring health metrics, is even higher with the Exercise Buddy, offering stat summaries and automatic playlists. Improved sensible replies for Messages and the addition of the Notes app repair two of the watch’s earlier shortcomings. And the wrist flick provides another choice for hands-free interplay and — I hope — is a precursor to extra such utility. I’m nonetheless holding out hope for an improved, personable and useful Siri as soon as Apple is prepared, however for now, these are all welcome upgrades for what’s already the trade’s finest total smartwatch.