Your Apple Watch just got a lot smarter with watchOS 26

At its WWDC 2025 keynote, Apple announced the latest watchOS update for the Apple Watch. The new software sees more AI elements than ever land on the watch, as well as a major aesthetic redesign.

And yes, as expected Cupertino has switched from traditional version numbers (the previous update, watchOS 11, was the 11th yearly update) to ones based on the year when the software will primarily be in use. The new update, which will launch to the public in September and carry on until the following fall, is named watchOS 26 after the year 2026.

Liquid Glass: The big redesign

Earlier in the keynote, Apple announced a broad project called Liquid Glass, a sweeping cross-platform redesign affecting the interfaces of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV… and Apple Watch. So the smallest screen in Cupertino’s stable gets a new look at the same time as the larger and costlier products.

Liquid Glass takes its inspiration from Vision Pro and encompasses a range of visual and interactive changes. More UI elements than before are translucent, with menus and buttons constructed as layers that refract and reflect the colors and shapes beneath. Furniture is rounded and dynamic, shrinking and expanding as you navigate through the interface. Specular highlights make everything look shiny.

The Apple Watch has less space to showcase this new design than the other affected products, but watchOS 26 still looks distinct from previous iterations. The numerals on watch faces have the signature glassy look, and in the Photos face, they adjust size dynamically to suit the available space in different photos. The translucent design also shows up in buttons within Apple’s apps, as well as notifications, widgets in the Smart Stack, Control Center toggles and more.

In short, watchOS 26 looks stunning. But it also seems somewhat unfamiliar because so many elements have been redesigned, and this may mean it’ll appear user-friendly at first. In time we should all get used to it.

Apple

Workout Buddy

We’ve complained in the past that the Apple Watch was left out of the Apple Intelligence party even though it seems the most suited to take advantage of the technology. The arrival of watchOS 26 doesn’t give the watch the full Apple Intelligence experience, presumably due to a lack of processing power, but there are more AI elements than ever before.

This being a fitness-focused product, it’s no surprise that Apple Intelligence is principally aimed in that direction. There’s a new feature called Workout Buddy that analyzes your usage data and fitness metrics to create personalized insights and pep talks. Apple gives the following as an example of what Workout Buddy could offer:

“Way to get out for your run this Wednesday morning. You’re 18 minutes away from closing your Exercise ring. So far this week, you’ve run 6 miles. You’re going to add to that today.”

That’s your motivation ahead of a workout, but the feature offers contributions while you exercise, too. It will notify you of split times and milestones, such as the time for the last mile or the total number of miles run in the year so far, for example, “Mile four. You picked up the pace and ran that last one in 8 minutes and 28 seconds,” and “Hey, check this out. Your total running distance for the year just crossed the 200-mile mark! That’s a lot of running!”

Then at the end the assistant recaps your stats (distance, time, average pace, heart rate) and offers congratulations for any milestones or personal bests.

All of these interruptions could be motivational or they could be annoying. A lot of people like to get in the zone when exercising and audio backdrop is a key part of that–either silence, a favorite playlist, or even a podcast. But we’re pretty sure the feature will be optional, and some exercisers will love it.

Live Translation in Messages

Talking of Apple Intelligence, this is also used to power Live Translation in Messages on the Apple Watch. When a text comes in and it’s not in your native language, the system will translate right there on your watch; the response you enter in your own language will then be translated back to the original.

You do need to have an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence for this, however, so presumably the work isn’t actually happening on the watch.

Apple

Smart Stack

Apple says the Smart Stack watch face is getting smarter, too. It incorporates more data to power its predictive algorithms, sucking in information from sensors and your daily routine, and has a new way to make hints about actions you might want to take. These will appear as what Apple describes as a “gentle visual prompt,” popping up at the bottom of the screen and drawing the eye with its glassy, shiny appearance.

New wrist flick gesture

This is a fun and potentially useful new feature: you can dismiss notifications and calls, as well as turning off timers and alarms, by flicking your wrist. It should make life easier when your watch tries to get your attention while you’re in the middle of a workout or other activity.

Workout app

The all-important Workout app has been redesigned. It’s very different, in fact, with new buttons in the corners of the screen to access customization options. As a regular Workout user, I have to say that it looks rather complicated and intimidating, but I trust it will become familiar in time, and likely a more powerful tool for setting up workouts the way I want them.

Apple

You can now set up music and podcasts from within the Workout app so that they start playing when you start exercising. Or, if you’d rather not have to give this any thought, you can have Apple Music select a playlist for you, based on your listening history and the workout type. Or you can view suggestions based on what you’ve listened to when doing the same workout in the past.

Apple

watchOS 26 is available now as a developer beta, and the public beta will start to roll out in July. It’s available for the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, the 2nd-gen Apple Watch SE, or any Apple Watch Ultra, the same models supported with watchOS 11.