watchOS 26 is a more modest update with one headlining new feature, Workout Buddy — on top of 15 other new tweaks. You might overlook the Apple Watch after the excitement of Liquid Glass on your iPhone and Mac, but your tiniest screen still has some stuff worth checking out.
There are loads of smart new features for those with the latest and greatest. A new wrist flick gesture silences timers and calls. Your volume automatically lowers in quiet rooms. And everyone can appreciate that the Notes app finally makes its way to the watch.
The update is out now; here’s what to expect.
Everything new in watchOS 26
The Apple Watch has Apple’s smallest-looking screens — but not even its 1.5-inch displays are immune from the Liquid Glass redesign. While it takes a lighter touch on the watch, you can still be wowed by its live lighting and lensing effects. And if you have a newer model, there are tons of excellent new additions to your little wrist computer.
This year’s update is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and newer, Apple Watch SE 2 and both models of Apple Watch Ultra. You also may have noticed that Apple skipped from watchOS version 11 to 26 — that’s so that all the annual releases use the same number, of the upcoming year.
Table of contents: watchOS 26 new features
- Liquid Glass
- Workout Buddy
- New Watch faces
- More smart new features
- Tweaks and changes in apps
- Other major updates
1. Liquid Glass
watchOS 10 modernized Apple Watch apps with big, bold colors and new UI layouts. The Liquid Glass design doesn’t change how your watch works, but it does give them a glossy new dressing and appearance.
Everything from the passcode screen to Notification Center to Control Center to the buttons in all your apps have a shiny glass sheen.
On the Photos watch face, you can choose a new Glass style for the Time Color. The time might not have as much contrast with the background, but you’ll see the cool effect every time you raise your wrist.
2. Workout Buddy
Workout Buddy will give you personalized encouragement during your workout, like an imaginary coach. It’ll let you know when you hit a milestone, like achieving a week-long workout streak, or literal mile markers during a run. It draws on your own fitness data to be precise.
When the Workout Buddy chimes in, it automatically pauses and resumes the music or podcasts you’re listening to.
New Watch faces
Image: Apple
watchOS 26 features a handful of new watch faces:
- Flow has lava lamp-style colorful patterns behind Liquid Glass numerals. You can choose bubbly, abstract shapes or easier-to-read numbers.
- Exactograph has separate dials for hours, seconds and minutes. They can either be concentric (with four corner complications) or a series of big, moving dials that orbit the center like a solar system.
- Exclusive to the Apple Watch Ultra, Waypoint builds a compass into the watch face, showing nearby points of interest and saved locations.
- Exclusive to Hermès models, Faubourg Party shows a series of 8-bit style pixelated animations of cartoon horses.
- More watch faces now support always-on second hands when the watch is idle on the Series 10, Series 11 and Ultra 3.
More smart new features
Photo: Apple
A few features are exclusive to the Series 9, Series 10, Series 11, Ultra 2 and Ultra 3:
- Hypertension alerts analyze how blood vessels respond to heartbeats over a 30-day period and let you know if you’re at risk of high blood pressure. While Apple clarified that it can’t detect all cases, the company expects this feature to identify over 1 million undiagnosed cases.
- You can flick your wrist away to dismiss a notification, mute a call, stop a timer and more.
- Volume automatically adjusts to the ambient sound level of the room, so dings and pings don’t rudely interrupt a meeting.
- Sleep score tracks sleep duration, bedtime consistency, how often you wake up and how much time is spent in each sleep stage. It gives you a grade out of 100. This is available on the Series 6, SE 2 and later.
More smart watchOS 26 features coming to all models:
- Your watch will recommend apps to open at the bottom of the watch face when it thinks it may be helpful, like the Camera Remote app while you’re using the camera on your iPhone. Some recommendations are based on your daily routine and usage.
- Similarly, Messages will recommend suggestions based on the conversation — like sharing your location when someone asks where you are.
- Call Screening is an intelligent feature that blocks unimportant calls from unknown numbers. People who call you will be asked by a robot to give the reason for their call, and if your phone thinks it sounds important, then it’ll ring you — and show what they said.
- Hold Assist lets you hang up the phone when you’re put on hold. Your nearby phone will detect the music, wait for a human to pick up, and ring you again. However, Hold Assist can be fooled by systems that interrupt the music with an automated voice.
- Messages are automatically translated if they’re sent in a different language (supported by the system). This feature is only available on Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, and requires a paired iPhone running Apple Intelligence.
- If you have an Apple Music subscription, you can have music automatically chosen for you based on your taste and the type of workout you’re doing.
Tweaks and changes in apps
Screenshot: Apple
- The Notes app is now available on the Apple Watch. It’s great for quickly checking a recipe, shopping list and jotting down a quick thought before you forget it. A few features, like tables and math notes, are (understandably) limited.
- Stopwatch and Timer support always-on animations when the watch is idle on Series 10, Series 11 and Ultra 3.
- The Photos face can rotate through featured photos of People, Pets, Nature and Cities — just like the photos Lock Screen on the iPhone.
- See the custom background image for group chats when someone sets one on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. Apple has a few built-in options, or you can generate one with Image Playground or choose from your own photos.
- You can see Live Listen transcriptions on your watch when the feature is active on your iPhone.
- The Workout app has a new design that uses the new corner-button layout, giving you easier access to common features.
- The Watch face gallery has been simplified, with faces grouped into collections. It is far easier to navigate.
- The Fire, Water, Gradient, Liquid Metal, Vapor and Toy Story watch faces have been removed.
Other major updates
Check out the other major updates Apple released today:
