WatchOS 26: 8 Exciting New Features for Your Apple Watch

Your Apple Watch is set for a major transformation. Announced at WWDC 2025, the upcoming watchOS 26 software update brings a wealth of new features and enhancements to Apple’s wearable, promising a fresh experience across design, fitness, communication, and more. Best of all? It’s a free upgrade arriving for compatible models later this year, likely in Fall 2025. This update is part of a broader overhaul across Apple’s ecosystem, adopting a new naming convention reflective of the release year (OS 26 for 2026) and aiming for a more unified look and feel across devices.

This isn’t just a minor refresh; watchOS 26 includes significant advancements, particularly leveraging Apple Intelligence to bring smarter, more personalized features to your wrist. Here are some of the most exciting new capabilities we can’t wait to explore.

1. A Dazzling New Look: Liquid Glass Design

Get ready for Apple’s “broadest design update ever.” WatchOS 26 introduces the “Liquid Glass” visual treatment, inspired by the immersive interface of visionOS. This update brings a fluid, clear, and transparent aesthetic across the platform.

Icons on your watch face or app screen will transition from their current opaque look to a clear, glassy appearance, reflecting light and elements from your wallpaper or surroundings. This design philosophy extends to key areas like the Smart Stack and notifications, creating a more dynamic and visually appealing interface that truly leverages the Apple Watch display.

2. AI-Powered Fitness Coaching: Workout Buddy

Taking workout insights to the next level, watchOS 26 introduces Workout Buddy, an AI-powered personal coach built into the Fitness app. Leveraging your historical data – including paces, Activity Rings, and Training Load – Workout Buddy provides real-time feedback and encouragement during your exercise sessions.

This feature is available for several popular workout types (Outdoor and Indoor Run, Outdoor and Indoor Walk, Outdoor Cycle, HIIT, and Functional and Traditional Strength Training). Workout Buddy quickly analyzes your performance to offer tailored insights before, during, and after your activity, delivered via Bluetooth audio. While other wearables like Oura and Whoop have offered health coaching features, Apple’s integration of personalized, real-time AI guidance on the watch is a significant step, and many users (including reviewers) are eager to see how it performs in practice.

3. Enhanced Workout Customization

The core Workout app also sees enhancements, adding four new customizable buttons (Goals, Custom, Pacer, Race Route) to give you more control over your training sessions. Users can also now link their favorite workout playlists or podcasts directly within the app for seamless access to motivating audio during exercise.

4. Smarter Smart Stack Predictions

The predictive algorithm for the Smart Stack gets an upgrade, incorporating more contextual data like sensor readings and routine patterns. This means more relevant and timely suggestions appearing right when you need them, such as prompting a functional strength training workout when you arrive at the gym in the morning or suggesting the Backtrack feature if your Apple Watch registers you’re in a location with no cellular connectivity.

5. Notifications That Respect Your Environment

No more startling loud pings in quiet environments like libraries or a silent office. The new smarter notifications feature interprets ambient noise levels and automatically adjusts your notification volume accordingly, ensuring you get alerts without disrupting others around you (or yourself).

6. Live Translation Within Messages

Leveraging Apple Intelligence, watchOS 26 brings Live Translation directly into the Messages app on your wrist. This AI-powered feature automatically translates incoming text messages into your preferred language right on your Apple Watch, making communication with friends or family members who use different languages, or navigating international travel, much easier. This feature supports multiple languages including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Spain), and Simplified Chinese.

7. Messages Get Contextually Aware & Offer Smarter Replies

Messages on Apple Watch become even more intelligent. The watch will use context clues from your conversations to suggest relevant actions, like prompting you to send a Check-In message when you indicate you’re on your way home, or suggesting an Apple Cash pop-up if a friend sends you the dinner bill breakdown. Additionally, Smart Replies are enhanced with an on-device language model, aiming to provide more “precise” and “relevant” automated responses to save you typing time.

8. A New Way to Interact: Wrist Flick Gesture

Move over Double Tap, there’s a new hand gesture in town. Complementing existing gesture controls (like Double Tap on newer models), the Wrist Flick allows you to perform quick actions without touching the screen. Simply turn your wrist to dismiss notifications, silence alarms, or quiet incoming calls. This offers a convenient, hands-free way to manage alerts, perfect for moments when your hands are full or you’re distracted.

Other Notable Additions

WatchOS 26 rounds out its major update with several other welcome additions:

Notes App: The official Apple Notes app finally arrives on your wrist, allowing you to view, create (via dictation, the small virtual keyboard, or Siri), and manage your synced notes directly from your Apple Watch. Accessing shopping lists or quick reminders on the go just got easier.
iOS Feature Integration: Several features introduced on iOS become accessible or controllable from the Watch, including Hold Assist (notifying you to return to a call on hold) and Call Screening (screening unknown numbers). Live Listen, an accessibility feature for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, can now be controlled remotely from the Watch, which monitors audio for live captioning on your iPhone.

Easier Watch Face Customization: A redesigned watch face gallery makes it simpler to find and personalize your watch face. Photo faces also gain enhanced capabilities, allowing you to shuffle custom content more easily throughout the day.

Which Apple Watch Models Get WatchOS 26?

The watchOS 26 update is compatible with a wide range of recent Apple Watch models, including the Apple Watch Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, Series 9, Series 10, Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), Apple Watch Ultra, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

To install watchOS 26, you’ll also need a paired iPhone running the latest version of iOS, specifically an iPhone 11, iPhone SE (2nd generation), or later.

Important Note on AI Features: Certain features powered by Apple Intelligence, such as the Workout Buddy and Live Translation, require specific iPhone models capable of running Apple Intelligence. Currently, this includes all iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Ensure you have one of these iPhones with Apple Intelligence enabled to take full advantage of these advanced features on your compatible Apple Watch. The new Wrist Flick gesture and Live Translation features are also specifically supported on Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2.

With a comprehensive update touching nearly every aspect of the user experience – from a visually stunning new design and powerful AI fitness coaching to smarter notifications and essential apps like Notes – watchOS 26 looks set to be one of the most impactful Apple Watch software releases yet. As the public beta approaches this summer ahead of a Fall 2025 release, these features promise to make the Apple Watch even more indispensable on your wrist.