Does AW S11 require iOS 26?

[Mity]

I assume the new AW S11 ships with watchOS 26. Does this mean that I must upgrade my iPhone to iOS 26 to use it?

I have deliberately refrained from upgrading to iOS 26 because I find Liquid Glass truly hideous. I have iPadOS 26 on my iPad and I'm not a fan at all.

So, if anyone knows whether I can use the S11 with iOS 18, please let me know as it would help me from buying it and then returning it.

 

[weather34]

yes unfortunately iphone requires IOS 26 to work/paired with a S11 . long shot possibly after purchase you may be able to send watch to a apple service center to request a downgrade to previous OS but i haven’t seen any valid confirmation this is possible or an option just a thought.

 

[Bichon]

yes unfortunately iphone requires IOS 26 to work/paired with a S11 . long shot possibly after purchase you may be able to send watch to a apple service center to request a downgrade to previous OS but i haven’t seen any valid confirmation this is possible or an option just a thought.

You call it a long shot, I'd call it false hope. Almost no chance that WatchOS11 will run correctly on the series 11 hardware. It doesn't have device drivers for new hardware like the 5G cellular modem, nor will it even recognize the model number. And since it's not a tested and validated configuration, I can't imagine you'd ever convince an Apple service center to attempt it.

 

[weather34]

ok it was a long shot thanks for the clarification