Hands-On With watchOS 27: Every New Apple Watch Feature

[allenvanhellen]

Should be single-pinch for scroll and double-pinch for select. Too much double-pinching as is.

 

[klm9210]

Not sure start workout reminders are a “little used feature”. It’s probably more used than the Fitness+ workout subscription service.

I predict the workout buddy will be lame. The idea that it will motivate you using your metrics whilst you workout is laughable. That said, existing AIs are taking over from PTs in providing before and after workouts, especially on form- but I think you’ll still need a big screen to make that work..

Mine has a charming Australian accent

 

[johnsawyercjs]

One word, simple and effective : AI slop

That's at least two words, and really three if you're counting

 

[Xade]

Light on features? I guess there's no need to upgrade my Ultra 1 then, as it's working just fine and will still do all the things I use it for.

 

[Octavius8]

can I add a calendar event in natural language?.
Can we get better dual time complication? Why is so hard to show the time in another city in readable font size?

 

[Brien]

So many UI changes, many for the worse. I don’t think Apple knows what to do with it.

 

[JosephAW]

Too bad they couldn’t release one last good version of watchOS for all devices that supported 26 as they did for the iPhone 11. 🙄

 

[applefan8254]

Can we get native intermittent fasting with body status and home screen widgets + watchOS widgets? thank you

 

[mongobongo]

Letting you know in the comments about walkie talkie... my wife is going to revolt!
Also, double tap on the digital crown is going to drive me nuts. I use this all the time during workouts to switch quickly, but it does seem there is another method I'll have to get used to.

What method is that?

 

[iToph]

... is the feature that most helps me close my rings.

the only ring I close every day is my calories input ring. and its not even trackable in Apple Watch.

 

[bluecoast]

The only way to really stop this behavior by Apple is to get out of the Apple Watch ecosystem. Buy an alternative or a lovely mechanical watch. Anyone who upgrades because of this (you know who you are) is part of the problem.

Apple’s new iOS version window for the watch is way way too small.

It’s something more akin to android, where just three years of major os releases is pretty normal.

I think following things need to happen:

Backport the optimisations and bug fixes from 27 to 26, if the tentpole feature of watchOS 27 is Siri ai (I assume that you still need a compatible iPhone).

OR allow them to upgrade to 27 (for the aforementioned reasons) sans Siri AI.

OR allow users to downgrade to 18 (which Apple will never do), as 26 is a battery sucking nightmare.

Stop leaving it years before the watch gets significant processor upgrades, as this means that when there’s a major software feature upgrade, that very recent watches suddenly don’t get feature updates.

Give each new series some decent headroom each year.

What I’m saying is JT: please end the TC penny pinching.

This has happened before. I remember there was a major release cut off quite early in the watch’s life as older watches simply didn’t have the SSD space to install the latest version of watchOS.

To your point: certainly I now would think twice about buying a new Apple Watch. It doesn’t seem to be a good use of my money.

On the other hand I used a s1 for years that still tracked workouts ok to Apple health - even if I could not use anything iCloud or Apple ID related.

But would I want my recent investment to be stuck on iOS 26? No way.

 

[DaveS79]

I don’t think I like the new dynamic menu. My grid is already set that way and I always know where the app is. Let’s see how useful Siri will be but it might be good. Also not sure how to kill an app that stopped working then if there is no app switcher…

 

[StuBeck]

The only way to really stop this behavior by Apple is to get out of the Apple Watch ecosystem. Buy an alternative or a lovely mechanical watch. Anyone who upgrades because of this (you know who you are) is part of the problem.

Exactly. Also don't buy a new Apple watch moving forward even if you want to stay in. They lose their value incredibly fast. I've been buying my wife barely used stainless steel watches that are 2 generations old for less than the cost of a discounted current gen for years now.

I left a bit ago because of a lack of running features...which of course were added immediately after, but I'm still happy without an Apple watch. The strange moves Apple is making now with dropping support for watches isn't making me miss it.

little-used features lol? they literally released a new gesture this year... and Raise to Speak is "little-used" because it doesn't work lmao.

So Apple just removed broken features instead of fixing the bugs. good to know.

They also gate keeped a feature they previously released with an older watch in an attempt to fix it, which was rather confusing. It sounds like they never actually fixed it and rather than admit their mistake, just say its not being used.

 

[hybrid_x]

I loved the idea of Walkie Talkie, and my wife and I messed around with it for about a day, but two things about it: 1) it's intrusive. You can only really use it in specific situations where it wouldn't interrupt something. 2) It was a battery hog. Even running in the background, it significantly shortened battery life.

I'm guessing Apple just decided that sending voice messages via iMessage was a better option.

 

[siddavis]

What method is that?

I guess the dynamic app crap. You're right, there probably isn't really anything like it.
During my workouts, I double press the crown, select the app I need and do my thing, then simply double press again and it switches back to my workout app (Strava). I guess I'm losing that blind fast switch.
Also, I don't use the terrible grid layout. I have my apps in list mode and I know exactly where they are because it is alphabetical. The grid is like Where's Waldo!

 

[DBR2025]

All I want for my AW7 is third party faces, as Apple's faces are mostly made for entertaining middle schoolers, rather than supplying genuine functionality. The only halfway decent face is Infograph and even that's lacking. Would love to have access to faces like I've seen for the AWU.

Ultimately, Apple seems unbothered with offering any faces that aren't Mickey Mouse or gay pride, so I’m just riding out my AW7 until I switch to another brand for good. Again, great hardware hobbled by embarrassing, frustrating, anti-user software. Same story for MOST of Apple's devices.

I thought custom watch faces was a missing feature as well, but eventually got used to the watch face I’ve selected and not felt 3rd party faces is a needed feature.

What ***** me the most is I just paid to replace the battery in my AW6, ie - they replaced it with a refurbished version. Now they drop support for AW6.

What brand are you considering switching to? Mechanical watch or another digital watch?

 

[ManicMarc]

not sure how to kill an app that stopped working then if there is no app switcher…

The iOS (iPhone OS) 3 method (pre multitasking) has always worked on watchOS, so probably still does on watchOS 27.
Hold the side button until the Shutdown menu comes up, then hold down the Digital Crown until the app quits.
On the older iPhones, replace Digital Crown with the home button. I’m sure there’s still a variant of it that works in modern iPhones with no home button too.

 

[Nightflyer720]

I thought custom watch faces was a missing feature as well, but eventually got used to the watch face I’ve selected and not felt 3rd party faces is a needed feature.

What ***** me the most is I just paid to replace the battery in my AW6, ie - they replaced it with a refurbished version. Now they drop support for AW6.

What brand are you considering switching to? Mechanical watch or another digital watch?

I'm looking at Amazfit Balance 2 and T-Rex 3 Pro. For various reasons, I’m not into Garmin and Galaxy.

I will NEVER get used to Apple's wretched watch faces, and I absolutely disagree that third-party options are not needed. It would open up so many possibilities for the AW user and, I believe, have a massive impact on how many of us interact with our watches.

I barely engage with my watch because seeing and accessing the features and metrics I need is not quick, convenient, or intuitive. Our points of view on third-party faces could not be further apart.

 

[NorthrrnArrbiter]

The best decision I made with my gen 1 ultra watch was cancelling mobile service…

Using an Apple Watch Ultra without an active cell plan (tethered to your iPhone via Bluetooth) yields up to 36 to 42 hours of battery life. When running solely on cellular (leaving your phone at home or if it's off), the battery life drops significantly to about 18 hours.

 

[noel18]

little-used features lol? they literally released a new gesture this year... and Raise to Speak is "little-used" because it doesn't work lmao.

So Apple just removed broken features instead of fixing the bugs. good to know.

First off, raise to speak is not "removed", it's just disabled by default. I use Raise to speak probably 20 times per day to run a few Siri shortcuts and to trigger home automations. Sometimes it doesn't work but I'd say 90% of the time it does.

All three of the features they are turning off by default are features I use regularly. People just severally under use technology. The bulk of people with Apple Watch probably only look at the time and glance at a notification. Double Tap and Wrist Flick are incredibly handy gestures that people strangely dismiss as being useless.

 

[noel18]

I guess the dynamic app crap. You're right, there probably isn't really anything like it.
During my workouts, I double press the crown, select the app I need and do my thing, then simply double press again and it switches back to my workout app (Strava). I guess I'm losing that blind fast switch.
Also, I don't use the terrible grid layout. I have my apps in list mode and I know exactly where they are because it is alphabetical. The grid is like Where's Waldo!

Okay so your alternate method involves touching your screen. Bummer, I thought you found some other alternative that didn't require touch. When on a run, the touch screen is a pain to use, especially when your hands are wet. I loved that you could swap apps with just the crown.

 

[noel18]

The best decision I made with my gen 1 ultra watch was cancelling mobile service…

Using an Apple Watch Ultra without an active cell plan (tethered to your iPhone via Bluetooth) yields up to 36 to 42 hours of battery life. When running solely on cellular (leaving your phone at home or if it's off), the battery life drops significantly to about 18 hours.

Coverage has a big impact too, even if the phone is with you. AT&T has really bad service at my office so I switched to T-Mobile and I was kind of suprised at how big of an impact it had on my Apple Watch battery life. You would think it would only consume the battery while streaming music or when actively using the connection but it's actually using LTE all the time.

That said, I get two full days out of my U2 with a 1 hour run each morning. It's not worth it for me to disable LTE. I leave my phone behind while running and it's nice knowing I can make a call if needed. I also stream Spotify and love not having to mess around with downloading playlists.

 

[danpass]

Interesting .... I use raise to speak a lot.

I wonder if people don't know about this feature.

-

 

[tennisproha]

First off, raise to speak is not "removed", it's just disabled by default. I use Raise to speak probably 20 times per day to run a few Siri shortcuts and to trigger home automations. Sometimes it doesn't work but I'd say 90% of the time it does.

All three of the features they are turning off by default are features I use regularly. People just severally under use technology. The bulk of people with Apple Watch probably only look at the time and glance at a notification. Double Tap and Wrist Flick are incredibly handy gestures that people strangely dismiss as being useless.

They need to make gestures customizable, on some screens like notifications Double Tap and Wrist Flick both dismiss the notification instead of having different functions.

There are so many bugs on watchOS, like automatic volume control being broken, Home app widgets not working,...etc. People dismiss features because Apple poorly implements almost everything they introduce and never bothers to go back and fix it.

 

[noel18]

They need to make gestures customizable, on some screens like notifications Double Tap and Wrist Flick both dismiss the notification instead of having different functions.

There are so many bugs on watchOS, like automatic volume control being broken, Home app widgets not working,...etc. People dismiss features because Apple poorly implements almost everything they introduce and never bothers to go back and fix it.

I agree they should be customizable but even in the current state it's very handy and I use both gestures all day long.

As for bugs, dude, Apple has totally lost their way. Literally everything is littered with bugs and seem to never get fixed.