Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
69,231
40,246


watchOS 26 is set to be released on Monday, September 15, but developers and public beta testers already have access to the launch version. Apple seeded the watchOS 26 release candidate earlier this week, and as long as no last minute bugs are found, it's the version we'll get next week.

watchos-26-gradient-light.jpg

The release notes included with the update have a few surprises, including confirming that Sleep Score and Hypertension Notifications are features that are integrated into watchOS 26 and not exclusive to the newest Apple Watch models.

Liquid Glass
- A new design delivers a more expressive and seamless experience while maintaining the instant familiarity of watchOS and bringing more focus to your content
- Liquid Glass introduces more vitality to interactions across watchOS, refracts and reflects content in real time, and brings even more clarity to Smart Stack, Control Center, navigation, in-app controls, and more

Hypertension Notifications
- Hypertension notifications can alert you if consistent signs of chronic high blood pressure are observed over 30 day periods (Available on Apple Watch Series 9 and later, Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later)
- Hypertension notifications feature is intended for users 22 years or older, without a previous diagnosis of hypertension, and who are not pregnant

Sleep Score
- Sleep score provides a nightly score and classification of your sleep, based on sleep duration, bedtime consistency, and sleep interruptions to help you better understand the quality of your sleep and how to make it more restorative
- Sleep score can be viewed in the Sleep app, in the Smart Stack or as a watch face complication

Workout Buddy
- Personalized fitness experience with Apple Intelligence incorporates your workout data and fitness history for generative audible motivational insights during your workout
- Personalized insights are generated during key moments - like a pep talk to kick it off, your workout for splits and major milestones, and a summary of your effort once you finish - by rapidly analyzing and comparing your fitness history to your current workout
- Choose from three voices developed using a text-to-speech model with voice data from Apple Fitness+ trainers
- Your fitness data is processed privately and securely using your nearby Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone and Private Cloud Compute

Smart Stack
- Smart Stack has an improved prediction algorithm that deploys a Smart Stack hint when there is a suggestion that is immediately useful - for example, if you are in a remote location, you'll see a hint to start recording Backtrack
- Configurable widgets let you customize how widgets appear in the Smart Stack so you can see what's most important for you - for example, select a home accessory you'd like quick access to in the Home widget

Messages
- Live Translation in Messages uses Apple Intelligence and automatically translates incoming texts, including group messages, and sends a response in your preferred language -- it'll be translated when it's delivered (Available on Apple Watch Series 9 and later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later when paired with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone)
- Smart actions will be suggested in Messages using the context of a conversation, like starting a Check In when a friend asks a user to share when they arrive home
- Smart Replies get even more precise with an improved on-device language model that can generate relevant responses based on the content of a conversation

Watch Faces
- Exactograph is a modern re-imagination of a traditional regulator watch which separates out hours, minutes and seconds for more precise time keeping
- Flow uses Liquid Glass numerals that refract a fluid orb of color that responds to your wrist movements
- Waypoint acts as a live compass that will show where you are in relation to places you've saved in Maps or points of interest (Available on Apple Watch Ultra)
- Hermès Faubourg Party features animated shorts that appear based on the time of day or movements with a series of characters (Available on Apple Watch Hermès)
- The Photos face is enhanced by the new design with Liquid Glass, elevating numerals so you can see even more of your photos
- The Photos face will now shuffle images based on Featured content from Photos, so you can see images of your most meaningful moments every time you raise your wrist or tap the display
- Explore and discover watch faces more easily with the redesigned watch face gallery, with faces grouped into collections

Other features
- New layout of the Workout app makes it easier to use your favorite features - tap the icons in the four corners for quick access to metrics and views, experiences like Custom Workout and Pacer, media, Workout Buddy, and alerts
- Media experience in the Workout app is more integrated and intelligent, as Apple Music can now select the best playlist based on the workout type and your personal tastes, or you can see suggestions for playlists or podcasts based on what you've recently listened to during that particular workout type
- Notes app comes to Apple Watch, allowing you to access your notes right on your wrist, pin and unlock notes, complete checklist items, and create new notes with Siri, dictation, and the keyboard
- Wrist Flick is a new one-handed gesture you can use to dismiss a notification, mute incoming calls, silence timers and alarms, or return to your watch face (Available on Apple Watch Series 9 and later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later)
- Over 20 watch faces including Exactograph, Activity Digital, Reflections as well as Stopwatch and Timer apps, get 1Hz support that show seconds ticking in always-on mode (Available on Apple Watch Series 10 and later)
- Apple Watch can automatically adjust the volume of your notifications, incoming calls, timers, alarms, and Siri, based on the ambient noise in your environment
- Hold Assist and Call Screening come to the Phone app, when an iPhone is nearby. Hold Assist keeps your spot in line while you wait to speak to a live agent, and rings you to return to the call when the live agent is there. Call Screening lets you screen incoming calls from unknown numbers, getting you the caller's name and reason for the call before the phone rings
watchOS 26 will be released alongside iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26. Expect the software right around 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on Monday.

Article Link: watchOS 26 Coming Monday: Here's What's New
 
Two minor nitpicks with it so far on my Ultra 2.

First, turning the crown to access the Smart Stack seems to take more than it used to. This is both good and bad. Good in that accidental wrist-rubs don’t fling it onto the display, bad in that I have to retrain myself to turn it more.

Second, the side button bringing up the control center seems less fluid. Unsure if it’s a side effect of the new Liquid Glass stuff or not.

All in all, I don’t really see a huge difference aside from the new faces, but I suppose that’s a good thing!

Edit: I should also mention that I just discovered the wrist flick option. This is an EXCELLENT addition and works perfectly!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Agile55
I thought they said the hypertension alert still needed FDA approval?

Indeed: "Clearance for hypertension notifications from the FDA and other regulators is expected soon, and the feature will be available in more than 150 countries and regions — including the U.S. and the EU — this month."

 
  • Like
Reactions: DotCom2
Wrist Flick is a new one-handed gesture you can use to dismiss a notification, mute incoming calls, silence timers and alarms, or return to your watch face
Over 20 watch faces including Exactograph, Activity Digital, Reflections as well as Stopwatch and Timer apps, get 1Hz support that show seconds ticking in always-on mode
Worth the update for these 2 changes alone. None of the rest make much of a difference to me.
 
I can't imagine, for the LIFE of me, why Apple doesn't offer a watch-face store, or open it to 3rd party designs. Not only would it make the device MUCH more interesting, but it could/would be a source of revenue.
Yes! This!

The only options I've found so far are third party apps like Facer that require a subscription, and I absolutely refuse to subscribe for something as simple as a watch face (no offense to those who do).
 
I just pray there aren't any major UI changes. In the time I've had my Series 5, the functionality of the crown and side button have changed more times that I can count.

I'm at the point where literally I can't remember how to use the UI because it's changed so many times. This kind of stuff drives me bonkers.

And yes, I'm an old man yelling at clouds.
 
I can't imagine, for the LIFE of me, why Apple doesn't offer a watch-face store, or open it to 3rd party designs. Not only would it make the device MUCH more interesting, but it could/would be a source of revenue.
I used to think Tim was saving it for a slow year where they didn’t otherwise have a notable Watch update—but surely we’ve had several of those by now…
 
Two minor nitpicks with it so far on my Ultra 2.

First, turning the crown to access the Smart Stack seems to take more than it used to. This is both good and bad. Good in that accidental wrist-rubs don’t fling it onto the display, bad in that I have to retrain myself to turn it more.

Second, the side button bringing up the control center seems less fluid. Unsure if it’s a side effect of the new Liquid Glass stuff or not.

All in all, I don’t really see a huge difference aside from the new faces, but I suppose that’s a good thing!

Edit: I should also mention that I just discovered the wrist flick option. This is an EXCELLENT addition and works perfectly!

That is good to note. The wrist flick does work on the Ultra 2. The Apple Watch side-by-side comparison display on the Apple website says it works on Ultra 3, but not Ultra 2.
 
I used to think Tim was saving it for a slow year where they didn’t otherwise have a notable Watch update—but surely we’ve had several of those by now…

That's a properly cynical view. You'd think if it could provide some incremental revenue they would do it. I'd really love that feature.
 
I just want them to allow me to see my fitness workouts on my iPad.

It would be so good to see a summary with graphs and charts on the larger display.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DotCom2
“Live translation… when paired with an Apple Intelligence iPhone.” So it won’t work when you leave your iPhone at home, or turned off? Somehow I doubt that. So why can’t an Apple Watch 10 do it if paired to say an iPhone 13 mini?
 
I own an Ultra 1st gen, and with this RC, my battery get ruined very quickly.
Last night I 've lost 35% during sleeping...
The last beta were better....
 
Two minor nitpicks with it so far on my Ultra 2.

First, turning the crown to access the Smart Stack seems to take more than it used to. This is both good and bad. Good in that accidental wrist-rubs don’t fling it onto the display, bad in that I have to retrain myself to turn it more.

Second, the side button bringing up the control center seems less fluid. Unsure if it’s a side effect of the new Liquid Glass stuff or not.

All in all, I don’t really see a huge difference aside from the new faces, but I suppose that’s a good thing!

Edit: I should also mention that I just discovered the wrist flick option. This is an EXCELLENT addition and works perfectly!
Why turn the crown when you just swipe up on the screen. The crown is pointless for that. Just my 2 cents.
 
I can't imagine, for the LIFE of me, why Apple doesn't offer a watch-face store, or open it to 3rd party designs. Not only would it make the device MUCH more interesting, but it could/would be a source of revenue.
Still no watch face store 😂 come on Apple this is ridiculous 👎🏻.
Apple won’t allow third-party because they care too much about how the Apple Watch looks. Apple wants all the watch faces to look good to protect their brand image.
 
First, turning the crown to access the Smart Stack seems to take more than it used to.
And this is still completely bugged on Hermès models once you enter the watch face switching view (once you enter the view, the crown completely stops working to open the Smart Stack, until you press on the crown to go to the app view and again to go back to the watch face). Amazing that it's been a whole year since the bug was introduced and they still haven't fixed it despite many Hermès users reporting it.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.