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

watchOS 27 Will Add These New Features to Your Apple Watch

GfPQqmcRKUvP said:
This would be so pathetic if the improvements are limited to this.

The Health features lag WAY behind Oura and Whoop. Don't need to go all the way to what they have but the best we currently have is "You had a fine night of sleep" what it was obviously horrible.
Click to expand...
Oura and Whoop are mostly snake oil, and require you to provide your sensitive health data with them and their third-party processors. No thanks. I much prefer the more conservative, medically validated and approved approach that Apple Watch has, with processing on my devices.

 
  • Like
Reactions: GuruZac, JigJanus, chazwatson and 1 other person
jimscard said:
Why would anyone need a week of battery life? My watch charges when I take a bath.
Click to expand...
Always depends on how you are using the watch. Recording workouts and listening to music is quite demanding on the battery. While one person might have no problem getting through the day with one charge, others are struggling with this. It would also be nice to be able to go on a short trip without taking the extra charger with you. I don't have a fixed charging schedule and need to top it up at different times of the day and therefore have to constantly check if the watch is still charged enough before I leave the house. That is pretty annoying.

Maybe you don't need a week of battery life, but something like three days would be a huge improvement.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: chazwatson and bluecoast
svish said:
Looking forward to seeing the new watch faces. Satellite features will be available only in the US at launch and will take a long time for international expansion.
Click to expand...

I always upgrade to the latest Apple Watch(es) for the new and exclusive watch faces.
 
MilaM said:
Always depends on how you are using the watch. Recording workouts and listening to music is quite demanding on the battery. While one person might have no problem getting through the day with one charge, others are struggling with this. It would also be nice to be able to go on a short trip without taking the extra charger with you. I don't have a fixed charging schedule and need to top it up at different times of the day and therefore have to constantly check if the watch is still charged enough before I leave the house. That is pretty annoying.

Maybe you don't need a week of battery life, but something like three days would be a huge improvement.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I love the watch’s design and health and fitness - but I could do without it trying to be an extension of your iPhone, as that’s obviously a big battery suck.

I wish there was a way to get mvp functionality easy so we could get that 3 day battery life.

Turning off AoD helps but for me that’s a day and a half of battery at best.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MilaM
The Ultra *will* get its first ever physical exterior changes (I'm sure subtle like all Apple Watch changes, but at 4 years the Ultra now is the longest time in Apple Watch history a model has gone without a case change), the Series watch will stay identical in case design since it is only 2 years into the typical 3 year case design cycle. The Heart Rate improvements Gurman mentioned likely will come from the first new backside sensor package change in 4-5 years (I think from either the year the Ultra arrived, or the year before I can't remember) and likely will allow Apple to sample HR more frequently during the day, the current package only measures HR every 5-15 minutes during rest to save battery (every second during workouts) compared to 24/7 every second recording on most competitors... I suspect the improvements will be to match the competition in frequency of measurement through power efficiency of the new sensors. This new sensor package will be on both the new Ultra and the Series watches. Also the Ultra and Series will get a new chip since the current chip has been on the watches for a couple of years now and perhaps that will continue to allow more AI integration with the phone.

It seems software on the watch will continue to change only subtly but the one big miss on Apple Watch IMHO is the lack of integration of mapping including turn by turn with the workout app... recent year features of importing some hiking routes is half baked and nothing at all like what Garmin and others offer and results in needing to use 3rd party apps (although good) like Workoutdoors. I hope this changes.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jwdsail
sloheim said:
1. A new watch face is not a "feature".

2. I cant wait to see what Workout Buddy is.
Click to expand...

Workout Buddy already exists on the current WatchOS 26, its the option to have the "AI" voice added to workouts where at the beginning, middle, and end it interrupts with encouragement, some details about your recent workouts and year to date progress, and a summary of the workout at the end. "Great job running 18 miles this week, that is the most in a single week this year!" I'm sure the feature will be further expanded upon in WatchOS 27 as the generative AI in Siri improvements dramatically thanks to being powered by a better LLM from Google Gemini.
 
Apple_Robert said:
What is so hard about charging the watch once a day? You iPhone people make sure your phone is charged. If you don't want to spend the money on a new watch, fine. At least offer up a valid response that doesn't contradict what you are doing already.
Click to expand...
It takes the watch off line for the charging period so you have to chose to not have access during the day when you use it most or not do sleep tracking at night.
 
MacRumors said:


Apple will unveil watchOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote on Monday, June 8, and a handful of new features have been rumored already.

Apple-Watch-Ultra-2-Black-Titanium.jpg

The first developer beta of watchOS 27 should be available immediately following the keynote, and a public beta typically follows in July. The update should be released to all users with a compatible Apple Watch model in September.

Below, we recap watchOS 27 rumors so far.

Improved Heart Rate Tracking

In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said watchOS 27 will include improvements to heart rate tracking, but he did not elaborate.

New Modular Watch Face

watchOS 27 will add new watch faces, including a variant of the "Modular Ultra" watch face that is currently exclusive to the Apple Watch Ultra, according to Gurman.

New Apple Intelligence Features

On watchOS 26, the following Apple Intelligence features are available on an Apple Watch when it is paired with an iPhone 15 Pro or newer:
  • Workout Buddy
  • Live Translation in Messages
  • Notification Summaries
When it announced the dates for WWDC 2026, Apple promised to unveil "AI advancements" across its platforms, and it can be reasonably assumed that watchOS 27 will include some additional Apple Intelligence features powered by the iPhone.

New Satellite Features

Apple Watch Ultra 3 has built-in satellite connectivity, enabling Emergency SOS, Find My, and Messages via satellite without any reliance on an iPhone.

iOS 27 will reportedly include up to five new satellite features, and the following two would likely extend to watchOS 27:
  • Apple Maps via satellite
  • Photos support for Messages via satellite
Amazon last month announced plans to acquire Globalstar, the satellite company that powers Apple's satellite features on the iPhone 14 and newer and the Apple Watch Ultra 3. In turn, Amazon announced that it has signed an agreement with Apple to provide satellite connectivity for current and future iPhone and Apple Watch features.

Stability Focus

Apple is largely focused on "stability, performance, and smaller refinements" for watchOS 27, rather than on major new features and capabilities, according to Gurman. This suggests that the update could include many bug fixes.

Article Link: watchOS 27 Will Add These New Features to Your Apple Watch
Click to expand...


Will it fix the annoying issue where Apple Fitness on the AppleTV refuses to see the watch, even if I'm holding them next to each other?

That would actually be a worthwhile upgrade?
 
jwdsail said:
Will it fix the annoying issue where Apple Fitness on the AppleTV refuses to see the watch, even if I'm holding them next to each other?

That would actually be a worthwhile upgrade?
Click to expand...
Are you using an older AppleTV and Airpods by chance? I had problems with that combo because apparently the bandwidth of the AppleTV wasn't sufficient for both devices in use at the same time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jwdsail
While I appreciate more battery life, it I have no issues with my AWU. The reason I don’t get a Garmin is the AWU is a much better smart watch, much better integrated in to my Apple ecosystem, and good enough with sport watch features. I still love my v1 AWU. Battery still nearly 2 days. I also really love the ultra exclusive watch faces and night mode. I use night mode as my default face day and night.
 
this year is a chip year for apple watch. I wonder what features the S11 will bring. standalone AI centric features probably. The jump from A16 to A19 efficiency cores is around 35%... but the neural engines are almost double the power. Not sure though if that's fast enough to do anything meaningful.

For now, my apple watch is a notification and heart rate machine... that's basically it.
 
GuruZac said:
While I appreciate more battery life, it I have no issues with my AWU. The reason I don’t get a Garmin is the AWU is a much better smart watch, much better integrated in to my Apple ecosystem, and good enough with sport watch features. I still love my v1 AWU. Battery still nearly 2 days. I also really love the ultra exclusive watch faces and night mode. I use night mode as my default face day and night.
Click to expand...
So the battery of your AWU still lasts for nearly two days? Quite impressive. How long, by an estimate, would it last for when it was brand new? Just being curious.
 
72 hours divided by 24, on low power mode, equals the 3 days worth of battery life everyone was complaining about having, for all three generations of the AWU. On normal mode, as I call it, the first two will last you 1.5 days, while the 3rd generation AWU will last you a solid 2 days. So if you guys truly want to have at least 3 days of battery life, just go with the AWUs. Apple already solved that issue with the AWU, not the standard AW. The AWU is, in my eyes, the heavy-duty version of the AW, and the AW SEs are the lighter-duty versions.
 
I really hope the new watch face is the one in the header image. That one looks amazing! I'm going to use the same color scheme too if it is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back