Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Apple A-Z » Apple Software

watchOS 26

watchOS 26
 

watchOS 26 got a sampling of the Liquid Glass redesign, but most of its new features center around proactive intelligence. Smart Stack gets smarter, and there's a new AI-powered Workout Buddy attached to the Workout app.

● Workout Buddy
● New wrist flick gesture
● Liquid Glass design additions
● Improved Fitness app
● Releasing September 2025

Page last updated:

Get Apple News Directly in Your Inbox

watchOS 26 focuses on what makes Apple Watch a useful wearable — fitness and notifications. There are elements of the ecosystem-wide redesign with Liquid Glass materials, but that's the smallest change introduced during WWDC 2025.

Apple Intelligence features were sprinkled throughout the keynote, and one of the bigger ones was Workout Buddy. It is a new feature of the Workout app that provides spoken encouragement during workouts based on available health data.

Smart Stack gets much better thanks to more proactive options and notifications. A Smart Stack hint will appear when a relevant item appears in the stack.

Some feature highlights in watchOS 26:

  • Workout Buddy
  • Smart Stack upgrades with hints
  • Liquid Glass design elements
  • Workout app update
  • Live Translation in Messages
  • Wrist flick gesture to dismiss notifications
  • Notes app on Apple Watch
  • Photos face shuffles images based on featured content from Photos

The WWDC keynote has barely concluded, and there are a lot of details to uncover about all of Apple's latest operating systems. Stay tuned for more details on this page for watchOS 26.

Everything below this point has been preserved for historical purposes. It was written before WWDC 2025 and addresses the rumors and expectations around the new watchOS update.

The Apple Watch is a mature platform with limited room for improvements to the interface or the product design without dramatic changes. While every operating system might see some significant updates during WWDC, watchOS 26 could be quite limited in how it is updated.

Rumors have focused on iOS 26 so far, so little has been said about watchOS 26. One rumor suggests that the Control Center will become more customizable and gain third-party app access.

The Control Center update on Apple Watch would reflect how Apple updated the Control Center on iPhone with iOS 18. Also, users will be able to customize the Control Center from the Apple Watch app on iPhone.

Beyond that, there's a chance some elements of the interface may resemble parts of visionOS. Such a design change would be rather limited on Apple Watch, but Apple could still introduce transparent objects, reflective surfaces, or other changes to be consistent across platforms.

New watch faces are a given, considering Apple tends to introduce at least one new watch face every year. Updates to older watch faces are also possible.

There's also a chance that the metrics gathered by Apple Watch could yield more Health app results and analytics. Apple could introduce an Apple Health assistant that runs on Apple Intelligence, which would act as a kind of health coach.

watchOS 26 will be revealed during WWDC 2025 on June 9. The betas will begin right away, and the public release will be later in September.

watchOS 26 Related Stories