Apple unveils watchOS 26 with new design, wrist-flick gesture, and AI Workout Buddy feature
At Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 25) on Monday, the tech giant unveiled watchOS 26, the upcoming software overhaul for the Apple Watch. watchOS 26 will launch with a redesigned interface based on Apple’s new Liquid Glass operating system, a wrist-flick gesture, a new Apple Intelligence-powered Workout Buddy fitness feature, and more.
The redesigned interface comes as Apple is looking to unify the look and feel of its software across all of its devices.
The new wrist-flick gesture can be used to dismiss notifications that you want to address later. You can also use a flick of your wrist to mute incoming calls and silence timers and alarms.
Meanwhile, the new “Workout Buddy” is built with Apple Intelligence and is designed to motivate you based on your fitness history. It gathers data from your workout and analyzes this data to identify meaningful insights in real time. It provides you with encouragement, and a new text-to-speech model translates that encouragement into a dynamic, generative voice.
The Workout app has also been updated so it’s easier to access what you need. As soon as you start your run, Workout Buddy will kick things off with a pep talk.
Apple is also bringing the Notes app to the Apple Watch, which it says is perfect for when you want to save a quick note to yourself or view an existing note.
With watchOS 26, Apple Watch will also be able to intercept the ambient noise in your environment and automatically adjust the volume of incoming calls and notifications better.
The Apple Watch is also getting the Messages features that are coming to iPhone, such as Live Translation, with watchOS 26.
Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University.
