The first public beta version of watchOS 26 is here. These new features are worth trying out.

Recently, Apple finally released the first public beta version of watchOS 26. In addition to adopting the Liquid Glass similar to other platforms, watchOS 26 also brings many functional improvements. As in previous years, SSPAI has also compiled the notable new features in watchOS 26 for you, hoping to help you preview the new system in advance.

It's important to note that, unlike iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which can be reflashed by yourself when there are issues such as update failures or serious usability problems, you can't roll back the watchOS after an update. In case of any problems during the update, you need to take your watch to the official after - sales service and can't reflash it by yourself.

New Design

Compared with other OS 26, watchOS 26 has relatively few "allocations" of the Liquid Glass design. Perhaps because Liquid Glass requires real - time calculation of the transparency and reflection effects of the glass, devices with larger batteries and stronger performance like iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro can handle it. However, the S - series chips with weaker performance and smaller batteries in Apple Watch are not suitable for large - scale use.

Specifically, watchOS has introduced Liquid Glass in several common or important interfaces:

• The numbers on the photo watch face;
• The icons in the Control Center;
• The clock and cards in the Smart Stack interface;
• The control buttons in apps;
• The notification cards and buttons in the Notification Center.

Through my actual tests, I found that not all photo watch face clocks will be displayed in the Liquid Glass style. Generally, watch faces with obvious color segmentation layers (such as the horizon, the sea - sky line) or obvious main subjects (people, pets) are more likely to have Liquid Glass. If the pictures have large areas of the same color and no obvious main subjects, they will still be displayed in the original frosted style.

Clock numbers with Liquid Glass effect | Image source: Apple Newsroom

The restrained use of Liquid Glass in watchOS 26 also means that many design languages from the old watchOS still exist. Coupled with the pure - black background used in many interfaces on watchOS, the Liquid Glass design doesn't look as stunning as in other systems.

Wrist - Flipping Gesture

Compared with Liquid Glass, I think this is the most useful update in watchOS 26. In the past, Apple Watch already had gestures like covering the watch face to mute and pinching two fingers as "confirmation" and "next" operations, but there was no "back" or "exit" gesture. Finally, in watchOS 26, this gesture has been added.

The "wrist - flipping" gesture is very simple to operate: just rotate your wrist outward, and you can mute incoming calls, timers, or close notifications. More importantly, rotating your wrist outward is very intuitive for the "back" operation, and it can actually be used in any app interface to return to the clock or app list page. Now, when your right hand is occupied, such as when you're drinking coffee or holding your phone, you can still have more complex interactions with your Apple Watch.

Image source: Apple Newsroom

You can find the setting switch for the wrist - flipping gesture in "Settings > Gestures". However, the wrist - flipping back gesture is only available for Apple Watch Series 9 and later models, as well as Apple Watch Ultra 2. It doesn't support other older Apple Watch models and all Apple Watch SE models.

More Complete Control Center

The Control Center in watchOS 26 not only gets a new Liquid Glass design but also becomes more functional. In previous versions of watchOS, the customizability of the Control Center was limited to the few buttons provided by the system. In watchOS 26, the permissions are opened, and an API is provided, making it more similar to the complete Control Centers on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

After clicking "Customize" at the bottom, you can add new buttons by clicking the "+" sign in the upper - left corner. You can add controls for new accessibility features, home accessories, and new notes, as well as buttons for third - party apps like Home Assistant, which is much more rich and practical than before.

Fitness Workout: UI Update and "Xiaoguo" to Assist Your Fitness

On watchOS 26, the Fitness Workout app has also updated its UI layout. Compared with the previous stacked card arrangement, the current fitness workout items are displayed full - screen, and new buttons are added in the four corners, making it convenient for you to call common functions before starting your workout and customize the workout details.

Of course, Apple also knows that no matter how rich the fitness functions are and how accurate the data is, if you don't exercise, these functions are in vain. To encourage you to get up and exercise, watchOS 26 brings you a "Xiaoguo": Workout Buddy.

Workout Buddy will combine your workout data and fitness history, and based on data such as your heart rate, pace, distance, and important fitness milestones during the workout, it will provide you with personalized voice encouragement and feedback. For example, when you're about to start running, Workout Buddy will give you a word of encouragement and remind you of the distance you've run this week or how much of your goal is left.

Moreover, when you reach an important workout milestone, Workout Buddy will come out to congratulate you and tell you your current workout data, such as your heart rate and pace. It might even say, "Wow! This is your fastest run in the past month."

Currently, Workout Buddy supports English and will continue to expand to multiple languages in the future. In terms of workout types, Workout Buddy covers popular outdoor/indoor running, walking, outdoor cycling, HIIT, and traditional strength training.

However, "Xiaoguo" requires Apple Intelligence support. That is to say, Workout Buddy is currently a feature that is not available in Mainland China. You may be able to use it after Apple Intelligence is released in the future.

Although we don't have access to Workout Buddy for now, there is another feature in the Fitness Workout app that we can use. On watchOS 26, you can directly select music and podcasts in the Fitness Workout app, and they will play automatically when the workout starts. Moreover, Apple Music can select the most suitable playlist for you based on the workout type you choose and your personal preferences.

Automatic Volume Reduction

Maybe you've been distracted by Apple Watch notifications in quiet places like libraries, classrooms, and movie theaters. Sometimes, you may forget to turn on silent mode, and the sudden "ding" from the watch can also disturb others.

After upgrading to watchOS 26, Apple Watch can automatically adjust the external volume for notifications, timers, alarms, incoming call rings, etc., according to the ambient volume around you, reducing the interference to you or others. This feature can only be experienced on Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Proactive Smart Stack Prompts

watchOS 26 optimizes the Smart Stack function. By combining more context data, sensors, or your daily usage habits, it proactively provides you with more practical operations. For example, when you open the camera on your iPhone, a camera shutter card will automatically pop up; when you're in a remote area without network connection, it will prompt you whether to use the "Backtrack" function.

To distinguish it from the widgets you add yourself, the Smart Stack prompt function will be presented in the Liquid Glass design.

BTW, the clock numbers on this photo watch face don't have the Liquid Glass effect.

Memos on Apple Watch

Since the birth of the iPad, it took Apple 14 years to solve an "epic problem" on iPadOS 18: how to create a unique and outstanding calculator for the iPad. On watchOS 26, Apple has also solved a 10 - year - long "epic problem": the Memos app has come to Apple Watch.

However, the Memos app on watchOS 26 isn't significantly different from those on other devices. Moreover, it's not practical to use the keyboard to create or edit long memos on the small screen of the watch. Instead, the Memos app on Apple Watch is more like a new access point for us creators to record our creative ideas temporarily using voice.

Major Architecture Upgrade

As early as 2013, Apple launched the first 64 - bit mobile processor, Apple A7. Five years later, in iOS 11, 32 - bit apps were completely phased out. Now, such a major architecture change has also come to Apple Watch.

In the new watchOS 26, Apple migrates Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 from the previous arm64_32 architecture to the standard arm64 architecture.

The arm64_32 architecture is a special modified version of arm64, specifically optimized for wearable devices like Apple Watch, allowing them to take advantage of the 64 - bit instruction set in a smaller memory environment.

The standard arm64 architecture has stronger performance and better compatibility. It enables watchOS to perform more heavy and complex calculations, provides a foundation for Apple Watch to run more significant apps, saves energy, and is more unified with the development tools and running environments used on other Apple operating systems.

Of course, since there are still a large number of Apple Watch apps built on arm64_32, these three Apple Watch models with architecture upgrades will run these apps through a compatibility layer. Meanwhile, since watchOS 26 still supports older Apple Watch Series 6/7/8 and Apple Watch SE 2nd generation, Apple hasn't completely abandoned arm64_32 yet. However, Apple is encouraging Apple Watch app developers to switch to the pure 64 - bit architecture to get the best performance and be compatible with future products.

It's believed that as older Apple Watch models are gradually phased out by the new system, support for arm64_32 will gradually decrease in the next few years and will eventually be completely replaced by the arm64 architecture.

Other iPhone - Dependent Features

Actually, there are many new features on watchOS 26, but they all depend on the connection to an iPhone and Apple Intelligence.

Live Captions

Like other 26 - series systems, watchOS 26 also supports live captions, but only for messages. After all, it doesn't have FaceTime calls, and it's not practical to display large - scale phone translation text on such a small screen, so only messages are supported. The specific functions are the same as those on other systems, so there's no need to go into details here.