Use new features of Apple Watch for free. Over 10 new features of watchOS 26 official version worth trying

Apple officially released the official versions of systems such as iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe, and watchOS 26 in the early morning of September 16. Among them, watchOS 26 also brings a brand - new Liquid Glass design language and makes multiple detailed improvements.

Sspai has compiled the new features and characteristics worth paying attention to in the new system for you. Whether you want to know what new features the new system has after upgrading, or you're still hesitating whether to upgrade, this article can help you.

If you want to know whether your device can be upgraded to the new system, you can check on the official website of watchOS 26. According to the information provided by the Apple official website, watchOS 26 supports Apple Watch Series 6 (2020) and later products. In addition, watchOS 26 needs to be paired with an iPhone 11 or later model upgraded to iOS 26.

Brand - 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 perspective and reflection effects of the glass, devices with larger batteries and stronger performance such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro can handle it. However, the relatively weaker S - series chips and smaller batteries of Apple Watch are not suitable for large - area use.

Specifically, watchOS currently introduces 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 the app;
• The notification cards and buttons in the Notification Center.

In addition, for some photo watch face clocks with a light - colored background, the effect of Liquid Glass may not be so obvious. But generally speaking, the effect of Liquid Glass is most obvious on watch faces with obvious color segmentation layers (such as the horizon, the sea - sky line, etc.) or obvious main bodies (people, pets, etc.).

Wrist - Flipping Gesture

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

The "wrist - flipping" gesture is very simple to operate: just rotate your wrist outward, and you can mute incoming calls, mute timers, or close notifications.

But more importantly, the operation of rotating your wrist outward and flicking it 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 by flipping your wrist. 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 applicable to Apple Watch Series 9 and later models, as well as Apple Watch Ultra 2, and does not support other older models of Apple Watch and all Apple Watch SE.

More Complete Control Center

The Control Center of watchOS 26 not only gets a new Liquid Glass design but also becomes more complete in terms of functions. 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 for access is provided, making it more like the complete Control Center 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 new control buttons for accessibility features, home accessories, new memos, etc., and you can also add buttons for third - party apps such as Home Assistant, which is much more rich and practical than before.

Fitness App: UI Update

On watchOS 26, the UI layout of the Fitness app has also been updated. Compared with the previous stacked card arrangement, the current fitness programs are displayed full - screen, and new buttons are added in the four corners, making it convenient for you to call commonly used functions before starting a workout and customize the workout details more comprehensively.

Of course, Apple also knows that no matter how rich the fitness functions are and how accurate the data acquisition is, if you don't start exercising, these functions are in vain. To encourage you to get up and exercise, watchOS 26 has launched a "Xiaoguo Tongxue" (Workout Buddy) in regions where Apple Intelligence is supported.

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 remind you how much of your goal is left to complete.

Moreover, when you reach an important workout milestone, Workout Buddy will also 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, Workout Buddy requires the assistance of Apple Intelligence. That is to say, Workout Buddy is currently a feature that is not available in mainland China and may only be used 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 app that we can use. On watchOS 26, you can directly select music and podcasts in the Fitness app, and they will automatically play 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

Perhaps you've been distracted by Apple Watch notifications in places that require quiet, such as libraries, classrooms, and movie theaters. Sometimes you may forget to turn on mute, and the sudden "ding" on your 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 and improves 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 widget cards you add yourself, the prompt function of the Smart Stack will be displayed with the Liquid Glass design.

Memo App on Apple Watch

Since the birth of the iPad, it took Apple 14 years to solve an "epic problem" in iPadOS 18: how to create a unique and extraordinary calculator for the iPad. On watchOS 26, Apple has also solved an "epic problem" that has persisted for 10 years: the Memo app has come to the Apple Watch.

However, the Memo app on watchOS 26 is not significantly different from those on other devices. Moreover, using the keyboard to create or modify long memos on the small screen of the watch is rather cumbersome. In contrast, the Memo app on the Apple Watch is more of a new access entry, which is convenient for us creators to record ideas temporarily using voice.

Major Architecture Upgrade

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

In the new watchOS 26, Apple migrates three products, 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, which is specifically optimized for wearable devices such as the 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 intensive and complex calculations, provides a fundamental basis for the Apple Watch to run more powerful apps, and can also save energy. It is also more unified with the development tools and operating environments used on other Apple operating systems.

Of course, since there are still a large number of Apple Watch apps built on arm64_32, the three Apple Watch models with architecture upgrades will run these apps through a compatibility layer. At the same time, since watchOS 26 still supports older models such as Apple Watch Series 6/7/8 and Apple Watch SE 2nd generation, Apple has not completely abandoned arm64_32 for now. However, Apple has been encouraging Apple Watch app developers to switch to the pure 64 - bit architecture to obtain the best performance and be compatible with future products.

It is believed that as older models of Apple Watch are gradually phased out by the new system, support for arm64_32 will inevitably decrease in the next few years and will eventually completely switch to the arm64 architecture.

Other iPhone - Connected Related Functions

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

Live Captions

Like other systems in the 26 series, watchOS 26 also supports live captions, but only for messages. After all, it doesn't have FaceTime calls, and it's not realistic 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.