With Liquid Glass, Workout Buddy & Wrist‑Flick Gestures, watchOS 26 Focuses on Intelligence

During its WWDC 2025, Apple announced watchOS 26, the newest version of its Apple Watch software, promising new looks and smart new features focused on health, communication, and daily convenience.

One of the highlight updates is the addition of Liquid Glass, a new design motif that applies smooth, see-through visual assets to the Apple Watch UI.

The fresh look improves the look of widgets, notifications, and the Control Centre, providing a smoother, newer look without losing usability. The Photos watch face has also been revised, now showing numbers formed of Liquid Glass to further complement users' own images.

Among the most notable additions is Workout Buddy, a virtual fitness assistant powered by Apple Intelligence. Drawing from personal metrics like heart rate, distance, and progress on Activity rings, it delivers spoken encouragement during exercise sessions.

For example, users might hear, “You’re 18 minutes away from closing your Exercise ring,” or, “That was your longest run this month.” The voice feedback is AI-generated, modeled after real voices from Fitness+ trainers.

Workout Buddy presently supports common exercises like running, walking, cycling, HIIT, and strength training. It is operational in English at present and needs to be used with a compatible iPhone and Bluetooth headphones.

The Workout app itself has also been overhauled for better navigation, with four prominent buttons to quickly access tools such as Race Route and Custom Workouts. Users are also able to associate audio playback with workout sessions so that music or podcasts will start automatically. Apple Music will provide expertly curated playlist recommendations based on the type of workout and users' listening history.

Another real-world advancement is the new "wrist flick" gesture. This allows users to easily dismiss alerts like calls, timers, or notifications with just a wrist movement—decoded by onboard sensors and AI.

In noisy environments, Apple Watch will now automatically adjust the volume on alerts so users remain informed without causing a disturbance.

Real-time translation is built into the Messages app, allowing real-time translation of messages you receive and send. It will work on the new Apple Watches when paired with supported iPhones.

Moreover, intelligent message suggestions now provide contextual actions—for instance, suggesting a Check In if someone invites you to alert them when you arrive or suggesting Apple Cash if a friend offers to chip in on a present.

The Smart Stack, a scrolling list of widgets, has been improved to provide more context-based suggestions from the user's habits, location, and recent history. For example, it might suggest opening a workout when entering a gym.

For on-the-go note-taking, the company has added the Notes app to the Apple Watch. It is now possible for users to view, pin, and take notes with either dictation or the on-screen keyboard. The Photos watch face has been enhanced to reveal more meaningful moments from the user's photo library.

Accessibility is also improved, with Live Listen now more easily controlled from the Watch. Users have control over listening sessions on their paired iPhone and are able to view live captions on the wrist, further supporting the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

Apple has introduced Hold Assist and Call Screening in the Phone app. Hold Assist alerts users when a support call switches from hold music to a live representative, while Call Screening enables users to screen out unknown callers by making them say their name and purpose before connecting the call.

watchOS 26 is already available to developers, with a public beta following next month. The formal release later in the year will be free for Apple Watch Series 6 and later models, including the second-generation SE and the Ultra. Certain features—specifically those based on Apple Intelligence—will need newer iPhones like the iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 series, however.

Apple has also pointed out that certain functionalities might not be supported in every language or geographic location and that last-minute details might change prior to public release.