Your Apple Watch is about to feel (and look) a lot fresher. Apple just gave us a sneak peek at its latest software update, WatchOS 26, during the Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California. The update brings a redesigned Liquid Glass interface to match the look of Apple's other updated systems, smarter fitness tracking with the help of Apple Intelligence and a few unexpected announcements, such as a new unseen workout partner.
Why WatchOS 26 and not WatchOS 12, which would have been the next incremental version number? Apple decided to blanket all of its system updates with 26 (as in 2026, like car models) to unify the numbering of iOS, MacOS, iPadOS, TVOS and VisionOS. The jump may seem confusing at first, but it actually saves us from the ongoing headache of trying to remember which version is the latest. Now, it's just 26 across the board. It's a small but surprisingly helpful change that finally brings some much-needed consistency to the Apple ecosystem.
Here's a rundown of everything coming to your wrist this fall.
Liquid Glass design and interface
All of Apple's platforms are getting a dramatic new look, thanks to a new UI design language called Liquid Glass. Inspired by the look and feel of VisionOS on the Vision Pro, the update continues Apple's push toward a unified experience across devices with smoother, more consistent navigation. On the Apple Watch, this translates to increased translucency that lets more content shine through on the small screen, such as when the Smart Stack or Control Center are visible over the watch face.
Liquid Glass makes interface items such as the Smart Stack translucent.
Rounded icons with bouncy animations fluidly morph into the edges of the display. In some cases, the redesign extends to the apps themselves, like Messages, which can use photo backgrounds instead of black. The workout app also gets a simplified interface that's easier to navigate to create customized workouts and set goals.
Redesigned rounded icons on WatchOS 26.
New fitness features to keep you on your toes
Workout Buddy has entered the chat. One of Apple's most important fitness updates is a new Apple Intelligence-powered personal trainer designed to speak real-time, actionable insights during your workouts. It pulls from your historical fitness data -- including pace, miles logged, activity rings, and training load -- to offer meaningful suggestions and keep you motivated throughout your session.
On a run, this might sound like a pep talk during your warmup, milestone check-ins along the route, nudges to pick up the pace and a cooldown summary that helps put your performance into context. The coaching is delivered via voice prompts, so you'll need a Bluetooth headset connected to your Apple Watch. You can even choose a different voice style based on one of the Fitness Plus trainers.
Since it's based on Apple Intelligence, the Workout Buddy feature requires an iPhone 15 or later paired to your watch, and it will initially support eight types of exercises at launch.
The Apple Watch has a new AI-powered Workout Buddy that uses your personal metrics to give you insights live as you go.Â
Live translations
Another Apple Intelligence feature coming to the Apple Watch is Live Translations. It's the same feature arriving on iPhone with support for FaceTime, voice calls and messages, but on the Apple Watch, it's text-only. The existing Translate app can translate a sentence and then speak the result, but not as a dynamic conversation, the way Live Translations can.
You'll see both the original message and the translated response on screen in real time, one right below the other. It's launching with support for nine languages, and it works even if the person you're talking to isn't using an Apple device.
Smart Stacks
The Smart Stacks from your front page are about to get smarter, with better recommendations that help prioritize the information cards you want to see at a glance. This includes predicting actions that will be useful to you based on your trends, like floating a weight training workout widget when it detects you've entered the gym. It can also float a widget to start the Backtrack navigation feature if you've hiked off the grid and might need help getting back to your starting point.
The Smart Stack gets the Liquid Glass treatment and reports vital information as you need it.
New wrist flick gesture
The Apple Watch is getting more gesture control with a flick gesture that can be used to do things hands-free, like mute a call, dismiss a notification or snooze an alarm. This is in addition to the existing double-tap gesture that you can use for navigation control.Â
Flick your wrist to clear notifications.
Other featuresÂ
The smarter watch features extend beyond just Smart Stacks and can also be used to interpret your environment to adjust things like speaker volume according to ambient noise around you.Â
And another iPhone feature coming to the watch is the Notes app -- which seems like a late addition. You'll now be able to access all your notes or create new ones directly from your wrist.Â
What about battery life?
We were hoping WatchOS 26 would bring a battery boost to the Apple Watch with a more efficient battery saving (like Adaptive Power in iOS) or sleep mode, but there was no reference to anything battery-related at the keynote. They also didn't mention whether the newest update would have a negative impact on battery life, so we'll have to wait and see the real battery impacts when the final version is released.
The developer beta of WatchOS 26 is available now, with a public beta expected to roll out mid-July. The official release will land later this fall alongside the next Apple Watch and iPhone after Apple's September launch event and will run on Apple Watch Series 6 models and later. In the meantime, be sure to check out all our WWDC coverage, including everything new coming to the iPhone with iOS 26, as well as updates for the Mac, iPad and Vision Pro.