watchOS 26 Public Beta Released - Must-Know Features and Updates

In the early hours of June 9, 2025, Apple, as one of the top 10 best sports watch companies in the world, officially unveiled the latest generation of its Apple Watch operating system - watchOS 26 - at the WWDC 2025 conference. Marking a major upgrade for the Apple Watch system, watchOS 26 adopts a year-based naming convention for the first time, signaling a new chapter in its evolution. This update introduces the innovative “Liquid Glass” design language, resulting in a fresher and smoother interface, while significantly enhancing intelligent features to enrich personalization and health management capabilities.

Looking back, since watchOS 9, Apple has continuously improved fitness and health tracking, paving the way for even smarter functionalities. With watchOS 26, the company takes a bold step forward, much like the leap from watchOS 10 to WatchOS 11, which sparked many discussions comparing watchOS 10 vs 11 in terms of user experience and performance improvements. Among the highlights is the much-anticipated new fitness assistant, “Workout Buddy,” which offers users smarter and more attentive workout guidance to help improve exercise efficiency. Although some features rely on the broader Apple ecosystem and experiences may vary by region, overall, watchOS 26 promises a refreshed and improved user experience for Apple Watch owners.

Next, this article will provide a detailed overview of watchOS 26’s key new features, compatible devices, and step-by-step upgrade instructions to help you experience this system upgrade as soon as possible.

Liquid Glass Design - Enhancing Apple Watch’s Visual Quality and User Experience

watchOS 26 introduces Apple’s latest Liquid Glass design language, creating a crystal-clear, layered interface through high transparency and light refraction effects. Inspired by the “Solarium” style from Apple’s visionOS, this design aims to deliver a consistent, more tactile interaction experience across devices. Key interface elements - including Control Center, Smart Stacks, notification cards, and the digital display on the Photos watch face - feature smoother, more rounded icons and buttons, making interactions more intuitive and visuals more vivid.

Given the Apple Watch’s hardware and battery constraints, Liquid Glass’s real-time rendering is focused on essential UI components to ensure smooth performance while significantly enhancing visual texture and user experience. Compared to previous versions, watchOS 26’s design update improves content clarity and brings a more modern, premium aesthetic - showcasing Apple’s meticulous attention to detail and design on small screens. This design overhaul marks one of the most significant visual upgrades since iOS 7 and is well worth users’ anticipation.

Workout Buddy - Personalized Smart Fitness Coach Powered by Apple Intelligence

One of the standout features of watchOS 26 is Workout Buddy, Apple’s first intelligent fitness companion driven by Apple Intelligence. By analyzing real-time workout data and health history - such as heart rate, pace, distance, and activity ring progress - Workout Buddy delivers precise, personalized voice encouragement to help users achieve their fitness goals more effectively. While the Apple Watch itself has limited processing power, Workout Buddy leverages a connected iPhone for data processing, ensuring privacy and security while providing dynamic and energetic voice feedback.

Supporting multiple workout types including running, walking, cycling, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT), Workout Buddy offers timely motivation at key moments - reminding users of their current distance, pace changes, or newly reached milestones - and provides a performance summary after each session to encourage continued progress. Currently, this feature supports English only and requires Bluetooth headphones and an iPhone with Apple Intelligence support, with broader language and workout support expected in the future.

Workout App Upgraded - Smarter Customization and Music Experience

watchOS 26 brings a comprehensive upgrade to the Workout app, featuring a clearer layout and more intuitive navigation. Four new shortcut buttons allow users to quickly access key functions like Workout View, Custom Training Plans, Pace Monitoring, and Race Routes, greatly enhancing the personalization of workouts. At the same time, users can set up music and podcasts directly within the Workout app, while Apple Music intelligently recommends playlists tailored to the workout type and individual preferences to keep users motivated during exercise.

Additionally, the system suggests music and podcast recommendations based on users’ recent listening habits in specific workout modes, creating a richer and more personalized exercise atmosphere. These improvements transform the Workout app from a simple training tool into an intelligent companion that helps users stay committed to their fitness goals.

Smart Stack Upgraded - Proactive, Thoughtful Alerts with a More Vibrant Interface

watchOS 26 significantly enhances Smart Stack’s intelligence by leveraging additional sensor data and user habits to accurately predict and proactively deliver useful suggestions. For example, it may prompt the “Backtrack” feature when you’re offline or remind you of your workout routine when you arrive at the gym at your usual time. These alerts appear as subtle Liquid Glass-style icons - visible yet non-intrusive.

Moreover, Smart Stack now supports customizable widgets, allowing users to prioritize content from both Apple and third-party apps. This upgrade not only makes watch faces richer and more practical but also enables the Apple Watch to better understand you, becoming a smarter companion in your daily life.

Messages Gets Real-Time Translation and Smart Replies for Smoother Communication

watchOS 26 brings significant upgrades to Messages by introducing Apple Intelligence–powered real-time translation. Incoming messages are automatically translated into the user’s preferred language, and replies are instantly translated back to the recipient, enabling seamless cross-language conversations. For English users, the system can also intelligently recognize conversation context and suggest relevant actions like check-ins or Apple Cash payments, improving interaction efficiency.

Additionally, Apple Watch now syncs customized chat backgrounds from the iPhone for a more personalized messaging experience. The built-in language model makes smart replies more accurate, helping users respond quickly. iOS 26 expands real-time translation system-wide, supporting local translation across all apps to protect privacy, and opens APIs for third-party developers, greatly enhancing cross-language communication capabilities.

watchOS 26 Introduces New “Wrist Flick” Gesture for Effortless One-Handed Control

In watchOS 26, users of the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 gain access to a highly practical new feature  -  the “wrist flick” gesture. With a quick flick of your wrist, you can now dismiss notifications, silence incoming calls or alarms, return to the Home Screen, and more  -  all without touching the screen.

This gesture combines data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and on-device machine learning to enable more intuitive one-handed operation. Whether you're holding a coffee, walking your dog, or cooking, you can still interact with your watch seamlessly.

Together with the existing double-tap gesture, the Apple Watch becomes even more intelligent and adaptable  -  helping you get more done, even when your hands are full.

Note: The wrist flick gesture is exclusive to Apple Watch Series 9 and later models.

Practical Details Fully Upgraded, Experience More Thoughtful

watchOS 26 goes beyond headline features, bringing a series of thoughtful and practical updates that make the Apple Watch truly integrate into your daily life:

Notes App Arrives on Your Wrist

• Supports viewing, creating, pinning, and unlocking notes
• Allows you to capture ideas anytime using Siri, voice dictation, or keyboard input
• Reminders can be checked off directly, making work on the go more efficient

Smarter Phone Features

• Hold Assist: When calling customer service, the system automatically detects if a human operator is available and notifies you when connected
• Call Screening: For unknown numbers, it collects caller names and reasons in advance, giving you the info to decide whether to answer, helping avoid spam or missed important calls

Accessibility Optimized for Hearing Impaired

• Live captions now display synced subtitles of audio heard by your paired iPhone right on your Apple Watch
• Apple Watch can act as a remote to start, pause, or rewind Live Listen sessions, ensuring you don’t miss a word

More Heartfelt Photo Watch Faces

• Automatically detects meaningful moments in your photos and switches to display them
• Every wrist raise brings a unique, precious memory to life

Redesigned Watch Face Gallery

• Cleaner, clearer design with better categorization
• Supports favorites, grouping, and quick switching, so you can easily find your preferred watch face style

Supported Devices and Requirements for watchOS 26

Compatible Apple Watch Models: watchOS 26 supports Apple Watch Series 6 and later, including:

• Apple Watch SE (2022)
• Apple Watch Series 6, 7, 8, 9, 10(also check Apple Watch Series 7 Review, Apple Watch Series 8 review, Apple Watch Series 9 review and Apple Watch Series 10 Review)
• Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2

Feature Availability Differences

Some advanced features are exclusive to newer models:

• Apple Watch Series 9, 10, and Ultra 2 support Wrist Flick gestures, Smart Replies, Live Translation, and more.
• Series 6, SE(second generation), and Ultra do not support these features.

Device Pairing Requirements

• watchOS 26 requires an iPhone 11 or later running iOS 26 for full compatibility and optimal performance.

How to Upgrade to watchOS 26?

Join the Apple Beta Program

Visit the Apple Beta Software website, sign in with your Apple ID, and complete the registration to access the watchOS 26 public beta.

Check Device Compatibility

Make sure your Apple Watch is Series 6 or later, paired with an iPhone 11 or newer running iOS 26 or above.

Back Up Your Data

Before upgrading, back up your Apple Watch data using the Watch app on your iPhone. Keep the devices connected throughout the process to avoid data loss.

Prepare Your Devices

Ensure your Apple Watch has at least 50% battery and is connected to its charger. Both your iPhone and Apple Watch should be connected to a stable Wi-Fi network.

Download and Install watchOS 26

Open the Watch app on your iPhone, go to General > Software Update, select the watchOS 26 Public Beta, then tap Download and Install. Enter any required passwords and wait for the update to finish.

Manage the Installation Process

The installation may take 10 to 30 minutes. Your Apple Watch will restart automatically during the update. Keep your devices charged and connected, and do not interrupt the process.

Verify the Update

After installation, open the Watch app, navigate to General > About, and confirm that the watchOS version has been updated to 26.

Conclusion

One of the standout features of watchOS 26 is the new fitness assistant, Workout Buddy. By combining your workout data with your health history and leveraging Apple’s intelligent technology, it delivers real-time personalized voice encouragement to help you exercise more effectively. Although this smart feature is not yet fully available in mainland China, the update also brings a fresh “Liquid Glass” design language, improved notification management, real-time translation, and intelligent replies - significantly enhancing the overall Apple Watch experience.

Upgrading to watchOS 26 involves a few steps, but as long as you follow the proper process - backing up your data and keeping your device charged - the update goes smoothly. Supported Apple Watch users can easily get started and enjoy these innovative features right away, making their smartwatches more integrated into daily life and better at supporting health management.

As more features become available in the future, watchOS 26 will continue to enrich and personalize the intelligent lifestyle experience, becoming an essential companion for improving daily health and productivity.