Watchos 26 Public Beta lets you try out smarter training with personality, new and improved Apple Watch app

Apple is currently offering the first public beta for its next major update on the Apple Watch, the Watchos 26, ahead of its official fall release. While the biggest visual updates may appear to be limited liquid glass elements, the content of the Watchos 26 resides in how it integrates with Apple Intelligence for smarter training and more context-enabled communication. After putting together some updates, there are things that stand out so far.

watchos26? where are you going?

Watchos 26 is the 12th version of the Apple Watch operating system. At a high level, the new version is based on work that began with Watchos 10 in 2023 and continued with Watchos 11 in 2024. The naming convention is Watchos 12. (Apple has integrated each device operating system behind a single version number 26 this year to signal the year 2026, when each release is most used.)

Liquid glass design elements

This year, Apple has deployed a VisionOS-inspired redesign to each operating system, bringing some of the Apple Vision Pro’s visual flares to the rest of its product portfolio.

Watchos 26 has several uses of liquid glass design elements, such as smart stack widgets, control center tiles, passcode entries, navigation controls, and notification platters. Like the iPhone lock screen, Apple also includes the popular Liquid Glass Digital Clock option for photo viewing faces.

Structurally, the Watchos 10 offered the biggest redesign for the Apple Watch two years ago. The use of liquid glass on the Watchos 26 is a bit sparse if you spend most of your time looking at other watch faces. Future versions can benefit from having a number of liquid glass around the analog clock surface and a number of liquid glass on the digital clock surface.

For now, where liquid glass appears, the colour from the tiles in the Control Center spills on nearby tiles, adding charm to otherwise inactive and transparent areas. Passcode entries are also fun, returning to the round button design, with liquid glass effects instead of a square off version similar to the dial button on a phone.

Unlike the iPhone and iPad, the Apple Watch didn’t exist in the photorealistic era that ended with iOS 7. The limited locations where liquid glass appears in Watchos26 give you a little of that feeling without the absolute absurdity of rich skirmism.

Apple Intelligence adds charm and personality to your training experience

Apple has deployed a generic AI system to use a new feature called Torkout Buddy. Voice-driven coaching assistants analyze the history of your personal training in real time and provide contextual motivation. This includes everything from personalized PEP talk to pacing alerts while running. Choose from three synthesized voices trained with Apple Fitness+ Trainers.

Combined with a redesigned workout app layout (4-corner navigation for quick access to metrics, media, pacers and alerts), the fitness experience feels like a big focus on WatchOS 26.

However, the catch is that your training buddy will need to use an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone nearby to actually function. That’s understandable given the limited processing power and the unpredictable network conditions of the clock. Still, it is a clear goal for future hardware and software to make the training buddy standalone.

Personally, bringing a cell phone with you for outdoor or most indoor workouts isn’t a big deal. However, I prefer to run without an iPhone. And after nearly a decade of going without a phone on your phone, you don’t want to change it for your workout buddy.

The biggest part of the workout buddy is when it comes to providing milestone updates, such as taking 500 miles of hit this year or hitting a new personal record on a cycling ride. I also like the personalization and motivational punch that comes when a training buddy says he’s working out with the band or artist you’re playing. The training buddy is less impressive when reporting pace and miles period redundantly, such as “The past 12 minutes and 32 seconds pace was 12 minutes and 32 seconds.”

Smarter smart stacks and volume-friendly alerts

Thanks to the tips on smart stacks, smart stacks have evolved into a more context-conscious feature. When you realize that your clock is in a specific scenario, such as near the iPhone’s camera or in a dark environment, you can surface related widgets, such as by launching the camera’s remote control or tapping to open the flashlight.

Watchos 11 was already doing a good job of escaping related widgets into the smart stack, but only saw them when I swipe to display the vertical widget Carousel. Watchos 26 effectively pushes these suggestions to Watch Face. Like many intelligent features, it’s great when the system gets the suggestions right, but it’s a subtle touch to be grateful when it gets right. Smart stack tips are fleeting, so you can miss them while they are displayed, but Apple needs to balance it with temporarily vague content on the face of the watch.

Watchos 26 also introduces automatic volume adjustment. The Apple Watch can now evaluate ambient noise and adjust the notification volume accordingly. Many readers have muted their iPhones since the Apple Watch came out, and the Apple Watch has been muted in favor of haptic feedback for silent alerts.

I run this configuration frequently, but I enjoy and benefit from many of the tones associated with training and fitness. The Apple Watch has been improving in recent years with more tone configuration options. You can’t assign tones to specific contacts like the iPhone, but at least you can set a different tone for messages and emails.

Apple Watch speakers are also very large in recent hardware versions. This alone makes the smart volume adjustment useful if you’re not confused about your watch.

Messages and notes are meaningful upgrades

Live translation of messages powered by Apple Intelligence now allows you to automatically translate text and responses in real time. Smart replies also get boosted by improving context recognition and on-device processing.

The Apple Watch already benefits from notification overview when your iPhone uses the Apple Intelligence feature. It’s nice to bring the most of these AI benefits to the clock messaging app.

Additionally, the Notes app, which has full access to existing notes, Siri Dictation, pinning and smart stack integrations, is now reaching your Apple Watch for the first time.

As much as I can remember, I wanted some notes about my Apple Watch. Reminders can already display checklists, and some notes use the same format. The Apple Watch display has also been increasing in size over the years, adding a full software keyboard and drawing text entries.

In use, Notes apps are perfect for both browsing existing entries and for creating quick entries. One thing you can’t do is edit an existing note (aside from checking off items in the checklist). This is probably due to a design to avoid accidentally erasing important things. If so, the note should include a version history (something that has been missing for a long time) as a solution.

Future versions can also perform these as in GeoTag locations and include clock-specific data such as heart rate and health-related note step data.

Otherwise, the Notes app is very well featured. View pinned notes, appropriate formatting, foldable sections, and even small handwritten notes created using Apple Pencil on your iPad. I want to open and zoom these handwritten notes and tap to zoom, but I was impressed that they are visible in the notes on the first version of the Apple Watch.

Gesture controls are expanded with subtle list flicks

Watchos 26 is based on a new one-handed interaction: double tap gesture with a wrist flick. Easily flip your wrist over to reject notifications, silence your phone, or close the smart stack.

Double taps can already dismiss some things if they are prominent buttons like basic notifications. However, the new gestures are great for alerts with other notable actions, such as answering calls or replying to messages. I think the latter feature is more impressive, but I was able to see the wrist flick to reject the alert more than double tapping.

What you still want to see from the hands-free gestures is to open the notification center. It’s still an action I take regularly and requires free hands. Double taps open the smart stack from the watch face. I would like to see a gesture used for the smart stack and another in the notification center. Listflicks are generally intended to inform you that you are rejecting or closing something, but you can create an exception to open a notification center.

See Faith’s victory and failure

Three things about the face of your Apple Watch. Firstly, perhaps my favorite Watchos 26 change: More analog watch faces show the hand of the speeched seconds in constant on mode, including utility. This feature was limited to one existing face and two new faces when the Apple Watch Series 10 debuted. Apple includes support for the latest pride and face of unity, bringing support to five people. The Watchos 26 will not be universally available, but at least it is in many analog aspects that it presents a standard clock.

Secondly, Watchos 26 continues its trend that began with Watchos 11. Last year, Apple removed four clock faces and added two new faces. Newer versions of Pride and Unity were added later to bring us to Net Zero.

Watchos 26 goes further by removing five faces for no obvious reason. Last year, I haven’t cut my face on my Great Explorer Watch yet. The Apple Watch has far more local storage than I can ever fill. Monitoring is added by selection rather than pre-assigned by default. It’s very strange to me, especially for the following:

That’s a redesigned face gallery. For example, there was a list of newly added watch faces with several collections for pride and unity. For example, it currently has a large collection of beautiful faces, analog faces, data-rich faces, and more. This will increase the face of the watch and improve your discovery. However, the Watch Face list is shrinking instead (or at least it remains the same if the Apple Watch Series 11 adds three new options).

Apple has a color picker solution that presents the main color and current seasonal colors, while past color options are turned off by default and added by the user. Face pickers have already worked effectively this way.

shopestore take

Other features include allowing the workout app to automatically select Apple Music Playlists or Podcasts based on your training type, and call assist with phone assistance. Speaking of phones, you won’t be able to use other apps while making calls from your Apple Watch, but I’ve left something I’m looking forward to with Watchos 27 and above.

Overall, Liquid Glass Elements adds characters in ways that enhance the user experience, while Workout Buddy brings personalized feedback to the core Apple Watch experience. 26 12 versions.

Perhaps you can expect one or two (or three) to come to Watchos 26 when the final version is released. I hope these are digital and analog faces that show liquid glass on the face of the watch.

While Apple Intelligence features such as training buddies and live translations that require an iPhone are reasonable, achieving future device or server-based support should be a clear objective. The Apple Watch probably doesn’t need to run a full, big language model to enhance these features, and lightweight models are always more efficient and competent.

Ultimately, the Apple Watch should be the main interface for interacting with AI, whether it’s a model with a server or a Siri with another tool like ChatGpt or Claude. In particular, these work on all iPhones thanks to the server, regardless of Apple Intelligence support. This is how AI features on your Apple Watch work if your network connection is reliable enough. I would certainly be willing to try an existing cellular model (or a wifi/iPhone network connection).

Other changes include live listening controls with live captions for accessibility, configurable control center tiles that really shine with the new WatchOS 26 app, background image support, and smart actions for messages such as finding locations and checking in, using configurable widgets to customize apps like Weather with smart stacks.

The Watchos 26 on Apple Watch supports Series 6 and later, SE 2 and Ultra models. You will need a pair of iPhones with iOS 26. The public beta version is currently on sale and is expected to be released in September. Sign up to start your test here.