Apple introduces watchOS 27 with Siri AI and improved design
At its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple unveiled watchOS 27 alongside iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, tvOS 27, and visionOS 27. The update arrives this fall for Apple Watch Series 9 or later, Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Ultra 3, and Apple Watch SE 3—when paired with a nearby iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence features.
Siri AI comes to Apple Watch
watchOS 27 brings the new Siri AI experience directly to the wrist, complete with a dedicated Siri app. The assistant now keeps track of your past conversations, making follow-ups more natural and reducing the need to repeat yourself. The new dynamic app grid highlights Siri-suggested apps—your most popular and most recent—so the right tool is easier to find when you need it, while the Siri app remains front and center for quick access.
Fitness and health get smarter
Workout Buddy expands in meaningful ways. It’s now available in Spanish and delivers deeper insights into your training, including progress toward your target pace, total distance, and workout duration. Runners and walkers also benefit from improved indoor tracking accuracy, helping treadmill and indoor track sessions feel more precise.
- New insights: Monitor pace, distance, and duration progress right from your wrist.
- Enhanced accuracy: Better tracking for indoor runs and walks.
- Smart Stack improvements: Open the Smart Stack with one hand using a simple single-tap gesture, and see more relevant widgets appear exactly when they’re useful.
Beyond workouts, watchOS 27 adds expanded menstrual health support, offering more comprehensive tracking and insights to help users stay informed about their cycles.
Refined design and core apps
Apple is bringing its Liquid Glass design refinements to watchOS 27, aligning the Apple Watch’s interface with visual updates seen in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. While the customizable transparency control present on other platforms doesn’t carry over to the watch, the overall polish and consistency are improved. The Find My app also arrives on watchOS, giving you more native control over locating items and devices from your wrist.
Context when calling, faster music, and better battery tips
Call Context in watchOS 27 mirrors the experience introduced on iOS 27. When you place a call to a business, relevant information from your apps can surface automatically, helping you get what you need faster. Music playback now starts more quickly on Apple Watch, cutting down on delays when you press play. You’ll also see proactive battery optimization suggestions to help extend time away from the charger without heavy lifting on your part.
For activity tracking, the Fitness app’s step count now syncs with the Health app’s steps, improving consistency across Apple’s ecosystem and reducing discrepancies between devices.
Wallet and family features
The Wallet app in watchOS 27 gains the ability to create custom passes for membership cards that use QR codes or barcodes, making it easier to keep everything you need at the gym, club, or local shop in one place. Additionally, Apple is simplifying family setup: you can now set up an Apple Watch for your kids even if they don’t have their own iPhone, making communication, location sharing, and activity tracking more accessible for families.
Availability
watchOS 27 will be available this fall for Apple Watch Series 9 and newer models, Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Ultra 3, and Apple Watch SE 3. Some features—particularly those powered by Apple Intelligence—require a compatible iPhone nearby to function.
With Siri AI at the forefront, refined design, deeper fitness insights, and quality-of-life upgrades across Wallet, Find My, and media playback, watchOS 27 aims to make Apple Watch feel faster, more helpful, and more personal throughout the day.
