The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 have new Audio Intelligence features that include Sound Recognition, Music Recognition, Live Rewind, and Siri Recap. When these features are activated, the new Apple Watches are always listening to what's going on around the wearer.


With ‌Siri‌ Recap, the Apple Watch listens to your conversations throughout the day and takes notes. It uses Apple Intelligence to continually generate summaries that Apple says are meant to "jog your memory" on events so you can stay present in the moment.

Apple anticipated negative reactions to a wearable that's always listening, so it has a detailed explainer on the privacy features that have been added.

• No speaker attribution - ‌Siri‌ Recap will not identify and attribute speakers. Names can be included if mentioned in the conversation, but nothing is directly attributed to a specific person.


• Omitted information - ‌Siri‌ Recaps will omit potentially harmful content or sensitive data, which Apple says includes language that promotes self-harm or hateful speech, financial data, government-assigned identifiers, authentication data, and certain personal identifiers.


• Caveats - Apple warns that ‌Siri‌ Recap summaries can be incomplete or inaccurate, and filtering may not remove all sensitive information.


• No transcript - Apple says ‌Siri‌ Recap doesn't produce a full transcript of a conversation. It's just a summary, comparable to notes one might jot down after a conversation.


• Condensed conversations - Encrypted, condensed text versions of a conversation are sent to Private Cloud Compute. The text is less than half the length of the original transcript, and distills the conversation to its core meaning. Conversation tone, non-essential language, filler words, and redundancies are removed.


• No audio recording - Audio is sent to the Secure Exclave on Apple Watch and iPhone for processing and analysis. It can't be accessed by the operating system, apps, the user, or Apple, and no audio is recorded or stored.


• Private Cloud Compute - ‌Siri‌ Recap uses Apple Foundation Models running on Private Cloud Compute to summarize and format the final output. Data is not accessible to Apple or anyone else.


• Opt in, not opt out - ‌Siri‌ Recap can be turned on in the Apple Watch app on iPhone, and set to listen on a schedule. You can have it on only at work, or set it to never listen at night. There will be a quick access toggle in Control Center for turning it on and off.


• Auto-delete - Summaries auto-delete after seven days if not saved to the ‌Siri‌ app.


• Siri app - Summaries are saved to the ‌Siri‌ app and can be deleted at any time from all synced devices. Saved summaries can be exported to other apps like Notes.


• Encryption - Summaries are end-to-end encrypted when synced to your other devices via iCloud so only your trusted devices can access them.

Apple suggests that Apple Watch wearers "be mindful" of the people around them. "While audio is not recorded and stored, and no speakers are attributed, consider those around you where conversations might be private or sensitive," reads Apple's document.

‌Siri‌ Recap requires one of the new Apple Watch models and an iPhone 16 or later (except the iPhone 16e). The feature is launching later this year.
This article, "Apple Explains What Happens to Conversations Siri Recap Hears" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Apple:

Audio Intelligence is a brand-new class of Apple Intelligence features that use the microphones of Apple Watch, the power of Apple silicon, and on-device and cloud-based AI models to help you detect sounds, identify music, and stay present and engaged — all while protecting your privacy at every step.

Hartley Charlton:

• Siri Recap: Uses ambient listening to generate high-level notes from conversations, such as takeaways from a team meeting or a parent-teacher conference, producing an Apple Intelligence-generated title, summary, and key points reviewable in the Siri app.
• Live Rewind: Lets users “go back in time for 15 seconds,” transcribing and displaying what was just said in a conversation with a double press of the Digital Crown.
• Shazam: Automatically identifies music playing nearby and surfaces the song title and artist on the Music Recognition widget in the Smart Stack.
• Sound Recognition: Brings sound alerts to Apple Watch for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, listening for sirens, alarms, doorbells, a baby crying, and more, even when their iPhone isn’t nearby.

Lily Hay Newman:

Apple is emphasizing that all of them are built to prioritize privacy and security using the extensive infrastructure the company has developed to protect its other Apple Intelligence and Siri services. As more and more of these types of features debut, though, the audio intelligence announcements are a reminder that AI-powered tools are becoming increasingly universal in all areas of computing and life.

“These features do not create or store audio recordings, and raw audio used for processing is completely inaccessible to the operating systems, apps, the user, or Apple,” the company wrote in a report shared with WIRED.

[…]

Apple emphasizes that its on-device capabilities for Apple watches have expanded thanks to the company’s new S11 chips. The chips include a special memory-protected space that Apple calls the Secure Exclave. Designed specifically for sensor data, the exclave is an isolated buffer that is inaccessible to the rest of the operating system where Apple Watch can hold and process audio data in a protected space.

[…]

To try to mitigate blatant privacy violations, Apple says that the watch produces an audible chime when a watch owner initiates a Live Rewind transcript to alert other people in the area—even if it is on silent mode or paired with headphones. And the features are built to omit or filter out potentially identifying information about speakers. But the sheer scope and breadth of the tools is extremely noteworthy.

Zac Hall:

If you want to really take a deep dive on privacy and the new features, Apple has published an 11-page privacy paper that goes even further.

Previously:

• Apple Watch Ultra 4
• Apple Watch Series 12
• Pebble Index

Update (2026-09-11): Dr. Drang:

Ron Huang introduced a couple of features of the Series 12 and Ultra 4 that struck me as both disturbing and possibly illegal. They certainly seem at odds with Apple’s commitment to privacy.

[…]

I’m sure Apple will argue that there’s no privacy issue because the recordings aren’t being saved. But if there’s a transcription, isn’t that a type of saving?

And then there’s the question of legality. A great variety of law, both in the United States and across the world, concerns the recording of electronic and in-person conversations. I’m sure Apple has considered this, but I have to think some jurisdictions will frown on Live Rewind. If Apple has to defend it, that’s fine. What’s one more squadron of lawyers to Apple? But if an Apple Watch owner has to defend a transcription made innocently—made with Apple’s encouragement, in fact—that seems like an unfair burden. Maybe Apple should indemnify all future Watch buyers from privacy-related legal action.

[…]

The hoops Apple jumped through to avoid certain words is pretty funny. […] You think your watch records the audio around you? No no no. The audio flows into the Secure Enclave, and flowing is definitely not recording because it’s a different word.

Juli Clover:

Live Rewind and other Audio Intelligence features do not generate audio recordings. Audio flows into the Secure Exclave, is processed, and then deleted.

According to Apple, Live Rewind text snippets “disappear permanently” from the Apple Watch approximately 30 seconds after the Apple Watch display dims, unless the info is saved to the Siri app.

Nick Heer:

But good luck explaining that to anyone around you after you read back an exact transcript of what they just said. Apple says they should be sufficiently notified Live Rewind is active because “an audible chime plays from the speaker on your Apple Watch, even if your Apple Watch is on silent or you have headphones connected”, plus the watch plays an animation, but it is not clear to me when this happens. It is not shown in Apple’s video. The impression I get is that Live Rewind is always running in the background and these notifications are only played after you double-click the Digital Crown to look at the text.

This feels like a glimpse of how Apple will market its inevitable wear-anywhere glasses product. I do not think it does enough to assuage privacy concerns. I think normal people will continue to react negatively when you tell them you have been passively recording them because, outside Silicon Valley, that is considered gross and invasive.

Saagar Jha:

I have to admit that the Siri Recap stuff all being “documented” using AI slop is really giving me confidence in the level of care that went into designing this feature

Matt Evans (Hacker News):

I’m frankly surprised Apple even went through with this feature at this time, considering the bans and backlash other AI-powered surveillance wearables are getting.

[…]

Apple is keen to evidence its trustworthiness, with on-device AI and Private Cloud Compute and an insistence that it doesn’t record or log audio and transcripts. However, if people think they’re being discreetly recorded without their permission, it’s possible Apple Watch wearers could experience their own slice of the abuse hurled at Meta Glasses wearers.

Dan Sugalski:

I… y’know, Betteridge’s law does, as always, apply.

Glenn Fleishman:

Given that Apple has to warn of this, it’s the surest sign the features shouldn’t be released in this form. Apple repeats the form of the warning I see regularly at my gym… but apparently it isn’t heeding it.

Jack Brewster:

Just called my HSA provider and upfront they say that calls may be recorded and transcribed by AI and then provide no means of opting out. So of course the person who finally answered says I have to give my social to verify my identity.

Update (2026-09-14): See also: Core Intuition and Steven Aquino.

Apple (video, MacRumors, Hacker News):

Engineered with the new Health Sensing System and S11 chip, Apple Watch Ultra 4 delivers the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable, higher-frequency heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) measurements, and a new readiness score to support athletes of all kinds. Apple Watch Ultra 4 also offers extended battery life to track outdoor workouts for up to 45 hours and the most accurate on-device GPS in a sports watch.

[…]

For everyday use, Apple Watch Ultra 4 now offers more than two days of battery life, up to 50 hours. In Low Power Mode, it offers up to 84 hours of battery life. Charging is now faster than ever: Just 15 minutes adds up to 18 hours of additional battery life.

[…]

The pedometer model has been completely redesigned with new machine learning algorithms and the S11 chip to provide more accurate distance measurements during indoor walk or run workouts, and more accurate step counts all day.

[…]

Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at $799.

pilif:

The Ultra 2 was sold to me as the watch that can do Siri without network connectivity. That was very useful to me to leave reminders for stuff I think about while on a run without the phone.

3 years later, Apple releases the OS 27 versions and Siri got improved to the point where it can’t work on-device any more on said Ultra 2

So to get the feature back which I paid for and which was specifically used to sell me the device and which now has been taken away from me, I just have to… buy the next hardware generation?

And how long will that last before they decide to remove the feature again?

Does it still work offline in the EU?

Previously:

• Audio Intelligence
• Health Sensing and Readyness
• Apple Watch Series 12
• No Siri AI in EU
• Siri AI Announced
• Dictating Literal Reminders to My Apple Watch
• Apple Watch SE 3
• Apple Watch Ultra 3
• EU iOS Envy
• Apple Watch Ultra 2
• The Disappointment of On-Device Siri

At today’s Surprise and Shine event, Apple introduced the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. Both models build on the devices’ existing designs, adding new health and fitness features as well as what Apple calls Audio Intelligence. The star of the Apple Watch show that powers those features on both models is the brand-new S11 chip. Let’s dig into the details of what the new chip and improved sensors means to both models.

Apple Watch Series 12

The new Apple Watch Series 12 comes in 42 and 46mm sizes and is equipped with the new S11 chip. Apple says that enables the device to take sixty times the heart rate measurements and 24x HRV readings compared to the Series 11 Watch. More heart rate measurements and HRV readings mean more accurate and meaningful readings; in fact, better than any other wearable on the market, according to Apple. Apple says step tracking is more accurate, too.

The Series 12 has improved sensors, too. There’s a larger, more power-efficient green LED array for measuring your heart rate every five seconds and a Secure Exclave for processing audio privately and securely. On the outside, the Series 12 features Ceramic Shield 2, making it tougher than the Series 11. The case is now IP6X rated for dust and can be used to six meters of depth. Plus, the battery is rated to last 24 hours during normal use and a 15-minute charge will power it sufficiently to last 12 hours.

HRV readings have been added to your overnight vitals statistics to provide a more complete picture of your health, and Apple has added daytime vitals which you can track during the day. The new health sensing features also enable Readiness, a daily score that uses your vitals to give you a sense of whether your body is ready for a big workout or whether you should take it easy.

The Series 12 comes in a wide array of finishes, too, including aluminum, titanium, and ceramic. The aluminum model comes in Dark Bronze, Light Gold, Black, and Space Gray. Titanium is polished and comes in Radiant Gold and Natural. Finally, Ceramic comes in Pearl White and Night Blue. Aluminum models start at $399, titanium at $699, and ceramic at $899. It’s great to see so many different choices and styles. We’ll have a separate story that covers Apple Watch bands and other accessories on the site soon.

With the richer data delivered by the S11 chip that powers Apple’s new Health Sensing System, the company revealed a wide variety of new software features, including:

• Live Rewind, which with a double press of the Digital Crown displays a transcript of the last 15 seconds of a conversation, allowing you to see what was spoken as text. The feature plays a chime and shows an animation when it’s activated.
• Siri Recap, which can be activated at all times, on a schedule, or on demand via Control Center and produces a summary of conversations.
• Sound recognition using on-device intelligence to detect alarms, a baby crying, sirens, and other sounds.
• Automatic song detection with Shazam.

It’s worth noting that Siri Recap and Live Rewind won’t be available until later this year.

The Series 12 looks to be a big step forward for the Apple Watch. Some years in the past have been hardware-focused, while others have leaned into new watchOS features. This year, users get both in what appear to be meaningful measures, which is great.

Apple Watch Ultra 4

Personally, I’m even more excited for the Apple Watch Ultra 4, which starts at $799. I love its battery life, which is getting even better this year, as well as the fitness features. The Ultra 4’s color options are far more limited than finishes available with the Series 12, with options for natural and black titanium. I realize the Ultra is a more utilitarian watch than the Series 12, but I still wish Apple would expand their case and band choices a little more.

That said, there are a lot of other features to like in the latest model. The battery life is now rated at 50 hours up from 45, and the Ultra benefits from the same chip and sensor improvements found in the Series 12. Plus, in Low Power mode, the Ultra 4 can last for as much as 84 hours, which is truly impressive. Fast charging enables 18 hours of battery life, which is something I know I’ll appreciate when I’m ready to run and find my watch battery nearly spent. The Extended Workout mode for runs, hikes, and walks can last for up to 45 hours, too.

Like the Series 12, the Ultra 4 incorporates the S11 chip and new sensors. That enables Readiness on the Ultra 4 and more meaningful heart rate and HRV readings. Audio Intelligence is part of the Ultra 4’s software story, too, with Live Rewind, Siri Recap, sound recognition, and automated Shazam results available too. So, as with past Ultra models, the big difference between the Ultra 4 and the Series 12 is the display size and battery life, which I expect will come in handy with the watch’s new capabilities.

Health

Finally, the iPhone’s Health app is being updated with a new design and incorporates the enhanced data collected by the new Apple Watch models. There will be a new Insights tab that provides health information based on the data stored in the app. Plus, Health will include a Longevity tab for longitudinal health data and a Health age calculation to give users a sense of their health relative to their age. It’s worth noting that the updated Health app, like Siri Recap and Live Rewind, won’t debut until later this year.

---

This is the first year in a long while that i’ve been excited about new Apple Watches. I’d convinced myself that this year would amount to small, incremental changes that wouldn’t justify an update for another year or two Instead, I immediately ordered the Apple Watch Ultra 4. I love the combination of more and better health readings, Readiness, and the new Health app, and I’m intrigued by what I can get out of Audio Intelligence in my day-to-day life. I’ll know soon enough I guess because mine arrives next Friday.

---

You can follow all of our September 2026 Apple event coverage through our September 2026 Apple Event hub or subscribe to the dedicated September 2026 Apple event RSS feed.