Dyson is known for doing the unexpected, and nothing in the brand's history has been quite as unexpected as its recent toothbrush launch. Well... perhaps the air-purifying headphones were more of a surprise. But still, this shift into oral care certainly wasn't on my 2026 bingo card.
The Dyson CameraJet launched earlier this month. A toothbrush like no other, this chunky device made headlines with its integrated camera and gap-targeting mouthwash squirter. However, the launch has been dogged somewhat by multiple reports of new gadget breaking almost immediately. The toothbrush is also showing as out of stock in multiple territories, including the US, UK and Australia.
Dyson has issued a response, which reads:
"We have had a very positive reaction to the new Dyson CameraJet and are experiencing strong demand globally. We are seeing some shortages of supply as we are in the process of scaling up production.
Additionally, we are aware that a small number of early batches of Dyson CameraJet products may have experienced a component issue. We are isolating those batches and are taking all the necessary steps to support our customers."
Rocky start aside, it's an impressive piece of engineering, and assuming Dyson gets those problems fixed, it has plenty going for it (our tester was impressed enough to award it four stars in our Dyson CameraJet review). I got a demo at the Dyson Unveiled event, where I also had a chance to chat to Jake Dyson — Chief Engineer at the brand, and son of founder James — about the new product's development process. Here are seven interesting things I learned about the new CameraJet...
For avoidance of confusion, I'll use 'Jake' to mean the person, and 'Dyson' when I'm referring to the brand.
1. It took six years to develop
Oral care is a brand new category for Dyson, and getting it market-ready was a lengthy process. That's partly because it needed to, in Jake's words, "work perfectly" before it could be launched. The core feature — a 100k pixel macro lens camera that identifies gaps in your teeth, and delivers a targeted jet of mouthwash directly at them — was particularly tricky to get right.
"We probably could have launched [the CameraJet] two years ago, but it wouldn't have hit every gap perfectly, and that's not acceptable," says Jake. "You know, if you bought it, and it missed the gaps, and didn't do its job, you'd be really disappointed. So, it's got to work properly."
(Image credit: Dyson)
Getting the design just right (in theory, at least...) was a complicated process. "It genuinely took six years to train that camera, because of the variations in people's mouths. It's highly complex," says Jake. "You've got saliva, you've got things moving in front of the camera, you've got dark, shade, light. It's so many things the machine learning has to account for."
He adds: "It's a bit like a driverless car when it snows. If it completely loses its environment, how do you control it?"
2. ...but it's a good job it did
"Six years ago, the camera, the chips that process within the machine, the compute power, probably would have been too expensive," says Jake. Luckily, within that lengthy development process, the cost of all those components dropped enough to make it feasible as a consumer product.
Relatively speaking, of course — it has a list price of $499.99 / £419.99 / AU$799, so its definitely more of an investment than your average toothbrush. Still, Jake is keen to impress that it's very much not your average toothbrush: "What you have there is essentially a $70,000 piece of lab equipment in a handheld consumer product."
3. The colors come from Dyson's beauty lineup
While it's a new product category, it's still very recognizably 'Dyson'. The brand Dyson has pulled its color combinations from its haircare gadget lineup. "The colors have come from our beauty products — so the hair dryers, the Airwraps. Because we think it's a beauty product too," says Jake.
At launch, there are two color combos to choose between. On the 'Ceramic Ultra Blue' version, the toothbrush is an electric blue inspired by Yves Klein — an artist brand founder James Dyson is a fan of. ("He wasn't allowed to use the same blue, but we created our own," reveals Jake.) There's also a 'Ceramic Pink' colorway, with a blush pink toothbrush.
(Image credit: Dyson)
Both have detailing in rose gold, and a heather purple dock. As well as being familiar to anyone who has seen Dyson's recent haircare launches, the colorways benefit from being different to what you'll generally see in the oral care aisle. "Other toothbrushes are white, or black, or a nasty pink," comments Jake. "So it's quite nice to do something different, and… you know you look at it and recognize it as Dyson because of the colors."
4. There are already follow-ups in the works
"If we're going to go into a new area, then we'll do that knowing that we've got more products behind it," says Jake. He confirms that they'll start with a roadmap of multiple products and plan for "expansion in that category, quite quickly".
When pushed on if there's another toothbrush in the works, he responds, "We'd be crazy not to." If I had to make a prediction, I'd bet that — assuming the current component issue is sorted speedily — a second-gen version will be announced and unveiled this time next year, at an IFA-adjacent Unveiled event at the start of September 2027.
5. It's trained on pictures of real mouths
The CameraJet needed to be able to recognize the inside of any mouth. "It's taken two years to train it through imagery and mouths from around the world," says Jake. Said photos came from "images and libraries and probably some dental records too", if you're interested.
While AI was — and continues to be — involved, it's not the same AI you're using when you fire up, say, ChatGPT. "When you go on ChatGPT on your mobile phone, you're using AI live. When you use a toothbrush, you're not," clarifies Jake. "It's in-built machine learning. We used AI to reference all of the images of mouths to train the machine."
The learning will continue as you use the toothbrush, too. "We [continue to] improve it. It trains itself to be even better the more you use it, so it understands your mouth," says Jake.
(Image credit: Dyson)
6. It'll know if you try and use a fake brush head
Dyson is — probably justifiably — concerned about copycats. "We obviously patent areas of the product, if we can patent them, to prevent [dupes]," Jake says. "But we do that in every product, and they always find a way. They find a way, but the product isn't as good."
He continues: "You may well see a toothbrush six months to a year with a camera in it that fires a jet. But does it hit the right bit? The gap between your teeth?"
Dyson is also guarding against third-party brushheads. "There is a chip [in the brushhead]," says Jake. "If there are fake brush heads, it will detect it. In the same way, if you put a fake battery in the vacuum cleaners, and put a fake attachment on our hair dryers, it will detect it."
That's a cost worth factoring in if you're thinking of investing. Replacement heads don't come cheap: a pair will set you back $29.99 / £25 / AU$49.
7. It is suitable for travel… honest
On the suggestion that the Dyson CameraJet might be considered too chunky to travel with, Jake is adamant it's completely fine. "It's definitely to be travelled with. There's a travel case that just slips over."
He also points out that if you're traveling with a tube of toothpaste and a bottle of mouthwash as well as your toothbrush, that's going to take up a fair amount of space. The CameraJet can be filled up with those things before packing. It's a fair point, but I'm still not convinced.
Dyson has included a travel case (right image), but the CameraJet is still chunkier than your average electric toothbrush (Image credit: Dyson)
8. Jake Dyson has personally road-tested it
Wondering if your teeth will work with the CameraJet? Jake says it can deal with all kinds of troublesome teeth... including his own. "I've been cleaning my teeth on a number of devices intermittently for about three months. I have very tight teeth in the back. So raspberry seeds, or Parma ham… They get stuck right there. And [the CameraJet] just blasts it out. It's really good."
In fact, his only real word of warning is the surprise you might get from seeing your molars captured on camera for the first time. "It is quite shocking seeing inside your mouth," he smiles.
Garmin’s Forerunner 170 is a solid running watch that brings great performance and smart features, all in a light and small package, and I particularly loved the Music version for phoneless short runs and activities. The watch was even found to be very accurate, according to my colleague Matt Evans’ testing.
Featuring a more accurate dual-band GPS technology, 13 days of battery life, more size options and on-watch music storage, the Forerunner 265 is hard to beat for just AU$498.
The Garmin Forerunner 265 was the first small Forerunner model with a touchscreen AMOLED display, replacing its predecessor’s monochrome memory-in-pixel display, to make it look and feel similar to something like an Apple Watch or a Samsung Galaxy Watch.
It also features dual-band or multi-frequency GPS for high-precision tracking in dense cities or heavy tree cover, which is technically superior to the Forerunner 170’s single-frequency multi-GNSS tracking.
The 170 is only available in the single 43mm size, while the 265 comes in 46mm and the smaller 265S is 42mm, providing more options for different wrist sizes.
The biggest criticism from our reviewer is the Forerunner 265’s price hike over its predecessor, and slightly worse battery life, which can be credited to the switch to an AMOLED display, but this discount takes care of the former in spades.
Fall is moving in, a new school term is underway, and whether you're heading out and about on campus or just facing down your regular commute under altogether colder, darker conditions, now feels like a really good time to invest in a quality insulated drinks container.
Luckily, Amazon has obliged with some excellent discounts on on-the-go mugs and bottles from usually-pricey, top-quality brands like Hydro Flask and Yeti. The deals vary and they're not on every color or every size, but I've combed through the different options to find the best bargains, and rounded them all up for you below. I've also grouped them by color, so you can pick the one that suits your fall vibe.
I have a Yeti coffee cup and tumbler at home, as well as an insulated Hydro Flask bottle and cup. Before you ask, I don't have a problem — I used to review outdoors kit for my job, and I picked up all of these during that time. The mugs are all in near-constant use as soon as the weather is cool enough for hot drinks, and I can vouch for their quality and reliability.
A rainbow of deals
Hydro Flask
Water Bottle 32oz, Indigo Blue
Hydro Flask
Coffee Mug 12oz, Indigo Blue
Hydro Flask
Water Bottle 40oz, Beachplum Purple
Hydro Flask
Hot Flask & Cup 36oz, Beachplum Purple
Hydro Flask
Water Bottle 32oz, Beachplum Purple
YETI
Rambler 24oz, Tropical Pink
Yeti
Rambler 30oz w/ Stronghold lid
YETI
Rambler 14oz Stackable Mug, Tropical Pink
Hydro Flask
Water Bottle w/ Wide Mouth Flex Lid 32oz, Reef Pink
Yeti
Rambler 30oz with MagSlider Lid, Cherry Blossom
STANLEY
Iceflow 2.0 Flip Straw Tumbler, 30oz, Rose Quartz
Hydro Flask
Water Bottle w/Wide Mouth Flex Lid 40oz, Nectar Orange
Hydro Flask
Water Bottle w/Wide Mouth Flex Lid 32oz, Nectar Orange
I haven’t been this excited about an Apple Watch in a long time. Last week, Apple introduced the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, which will be available at the end of the week. The new Watches feature the S11 chip, which enables a bunch of new features, some of which won’t debut until later this year. At the same time, Apple is dropping support for more Watches than usual.
What we’re witnessing is a reboot of the Apple Watch and watchOS forced by advances in AI. The Apple Watch and its OS found their niche years ago, freeing us from pulling out our iPhones for notifications, tracking our health and fitness, and enabling the occasional Siri request. It was a good and comfortable spot for what by all accounts has been one of the most successful wearables to date, but watchOS also felt stuck in a rut.
Every year we got a few new workout types, a new watch face, and a few other features, but the OS didn’t advance much. What’s different this year is that watchOS 27 is breaking with slower hardware and looking forward to the substantially more powerful S11 chip, which will allow the Apple Watch to expand into all-new areas.
What this transition also means is that there is not just one set of features to track in watchOS 27 this year but three:
those that arrive today for anyone with a compatible Apple Watch,
those that arrive at the end of the week that are exclusive to the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, and
those that are coming later this year.
That makes this more than just a review. It’s also a preview of things to come and a roadmap for where the Apple Watch is heading.
There’s more than usual to cover this year, so let’s dive in and check it out.
Notifications, Smart Stack suggestions, and Control Center are all easier to read in watchOS 27.
I like Liquid Glass on all of Apple’s devices and didn’t have any issues with its first iteration in watchOS 26. However, with the latest update, my Apple Watch Ultra 3’s UI is ever so slightly more readable. Smart Stack suggestions and notifications don’t bleed through each other as much, and app icons are sharper.
On a small screen like an Apple Watch, you may never notice the difference, but there’s a sharpness throughout the UI that’s reminiscent of the sharpness you see in app icons on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Edges are more defined and colors are diffused less, making everything a little crisper. It’s a subtle change, but a good one.
The watchOS 27 change most users will notice first is the change to the way you navigate through the OS’s UI. The App Switcher is gone, replaced by the simpler Dynamic App Grid. And although I expect the App Switcher will be missed by some, I don’t miss it at all. Sure, it was a little hard to break the Digital Crown double-press habit at first, but as someone who returns to the same handful of apps repeatedly, I find the new design makes more sense.
Before watchOS 27, the App Switcher was invoked with a double press of the Digital Crown. That revealed a Rolodex-style view of your recent apps that you could move among by turning the Digital Crown. The UI served as a shortcut between frequently used apps that avoided returning to the app grid or list views on your Watch, which can be crowded if you have a lot of apps installed.
The new Dynamic App Grid.
Now, whether you single- or double-press the Digital Crown, the new Dynamic App Grid appears. At its center is the new Siri app. Below that is the icon to take you to the app list or grid view depending on how your Watch is set up. Apple says that the remaining five icons that circle the Siri icon are placed based on recency and frequency of use.
I’ve been using watchOS 27 all summer, and my recently used apps have barely changed. Currently, those apps include Settings, Alarms, News, Maps, and Moshi, an app I use for monitoring AI agent projects.
I don’t think I’m alone in being a creature of habit when it comes to the Apple Watch apps I use. Having those five apps just one Digital Crown press away is far easier than pressing twice, scrolling to find what I want, and then tapping into an app. Between the Dynamic App Grid and the expanded Smart Stack, there are plenty of ways to get to the apps you use the most, which I love. What the Dynamic App Grid gives up in predictability is more than made up for by the simpler gesture and UI.
watchOS 27 adds a new single tap gesture for selection, which allows you to do a lot more simply with gestures. For example, a double tap gesture with your thumb and index finger opens the Smart Stack to the first card. Double tap again to move to the next card or, if a card has multiple items that can be selected, to the next item on the card. Once what you want is selected, a single tap will open it. The existing wrist flick gesture is then used to return to the watch face.
Using the single-tap gesture.
The Smart Stack is now stacked with more types of cards, too. Apple has added cards for birthdays stored in Contacts, your car’s parking location, a prompt to change an alarm before a holiday, a shortcut to resume a Siri conversation, transit card balances, pinned Messages conversations, Theater Mode, and more. It’s a nice expansion that has made my Smart Stack feel more useful all summer because there’s always something relevant to me there.
There’s a lot more to see in the Smart Stack now.
The other change announced just last week is the addition of the Siri Modular face, which I immediately installed on my Apple Watch Ultra 3. The watch face displays the top Smart Stack item in a large complication in the middle of your Watch. It’s a nice touch, but because you can’t dismiss the media playback card without turning off Live Activities, that one has wound up on my watch face more frequently than I’d like. Still, when an app like Moshi reports that an AI agent’s task has been completed, it’s nice to be able to see a snippet of the message directly on my watch face. It also strikes me as a great way to keep track of tasks with a deadline from task manager apps like this review’s sponsor, Finalist.
The Siri Modular watch face.
So, on balance, I like what Apple has done with watchOS 27’s navigation. The Dynamic App Grid takes a little getting used to, but I appreciate its simplicity. The Smart Stack, single tap gesture, and new Siri Modular watch face combine to make the Smart Stack more useful than ever too. Watch interactions are meant to be short, and watchOS 27 nails that goal.
Siri AI and the Apple Watch as Helper
You can get to Siri from the Dynamic App Grid, a complication, or by long-pressing the Digital Crown.
Siri AI is a big part of watchOS 27 just like it is on every Apple platform (except tvOS) this year. As on those other platforms, Siri has a dedicated app on the Watch. The main difference is in how you interact with Siri. On macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, you can speak or type queries in the Siri app. On watchOS 27, the app accepts spoken queries only. That struck me as a little strange at first given that Apple offers multiple ways to input text on watchOS, but the reality is chatbot queries are typically longer than a dashed-off text message, so in practice, the lack of text input is fine.
Siri AI requires an Apple Watch Series 9 or later, Ultra 2 or later, or SE 3, along with a nearby iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence: an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 or later model. It’s being released as a beta, initially in English only, and won’t be available in the EU for the time being. Apple also says it will introduce usage limits for Siri AI in the future. Those limits will vary depending on factors such as request complexity and system demand. Increased access will be available for a fee. To make a Siri request, you can tap an installed complication, long-press the Digital Crown, or say “Siri” or “Hey Siri.” Once you start a chat with Siri, it retains the context, allowing you to ask follow-up questions without restating everything.
Reviewing and managing conversations in the Siri app.
Alternatively, you can open the app where you can see your past chats. The app’s button to start a conversation accepts spoken input only. Type to Siri remains available through Accessibility settings, but it’s a separate way to invoke Siri rather than a text-entry option within the app.
Your query list includes any requests you’ve made on your Apple Watch or any other Apple device, all synced via iCloud. In my experience, sync is fast over a good network connection with chats appearing on my Mac seconds after a response is delivered to my Watch. From the Siri Apple Watch app, you can also swipe left on an entry to delete or pin it, or tap the entry to read it.
Pinned conversations can be collapsed and expanded in the Siri Watch app.
Siri AI on the Apple Watch also offers the same personal-context capabilities that let it find information in your email, photos, tasks, and notes and use it to take action in apps. I explored those capabilities and their shortcomings in my macOS Golden Gate review. My experience on the Watch hasn’t been meaningfully different, apart from occasional minor latency, so that review is the best place to dig into my testing.
What changes here is the convenience of having those capabilities on your wrist within easy reach. The nearby iPhone supplies the connection to Apple Intelligence, but the Watch is both the immediate interface and, for many requests, the place where the resulting action occurs.
It’s also worth stepping back to think about what Siri could do before. I rarely used Siri for more than setting timers and alarms, checking the weather, and controlling my lights. However, now, I can tell Siri to remind me to take out the trash tomorrow morning and add a calendar event for a dinner reservation in one breath. That’s not wildly complex stuff, but it’s very convenient, especially when your iPhone is in your pocket or across the room and you think of something you need to do. Siri also has the same broad world knowledge that it does on other Apple devices, allowing you to check recent sports scores, check the news, and answer questions about the world around you.
Not every technology advance needs to be a monumental leap forward. Sometimes the simplest, most convenient small thing has the greatest impact. Siri on the Apple Watch has that potential, although with time, I’d like to see it become independent of the iPhone.
Workouts and Fitness
You can leave your iPhone at home and still use Workout Buddy.
I’m happy to be the one who gets to tell you that Workout Buddy has been freed from the requirement that you carry your iPhone with you. Users tend to love or hate Workout Buddy. Personally, I love it. Sure, its incredibly chipper voice can grate if you’re heading out for a long walk and aren’t feeling it, but that’s sort of the point. Once enabled, Workout Buddy is there to encourage you with no judgment. It’ll tell you you’re below your average targets with the same cheerfulness as when you’re crushing it.
When Workout Buddy debuted, my disappointment wasn’t with its voice, personality, or the information it offers. My issue was that the time I need a pep talk when exercising is when I’m out on a long run by myself suffering in the summer heat. The problem is that until watchOS 27, Workout Buddy was only available if you had your iPhone with you. That was fine when I went on a long walk, and I’m sure many cyclists were fine, but one of the reasons I got an Apple Watch was to never lug an iPhone with me while I ran, especially an iPhone like my iPhone 17 Pro Max.
With watchOS 27, I’m pleased to report that Workout Buddy works as well over a Wi-Fi or cellular connection as it does tethered to your iPhone and is compatible with walking, running, cycling, hiking, elliptical, stair stepper, HIIT, and functional and traditional strength training. Workout Buddy speaks Mexican Spanish now, too. In fact, it’s an Apple Intelligence feature that works without your iPhone nearby, which gives me hope for more iPhone-independent Apple Intelligence features in future releases.
Workout Buddy also offers more insights about your workout by comparing pace, distance, and workout duration to your recent fitness history. Today, just before I wrote this section, I went for a walk to get some fresh air and was cheerfully told how little I’ve exercised during this crazy iPhone event and OS review writing week. What I appreciate most, though, is that overall, Workout Buddy isn’t significantly more chatty. I don’t want it to turn into a podcast; I just want brief, periodic updates, which it delivers well.
The Workout app’s scrolling has been improved too. I know a lot of people who felt it was too easy to scroll past their intended workout type. That’s generally not a problem for me since I only use a few workout types, but even then, I sometimes overshot my mark. With watchOS 27, there’s a little less momentum built into the scrolling. Even if I swipe as fast as I can muster, I can only manage to move five workouts. A normal, calm swipe advances me just one workout.
A post-workout route in Fitness.
Additional Workout and Fitness improvements include:
more precise post-workout route maps, which, based on my walks and runs, have been very accurate whether I’m among buildings, under trees, or out in the open,
more accurate measurement of treadmill distances, which I haven’t tried personally, and
step counts in the Fitness app that now synchronize with those recorded in Health.
There may not be many changes to the workout and fitness features of the Apple Watch in watchOS 27, but I’m nonetheless pleased that I’ve been able to turn on Workout Buddy for my morning runs to help motivate and inform me about my progress.
Apps, Services, and Everyday Improvements
Find My
Find My is now one app.
It never made sense to me that different aspects of the iPhone’s Find My were spread across separate apps on the Apple Watch. I suppose the idea was that splitting the app up made it more atomic and widget-like for the Apple Watch’s small screen, but in practice, I think most people use Find My from an iPhone more than they do an Apple Watch, so the split on the Apple Watch was confusing.
The new Find My app is map-based, just like it is on other platforms. The app defaults to a devices view, and if you have multiple devices with Find My enabled in one location, you can scroll among them using the Digital Crown. Tap the button in the top left corner and you can switch from devices to people or items.
Precision locating my iPhone.
What I love about the new Find My is how true it is to the iPhone app. You’re able to use it to get directions, contact someone, play a sound on a device or item, enable Notify When Found or Notify When Left Behind, set arrival and departure alerts for people, mark devices and items as lost, and use Precision Finding with the iPhone and second-generation AirTag. Precision Finding requires a Series 9 or later or Ultra 2 or later, and locating an iPhone requires a compatible model with Ultra Wideband. Find My is no companion Watch app. It’s the real deal.
Wallet
Homemade Wallet passes on the Apple Watch using “Create a Pass.”
iOS 27 adds the ability to create passes in the Wallet app. The new feature makes it easy to add library, loyalty, and gym cards that use a barcode or QR code to Wallet even when a service doesn’t offer a Wallet pass. With “Create a Pass,” you no longer need to carry physical cards.
Making a Wallet pass on the iPhone.
Setting up a pass is easy. From the Wallet app on your iPhone, tap the plus button and choose “Create a Pass.” The next screen explains that you can set up a pass automatically by photographing it or manually by typing in the information yourself. I’ve used the automatic approach with our local supermarket’s loyalty card and one my wife has for Barnes & Noble. Wallet picked up the relevant information from both cards right away. I haven’t tried the Barnes & Noble card, but the card for our supermarket worked perfectly the last time I bought groceries.
Viewing a Wallet pass and its sharing options on Apple Watch.
The functionality extends to watchOS 27, too. Although you can’t make passes with the Apple Watch’s Wallet app, they appear there the same way cards from other apps are collected there. Tap on a pass in the Wallet app and it expands to show the membership number and name, followed by a barcode, more pass details, and buttons to share the pass with someone or remove it from Wallet. There are third-party apps that do something similar, but for the limited number of cards I have that aren’t already tied to an app or Wallet pass from that app, the new pass generation feature and its integration with watchOS 27 are exactly what I need. On the iPhone, you can also edit a pass’s details and customize its appearance, making your passes easier to tell apart.
Customizing a Wallet pass’s background color and texture.
Other Apps and Features
Phone:
It’s not a Watch call, but I did see Call Context once on my iPhone this summer.
Call Context is a Phone feature that’s available on both the iPhone and Apple Watch that can surface relevant information from Mail during a call, such as flight details when you call an airline. I haven’t had many opportunities to try this over the summer, but it did pull up a flight for me on my iPhone when I called American Airlines about a flight. I called back later from my Apple Watch Ultra 3, but that time, the flight details didn’t appear.
Shazam:
Starting song recognition and browsing Shazam history.
With watchOS 27, Shazam can listen to music even if your Apple Watch isn’t connected to the Internet and send its acoustic signature to the cloud for analysis and matching when your connectivity resumes. This is not on-device song recognition, but it does mean you can still track a song in the moment and get the results later, which I like.
Unused Feature Notifications:
watchOS 27 proactively sends notifications that it will turn off unused features, such as gestures, Start Workout reminders, and Raise to Speak, to preserve your Watch’s battery life. If you get one of these notifications, you can decline it or turn the feature back on later in Settings. I haven’t seen any of these notifications during my summer testing.
Cycle Tracking:
watchOS 27’s Cycle Tracking expands support to perimenopause and menopause, including symptom logging and educational resources. For anyone 40 and older, changes in logged cycle patterns may prompt a notification suggesting a consultation with their doctor. Apple makes it clear that the notifications the Apple Watch provides aren’t meant to be a diagnosis, but a way of recognizing a pattern that the user may want to raise with their doctor.
Screen Time:
Apple has also redesigned Screen Time controls to help families manage a child’s Apple Watch use, including contact restrictions, app schedules, and app access. I don’t manage any of my grown kids’ devices, so I haven’t tested these updates.
Performance
Audiobook playback from the Siri Modular face and Books app.
My experience with watchOS 27 has been a lot like my experience with macOS Golden Gate. The performance enhancements touted by Apple at WWDC are real, but soon become the new normal. I also have just my one Apple Watch to go by, so I’ll share my anecdotal experience with the betas.
My Apple Watch Ultra 3 already had one of the fastest chips available in an Apple Watch, but the performance of watchOS 27 was still noticeably faster from the very first time I installed developer beta 1. That experience is as true today as it was then, but I’m more used to it now. Apps launch faster and more smoothly, and transitions between in-app views are better too. The changes are relatively subtle, but nonetheless noticeable, which I appreciate.
The biggest difference of all, though, has been my experience with Apple Music, Podcasts, and Books. All three apps load content and start playing it faster than before. I’ve also had less trouble connecting both my Powerbeats Fit earbuds that I use for exercising and my AirPods Pro 3. That’s ended a whole connection and playback dance I used to do every time I got ready to go for a jog, which has been wonderful to leave behind.
What I didn’t notice was better battery life. That’s not to say it isn’t better, but with the frequency of beta updates over the summer and my habit of periodically charging my Watch at my desk, battery life seemed about the same as watchOS 26.
Odds and Ends
In addition to what I’ve already covered, it’s worth noting the following changes:
Apple says water detection is more efficient, though in what way is unclear.
GymKit has been extended to the iPhone with AirPods Pro 3, which allows heart rate data collected by the earbuds to be synced through your iPhone to GymKit-enabled equipment, although I haven’t tried this because I don’t belong to a gym.
watchOS 27 requires an Apple Watch Series 9 or later, Ultra 2 or later, or SE 3, paired with an iPhone 11 or later or iPhone SE 2 or later running iOS 27. That’s the requirement for the OS itself, but Siri AI also requires an Apple Intelligence–capable iPhone. The update drops support for Series 6–8, the original Ultra, and SE 2, too, although Apple’s Cait Dooley told TechRadar in June that those older models can remain paired with an iPhone and will continue to receive security updates.
Coming Soon to an Apple Watch Near You
Apple’s upcoming Readiness app. Source: Apple.
I wouldn’t normally touch on unreleased features in an OS release, but so many things were announced during last week’s Surprise and Shine event that I wanted to give readers a quick recap of what’s still to come in watchOS 27, even though I haven’t tried any of these features yet.
When the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 arrive on doorsteps and in Apple Stores on Friday, their owners will be able to enjoy the following additional features:
Apple’s New Health Sensing System: Both new Watches have redesigned optical and electrical heart sensors, which will allow them to take heart rate measurements every five seconds and HRV readings as often as every five minutes, which is up to a 24-fold increase in HRV measurement frequency compared with previous Watches. Apple says the new sensors will provide more accurate and meaningful measurements.
Heart Rate and Vitals: On the Series 12 and Ultra 4 Watches, the additional heart rate measurements also enable an HRV section with recovery and overall HRV readings. Vitals also gains access to recovery HRV in its overnight measurements and adds a daytime view.
Readiness:Readiness is a new app that uses your sleep, vitals, and recent activities to compute a score from 0–10, which the app translates into Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It recommendations.
Sound Recognition: The new Watches can analyze sounds like a baby crying, alarms, sirens, and doorbells even if your iPhone isn’t nearby. When a sound is recognized, users will be alerted on their Apple Watch.
Automatic Music Recognition with Shazam: With Music Detection enabled on the new Watches, Shazam will identify background music when you open the Smart Stack, without requiring you to tap the widget.
Siri Recaps. Source: Apple.
In addition, later this year, Apple is adding two new features to the new Watches, which you can read about in greater depth in my preview story from last week:
Live Rewind: Live Rewind, which plays a sound and animation to alert people that it’s been activated, transcribes the last 15 seconds of speech to help with hearing.
Siri Recap: A summarization feature that will pull key points from conversations and will support only English at first.
Both features are set to debut as betas later this year and require a Series 12 or Ultra 4 Watch paired with a supported iPhone 16 or later, excluding the iPhone 16e, with Apple Intelligence and Siri AI enabled. Both features are opt-in, and Siri Recap can be enabled manually or scheduled by time and location. Unsaved recaps disappear after seven days. Apple says audio is protected by handling processing in a Secure Exclave, but the resulting text can still be saved and shared, and it’s possible for Siri summaries to miss or misunderstand details. Those are things I’ll be looking at carefully when I can try the features for myself.
Finally, later this year, Apple will debut a redesign of the Health app on the iPhone that also incorporates a Health Age feature, movement evaluations, and lab work purchases and scheduling in the U.S.
Shaking off the Cobwebs
New hardware enabling new software experiences.
It’s funny to write a watchOS review hot on the heels of finishing my macOS Golden Gate review. In some ways, the two couldn’t be more different. My Apple Watch Ultra 3’s screen is about two inches diagonally and is designed to be interacted with in small, fleeting doses. Meanwhile, I’m writing this on my Mac Studio, using a 32-inch OLED display and an OS that’s as hands-on as they get.
Yet at the same time, there’s a similar transition going on with Apple Watch hardware and its OS that reflects a similar thing I see in macOS. Apple silicon lit a fire under macOS, opening up new ways to use Apple’s computers. That’s only accelerated with AI.
watchOS is in a similar place. The Apple Watch is already one of the most popular smartwatches on the planet, giving Apple Intelligence a place on a lot of wrists. Apple is raising the minimum hardware requirements for watchOS while introducing another set of capabilities exclusive to its newest Watches. We’re witnessing a shift from small, incremental watchOS changes to a new category of features. Starting with Live Rewind and Siri Recap, those additions have the potential to define the device’s future.
Today, the watchOS features that are currently available are more modest, typical features. I love the expansion of the Smart Stack, the new Siri app is incredibly useful as an extension of the app on other platforms, and it’s great to have Workout Buddy along for my runs without my iPhone.
In any year, I’d be happy with those and the other updates to watchOS, but this year, they feel like the first course of what I expect will be a great year for watchOS. AI has shaken the cobwebs off of watchOS, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
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