Watchos 26 brings motivational trainers, new design and more comfort

Watchos 12 will not exist: The system name jumps from Watchos 11 directly to 26. This is how Apple unites the version numbers of its systems, including iOS 26 and MacOS 26, and is based on the coming year. Apple announced this in the Keynote of the WWDC 2025.

“Liquid glass” as a new design

Another innovation gets all systems, the “Liquid Glass” design. On the one hand, it should ensure a new look on the clock, and on the other hand it will receive a familiarity. The first preview that Apple showed in the event showed this statement: icons, control center, smart stacks are very similar to the acquaintance and, thanks to the transparency, are much more modern. For some watch owners, this should be exactly the right thing, others have probably hoped for bigger changes.

AI fitness trainer in the Apple Watch

“Workout Buddy” is the name of the motivational trainer in Watchos 26. The function accesses the training data and analyzes the course from the Pace to the training pollution. According to Apple, Apple Intelligence evaluates the information and forms motivational sayings like “great that you continued your running training this Wednesday morning. You are 18 minutes away from closing your training ring.”

During training, the buddy could spend personalized live information such as: “Six kilometers. You have become faster and have covered the last kilometer in eight minutes and 28 seconds.” With the end of the training there is a summary in the connected headphones. The latter are mandatory, you want to benefit from the workout Buddy. However, it does not have to be Airpods, you can also connect other Bluetooth plugs to the watch.

Furthermore, Apple is changing in the training app layout and navigation. Four new buttons The corners of the app should enable the user to access personal favorite features such as training views, racetracks and more. In addition, Apple Music can call up the right playlist based on the type of training and the personal music taste.

More comfort in Watchos 26

With the system update, the developer also wants to get better operation via the smart stack, which has already shown relevant widgets: thanks to better predictive algorithms, into which additional data flow into sensors and the user routine, the stack and the notes are “still more proactive”.

Messages manage in no time – in the literal sense. If you raise your wrist to look at a message, you can quickly turn it around and go back to hide the message, Apple explains the function. With this gesture you can reject messages and incoming calls, deactivate the timer and alarms and return to the dial.

In addition, the volume of the loudspeaker adapts to the ambient noise, for example with alarms, siri or incoming calls. A translation function transfers cryptic chat messages to your own language, including German. For the live translation you need at least one watch Series 9, 10 or Ultra 2; The SE doesn’t help. And finally the notes app comes to the Apple Watch, so that you can view your shopping list written on the iPad on the clock.

Watchos 26 appears in autumn