It will also make it a little easier to use
While there wasn’t as much of a spotlight put on watchOS 26 as there was on iPadOS, there are still some fundamental changes that will reshape how the device works.
First among them is the new wrist flick gesture. While not a huge change on paper, in practice, Apple is hoping it will make using its watch a lot more natural.
This adds to the double-tap gesture from a few years ago and other subtle gestures that have been in the Apple Watch for years, like raise to wake and cover to mute. All of these work together in harmony to make it easier to use your watch without touching it.
It seems like the double tap is relegated to accepting and interacting with things on the watch, while the new wrist flick move is all about dismissing notifications. Together, they work really symbiotically.
Apple’s updated Smart Stack is now more intelligent and offers hints at things it thinks you’re about to use. This means it’s better at predicting what you’re doing, which should mean less diving into the app launcher. Apple is even hoping that the new Smart Stack will be intelligent enough to replace a lot of the complications people use.
When the Smart Stack has a hint ready, it will appear as a little bubble at the bottom of your screen.
I suspect one Smart Stack hint that people will see a lot is to start a workout, which now has a new AI companion that will motivate you while you work on your fitness. This feature uses AI, so it needs to be paired with a phone that supports Apple Intelligence to work. Hopefully, this is laying the groundwork for an Apple Watch that has Apple Intelligence models built in this fall.
Another new workout feature is the ability to have your watch auto-play music that it thinks will motivate you. However, this feature only works if you have your phone with you or if you have a cellular-connected Apple Watch. Moreover, it doesn’t work with music you have already downloaded on your watch.
One feature that I was really excited to see was that a lot more of the Apple Watch faces have been updated to support the 1 Hz refresh rate of the Apple Watch Series 10. That said, it’s still not every watch face. Apple says that they wanted to be thoughtful and purposeful with what faces it selected and says that the most popular faces have been updated, and more could come in the future.
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
