{"id":29682,"date":"2025-09-18T22:06:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T22:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/29682\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T22:06:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T22:06:15","slug":"ive-been-using-watchos-26-for-months-and-one-feature-alone-makes-the-upgrade-totally-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/29682\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve been using watchOS 26 for months \u2014 and one feature alone makes the upgrade totally worth it"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been using watchOS 26<\/a> all summer, after downloading the public beta onto my watch, and sure, it came with its hiccups, but there\u2019s one feature that made all the frozen Apple Watch screens worth it. And that\u2019s the overhaul of the Workout app on Apple Watch.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny how quickly we get used to these changes, but as watchOS 26 rolls out this week<\/a>, I\u2019m reminded of just how clunky the old Workout app seems. The new system puts the workouts you do the most at the front and center of your watch, making it easier than ever to start a workout.<\/p>\n

The Workout app gets a redesign <\/p>\n

\n

\"the\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve downloaded watchOS 26 onto one of the best Apple Watches<\/a>, you\u2019ll notice the new and improved Workout app layout. There are now four corner buttons, making it less clunky to access features like Pacer, Race Route, and build Custom Workouts. There\u2019s also an easy way to turn on Workout Buddy, Apple\u2019s new AI coach that offers words of encouragement during workouts.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

You can find out what happened when I ran 15 miles with Workout Buddy<\/a>, but while it\u2019s not a feature I\u2019d activate on every run, I appreciate the new layout.<\/p>\n

The Notes app is also pretty cool <\/p>\n

\n

\"Apple\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Dan Bracaglia\/Tom’s Guide)<\/p>\n

If, like me, you use your iPhone’s Notes app for just about everything (hi, I have the memory of a goldfish), you\u2019ll be as thrilled as I was to notice watchOS 26 will quietly add your notes to your wrist. It\u2019s amazing it\u2019s taken this long, but it\u2019s here.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one little catch \u2014 you can view all your current notes from your iPhone and Mac on your Apple Watch, but you can\u2019t edit them. You can, however, start a new note on your Apple Watch and use that teeny tiny keyboard, or dictation, to fill it.<\/p>\n

Oh, did I mention sleep score<\/p>\n

\n

\"Apple\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a feature I\u2019ve been using since the summer, as it wasn\u2019t available on the Beta, but it\u2019s one I\u2019ve been asking about for years. Your Apple Watch finally gets a sleep score with watchOS 26, giving you an instant overview of how well you slept. I\u2019ve been using it for a week, and while Apple definitely leans on the side of optimistic, it\u2019s a great addition to the sleep tracking features on the watch.<\/p>\n

Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.<\/p>\n

As well as all of these features, you\u2019ll also get some new Apple Watch faces on watchOS 26 \u2014 my colleague Nick has tested all of them, and picked his favorite here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Follow Tom’s Guide on Google News<\/a>, or add us as a preferred source<\/a>, to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!<\/p>\n

More from Tom’s Guide<\/p>\n

Today’s best Apple Watch 11 deals<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/a>\"Apple\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve been using watchOS 26 all summer, after downloading the public beta onto my watch, and sure, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[203,61,60,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-29682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gadgets","8":"tag-gadgets","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}