{"id":171145,"date":"2025-09-30T20:05:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T20:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/171145\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T20:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T20:05:11","slug":"here-are-the-watchos-26-features-ive-been-loving-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/171145\/","title":{"rendered":"Here are the watchOS 26 features I\u2019ve been loving most"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"watchOS<\/p>\n

watchOS 26 is the Apple Watch\u2019s latest major software update<\/a>, and I\u2019ve been using it in beta for a few months now. Here are the new watchOS 26 features I\u2019ve been loving most throughout that time.<\/p>\n

Sleep score<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is admittedly a very recent introduction.<\/p>\n

Sleep score wasn\u2019t included in the watchOS 26 beta this summer, because Apple saved it<\/a> for the unveiling of new Apple Watch hardware.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been sleep tracking with my Apple Watch for the past year or so, and the clear, simple sleep score has been a helpful way to make sense of the sleep data that previously felt far too ambiguous.<\/p>\n

Always-on seconds for more watch faces<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last year when the Apple Watch Series 10 launched, watchOS offered very few watch faces that supported Series 10\u2019s new capability of showing seconds in always-on mode.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, watchOS 26 has corrected that oversight. Now, timed with Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Series 11 adding support for always-on seconds, Apple has updated many of its watch faces<\/a> to at last support the feature.<\/p>\n

Wrist flick gesture<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There are plenty of scenarios when I don\u2019t have a second hand free to interact with my Apple Watch. For example, when I\u2019m carrying a cup of coffee, or my ever-growing toddler.<\/p>\n

Wrist flick<\/a> has been an excellent new gesture for occasions like these. Now, when notifications or phone calls come in and I don\u2019t have a free hand to dismiss them, I just flick my wrist back and watchOS 26 dismisses them with some nice haptic feedback.<\/p>\n

Liquid Glass design<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Liquid Glass may not make as big an impact on the Apple Watch as it does on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. But watchOS 26 still has some nice design updates for Watch users.<\/p>\n

The keypad for unlocking my Apple Watch now has a fresh Liquid Glass look, as do several widgets inside the Smart Stack, and also Control Center and the Now Playing screen. <\/p>\n

None of these Liquid Glass changes makes a huge difference, but they do help watchOS feel new again.<\/p>\n

Upgraded Smart Replies<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Smart Replies have long been a part of the Apple Watch\u2019s Messages app. In theory, they ensure you don\u2019t have to pick up your iPhone as often to reply to a message.<\/p>\n

In practice though, I\u2019ve historically found Smart Reply suggestions pretty lacking.<\/p>\n

Thankfully in watchOS 26, Apple Intelligence has made Smart Replies much better than before<\/a>. Far more often now, they actually sound like something I might write myself.<\/p>\n

Brand new Notes app<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t used watchOS 26\u2019s new Notes app<\/a> as much as I thought I might. But it\u2019s definitely still been nice to have.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not one for dictating notes, though I imagine if you are, you probably appreciate having Notes on the Watch more than I do.<\/p>\n

But I do use Apple Notes all the time on my other devices, and being able to reference notes on my Watch has come in handy.<\/p>\n

Third-party Control Center controls<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last year brought a major overhaul to Control Center on the iPhone, including adding support for controls from third-party apps.<\/p>\n

Now, many of those same iPhone controls can be brought over<\/a> to the Apple Watch too.<\/p>\n

watchOS 26 has a new \u2018From Your iPhone\u2019 section when adding new controls, allowing you to access some of your go-to iPhone controls right from the Apple Watch\u2019s Control Center.<\/p>\n

Which new watchOS 26 features have you been enjoying most? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n

Best Apple Watch accessories<\/p>\n

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FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"watchOS 26 is the Apple Watch\u2019s latest major software update, and I\u2019ve been using it in beta for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[786,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-171145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-gadgets","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}