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2w ago

watchOS 26 Beta Introduces Wrist Flick Gesture and AI-Driven Workout Buddy

Public beta users report seamless wrist flick interactions alongside AI-driven coaching ahead of fall rollout.

watchOS 11.6 brings security fixes & performance boosts

Overview

  • The wrist flick gesture allows one-handed dismissal of notifications, incoming calls, timers and alarms with a simple wrist rotation and is limited to Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Ultra 2 models.
  • Workout Buddy uses on-device AI and a Fitness+ trainer text-to-speech model to analyze live workout data and past fitness history for personalized motivational feedback.
  • Upgraded Smart Replies depend on an improved on-device English language model to generate more relevant message responses directly from the watch without an iPhone.
  • Public beta participants have integrated these gesture and AI features into daily use during over a month of testing, offering early feedback before the update’s official debut.
  • On July 29, Apple released watchOS 11.6 with bug fixes and security patches to stabilize the platform ahead of this year’s major watchOS 26 upgrade.