In the event you’ve been hoping for a quicker method to dismiss calls and alarms in your Apple Watch, you’ll quickly be capable to improve to watchOS 26 and make the most of a brand new wrist flick gesture. First introduced at WWDC 2025, watchOS 26 has already been accessible to builders and people prepared to strive the general public betas, however beginning on September fifteenth will probably be accessible to everybody — or at the least these with an Apple Watch Collection 6 or onward, the second-generation Apple Watch SE, or any of the premium Apple Watch Extremely fashions.
One of many easiest however doubtlessly most helpful upgrades arriving with watchOS 26 is the brand new wrist flick gesture. It will likely be restricted to the Apple Watch Collection 9 or later, however by flicking your Apple Watch away and again once more, you may shortly dismiss incoming calls and notifications, silence timers and alarms, or leap again to your watchface. In the event you’re feeling overwhelmed by audible notifications, watchOS 26 can monitor ambient noise ranges and routinely modify their quantity in order that they’re not as loud in quiet conditions.
A brand new Apple Intelligence-powered Exercise Buddy leverages your well being knowledge and up to date bodily exercise to supply personalised insights, together with letting you understand how shut you’re to a selected purpose or in case you’ve set a private report. Different watchOS 26 upgrades powered by Apple Intelligence embrace automated two-way translations in Messages and contextual app strategies within the Sensible Stack — like beginning a exercise — primarily based on the time or your location.
Apple can be lastly bringing its Notes app to the Apple Watch by way of watchOS app, letting you create new notes, pin present ones, or examine off entries on an inventory. The Apple Watch can even look a bit completely different after the replace due to Apple’s new Liquid Glass design language, which is able to convey a clear aesthetic to many UI components like widgets, notifications, Management Middle, and even watchfaces.
