Apple Watch

Apple is now offering the first public beta of watchOS 26, the next major update for Apple Watch, ahead of its official fall release. While the biggest visual update may appear to be the limited Liquid Glass elements, the substance of watchOS 26 exists in how it integrates with Apple Intelligence for smarter workouts and more context-aware communication. After some hands-on time with the update, here’s what stands out so far.

Amazon has confirmed it’s in the process of buying Bee, an Apple Watch app and wearable that records everything it hears.

The platform describes itself as “a personal Al that transforms your conversations, tasks, places and more into summaries, personal insights and timely reminders” …

Earlier today we saw iOS 26 code suggesting that an Apple Watch sleep score feature is in development, with a percentage score indicating your readiness to tackle the day ahead. The feature also provides a more condensed graphical representation of your sleep stages than is currently available.

What is shown and described looks like a very close match for two features provided by the Oura smart ring, so here’s a look at how those work …

If you use a third-party sleep tracker with your Apple Watch, you’re probably familiar with the concept of a sleep score: an index that combines signals like heart rate variation and sleep stages, to tell you how efficient your sleep really was.

And while the Apple Watch gained native sleep tracking with watchOS 7, it’s been missing that kind of score. Not for long, as it may turn out.

Today, Tim Cook took to X to announce that the Hearing Aid and Test features of the AirPods Pro 2, and the Apple Watch Sleep Apnea notifications are now available in select new countries and territories. See the full lists below.

Apple trade-in values have been cut for most models of iPhone, all Macs, several Apple Watches, and one iPad.

Additionally, there are two older Apple products the company will no longer accept as trade-in against a new one, making them officially worthless …

Apple made an interesting omission in yesterday’s chief operating officer transition announcement. Design, which previously reported to COO Jeff Williams, will soon report to CEO Tim Cook, but the press release stopped short of explaining where Williams’ other product responsibility will go when he leaves.

Macs and Apple Watches are among the products to be hit by new tariffs on products manufactured in Thailand, taking effect on August 1.

Products imported from Thailand into the US will be subjected to a 36% tariff, increasing the cost to Apple by more than a third …

Today, Apple appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in an effort to overturn a ruling that blocked U.S. sales of Apple Watches with blood-oxygen sensors back in late 2023. Here’s how it went.

Apple puts its products through a lot of tests during the development process, intended to ensure they have a long and reliable life even in challenging conditions. The company tests at least 10,000 iPhones prior to launch in an attempt to cover all the bases.

It’s not often the iPhone maker lets outsiders into its labs, but Apple invited some of those attending WWDC 2025 to visit one to see for themselves the conditions it expects its gadgets to survive …

Spigen is one of my favorite Apple accessory companies because they know how to evoke nostalgia. Last year I picked up their C1 iPhone case and Magsafe wallet that themed my iPhone 16 Pro Max like the old school iMac G3 that I grew up using in school. I loved every part of that experience, and it was a great conversation starter! This year, they have added to their C1 lineup with their Apple Watch stand that isn’t just themed after the iMac G3, but looks like a tiny G3 iMac. Here is what you should know.

A pair of market intelligence reports show that the Apple Watch and AirPods continue to dominate the global market in their respective categories.

However, Apple’s long-held lead in the smartwatch market is now being challenged by Huawei, according to the latest estimates …

With watchOS 26, Apple is upgrading the battery monitoring features on the Apple Watch. The system will observe your average usage patterns, and notify you if your watch battery is draining faster than normal.

This alert gives you a quick shortcut to enable Apple Watch’s Low Power Mode to maximise battery life until you can next get to a charger.

A climber stranded at nearly 11,000 feet in the Colorado wilderness was rescued this week thanks to Apple’s Emergency SOS satellite messaging feature. Here’s what happened.

Anyone running a beta version of any software should of course expect issues, but if you own an Apple Watch Hermès, you’ll want to completely avoid the beta 2 versions of both watchOS 26 and iOS 26.

Apple has warned of an incompatibility issue between watchOS 26 beta 2 and the Hermès watch, believed to be due to a problem with the watch faces unique to that model …

Update: Avelo Running is closer to arriving with an already funded Kickstarter campaign that doubled its goal within hours of launching. Learn much more about the project and pledge your support to join the race.

Avelo Running is a fitness-focused startup that recently came out of stealth to unveil their first product. What the company is building has the potential to be the perfect running companion for Apple Watch. Any runner with a smartphone can benefit, though, without bringing a phone or watch along for the run.

Spigen has just launched a new Apple Watch charging stand that shrinks the iconic design of the original iMac G3 down to bedside-table size, and it looks awesome.

If you’ve ever forgotten to download Spotify playlists to your Apple Watch before a walk, run, or cycle ride, a new feature should make life much easier.

Instead of having to manually download to the Watch, you can use any Apple device to queue up playlist downloads, which will happen the next time you open Spotify on your Watch. The same feature also allows you to queue downloads for any other Apple device, like an iPad …

On of the new features coming to Apple Watch with watchOS 26 this fall is wrist flick. This is a new gesture that unlocks an additional way to interact with incoming notifications.

Here are the Apple Watch models compatible with wrist flick.