watchOS 26 Review: More Reliant On The iPhone Than Ever

The Apple Watch has been around for a decade now. Over the years, Apple has made its wearable less reliant on the iPhone by adding cellular connectivity, longer battery life, and several other improvements that gave users the ability to leave their phone at home... at least for a few hours.

One of the things I liked the most about the Apple Watch was how useful it was if I ever happened to forget my iPhone at home while running errands. Of course, if you're as connected as I am, you're probably not forgetting your iPhone at home very often in the first place, but having a backup plan is always appreciated.

That's why using an Apple Watch Ultra 2 for the past couple of years has been such a great experience. That said, even though the watchOS updates haven't been groundbreaking, I was expecting a bit more from watchOS 26. While it adds plenty of Apple Intelligence features, it's also making the Apple Watch more reliant on the iPhone. This is our review of watchOS 26, with all the good, the bad, and in-between of this software update for Apple Watch users.

Apple skipped over watchOS 12 in favor of the all-new watchOS 26. Now all the names match, so there should be less confusion when Apple rolls out a new round of software updates. While we journalists appreciate that, the name change is also more important than that, as Apple is upgrading all of its software with a new Liquid Glass UI for even more cohesion.

While this new design is more noticeable on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, Apple Watch users will notice new elements on the Lock Screen, Control Center, passcode screen, and Smart Stack. Even though it's subtle, look at the corners of icons to see how they reflect on a nearby object.

José Adorno/BGR

That said, what many Apple Watch owners look forward to with every major watchOS update is the new watch faces. This time, Apple is offering four new options in addition to tweaking a few others to take advantage of the new display technology available on Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 3.

Users can now change their watch face to Waypoint, Flow, Exactograph, and Photos. While Flow and Photos do their best to highlight Liquid Glass, the Waypoint watch face is perfect for the Apple Watch Ultra, and the Exactograph is one of those interesting options that many people will discover as their new favorite. We went hands-on with all four new watch faces shortly before launch.

Apple Watch doesn't officially support Apple Intelligence. However, if you have an iPhone 15 Pro (or newer) nearby, you can make your watch a bit more efficient. Apple continues to improve notification summaries, but it's also adding support for Live Translation and tweaking Genmoji.

Even though these features are basically being mirrored from your iPhone (such as a PNG background for your iMessage chats), Apple continues to make the Apple watch more intelligent without necessarily calling it Apple Intelligence.

Among the new changes, there's a Wrist Flick gesture that can let you easily dismiss a notification or a call, and the Smart Stack is said to be smarter. Over these past three months of beta testing, I haven't gotten a suggestion to start Strength Training while at my gym, but every now and then I see a Smart Stack suggestion that has some relevance to my current situation. However, the most important Apple Intelligence feature of watchOS 26 is Workout Buddy. And, honestly, it's the only reason why I'm writing this review.

To use the new Workout Buddy, you need an Apple Watch Series 9 (or newer) paired with an iPhone 15 Pro (or newer). It gathers the data available on your Health app to motivate you during workouts, such as while running or doing strength training.

Workout Buddy celebrates your workout goals and reminds you of your great achievements in recent weeks. We think that this might be a preview of how Siri will behave once it can actually work as an AI companion. Of course, it's not possible to interact with AI-generated coaches, but I found it to be uplifting to hear that AI-generated voice keeping me motivated mid-workout.

That said, I also dislike the fact that Apple couldn't make Workout Buddy work with a cellular connection and the S10 SiP. Having to carry my iPhone while running is in direct opposition to the main reason why I have a cellular Apple Watch in the first place. While this might be the beginning of a new era for the Watch, I do hope Apple addresses this issue during the next generation. The company already offers a great combo with the Apple Watch and AirPods, but carrying three devices at once feels a step backwards.

During the beta cycle of watchOS 26, the battery life on my Apple Watch Ultra 2 drastically decreased. However, with the Release Candidate version, I started to get a similar experience to what I'd see on watchOS 11. For example, I slept with my Apple Watch on and went for a 48-minute run one morning. An hour after that, I still had 87% battery life. Around the time I went to bed, I still had around 50% battery left, which meant I could sleep with the watch on and go for another run in the morning without charging in between.

The watchOS 26 experience has also been impressively reliable. This is likely the case because there aren't many new features available on watchOS 26, and the Liquid Glass changes are more subtle than on iOS 26. That said, Apple Watch users shouldn't stress about having a worse battery life or having their favorite apps not working as expected.

It's absolutely worth installing watchOS 26 right away. It's a great update that pushes the Apple Watch in the right direction. I wish watchOS 26 wasn't so reliant on the iPhone, but Apple also added other features that prove the watch is still a great standalone wearable. For example, there's a new Notes app so you can dictate your thoughts while on the go, and then load them on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac later.

watchOS 26 also continues to improve the experience for users with newer Apple Watch models, and they will soon be able to take advantage of the blood pressure monitor that is making its way to Apple Watch Series 9 and newer devices as part of the update. I'm also excited about what's coming next. After all, Apple hasn't revealed what else it has in store for the rest of the watchOS 26 update cycle, as the company has been very careful to only announce features that it knew would be ready for the first version.