Apple took the wraps off watchOS 26 on Monday, showcasing its new Liquid Glass design and other key new features. The Workout app gets the biggest makeover, featuring a new Workout Buddy that delivers personalised attaboy messages when you need a little extra mojo.
Other apps get improvements in watchOS 26, too, and a long-missing app finally makes an appearance.
Workout Buddy is not an AI fitness coach, and that’s a good thing
Apple describes Workout Buddy as a “first of its kind” workout experience. But that’s not strictly true. Fitness fans of a certain age will remember a very similar feature in the original Nike+iPod app. When you completed a workout with Nike+iPod, the app played motivational messages from famous athletes like Joan Benoit Samuelson or Lance Armstrong (yes, that Lance Armstrong).
Workout Buddy is essentially the same idea, but it takes things further by using Apple Intelligence to tailor the message to your personal achievements. So, for example, Workout Buddy might say something like, “Fantastic run! You averaged a pace of 7 minutes per mile and your average heart rate was 156 beats per minute, plus you earned your first 10k run award.”
Apple claims Workout Buddy features a voice “built using voice data from Fitness+ trainers.” But the examples during the keynote sounded more like regular Siri than Bakari, Jamie-Ray, Molly and the team.
Rumor has it Apple has been working for years on a top-secret “Project Quartz” to build an AI fitness coach. Workout Buddy may be the result of that endeavor. But it falls short of what the rumors claimed. This is not a coach that gives you training advice. Instead, it just uses AI to summarise what you’re doing and praise you for it.
Personally, I think this is a good thing. It’s just not possible for AI to replace a qualified fitness coach. Good coaches know their clients’ unique capabilities and progress. That’s how they plan programs that are safe and effective. Even the smartest AI in the world can’t do that with the limited data your Apple Watch collects. And let’s be honest, right now Apple’s AI isn’t the smartest.
Safety is key here. A poorly designed training program could result in serious injury or even death. So I think Apple is very wise to keep things simple, fun and safe.
Workout playlists are another feature Apple is reinstating from Nike+iPod
The Workout app in watchOS 26 borrows another feature from Apple’s classic Nike+iPod app. Now you can select a workout playlist that plays automatically when you start a workout. It will even recommend a playlist based upon your listening history during a particular workout type.
Liquid Glass comes to the Workout app
Like the rest of Apple’s software platforms, the Workout app receives a Liquid Glass makeover this year. Apple claims this is “the biggest update to its layout and navigation since its introduction.” Which is odd, because beyond the start screen, it doesn’t look that different from previous versions.
Personally, I think this new design looks a little harder to use. Rather than a list of your favorite workout types, when you launch the app in watchOS 26 you’ll be presented with just one workout type. I guess you have to scroll with the Digital Crown to find the others, but it’s not obvious. And the four corner buttons just add clutter.
There’s more to watchOS 26 than fitness
Although I mostly use Apple Watch for fitness, a different sort of watchOS 26 feature caught my eye during the WWDC25 keynote. Apple finally deigned to bring the Notes app to its smartwatch. It only took 10 years!
The absence of the Notes app on watchOS always seemed crazy to me. It’s like the way Apple refused to include the Calculator in iPadOS for all those years.
When I’m out for a run, I always leave my phone behind, and often come up with ideas I want to write down. So the Notes app in watchOS 26 is the most useful new feature for me by far.
And there’s more…
While the Workout and Notes apps are the changes that really caught my eye, there are plenty of other new features in watchOS 26.
Smart Stacks get even smarter, with intelligent hints based upon your location. The Messages app now supports Live Translation and customizable backgrounds, just like the new version in iOS 26. And you can dismiss notifications with the flick of a wrist — a neat new gesture supported system-wide.
All these new features are available to developers today in the first watchOS 26 beta. Apple says it will make a public beta available next month. watchOS 26 is set to ship this fall as a free update for Apple Watch Series 6 or later, the second-generation Apple Watch SE and all Apple Watch Ultra models.
Graham Bower is a designer, writer, fitness geek, and long-time Apple user. He is the co-host of Apple Core a podcast about the history of Apple. In his spare time, Graham writes fantasy and sci-fi novels. Connect with Graham on Bluesky or at www.grahambower.com.
