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Editorial Disclosure
Information based on official specs. The author has not had physical access to the product for this report.
Information based on official specs. The author has not had physical access to the product for this report.
watchOS 27 is the new version of the Apple Watch operating system, and it arrives with a double-edged update. The good news: Siri AI lands on the wrist with a new animation, natural conversations, and its own app. The hard part: this is the biggest compatibility cut in the history of the watch, with five models being left out all at once.
For this region, there is one detail more concrete than any assistant: Workout Buddy now speaks Spanish and no longer needs the iPhone nearby during workouts.
The compatibility list got short: only the SE 3, Series 9, 10, and 11, and Ultra 2 and 3 update to watchOS 27. Five models are dropped at once: Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, the original Ultra, and SE 2. Since watchOS 26 supported exactly the same watches as watchOS 11, Apple is cutting off three years of devices in a single update, and the 2022 models are left with just four years of support. All of them remain on watchOS 26 with security patches.
There was an extra chapter of confusion: the official page omitted the Series 9 after the keynote, which was odd because it shares the S9 chip with the Ultra 2, which was listed. Series 9 owners installed the beta without issue, and Apple confirmed it was a publishing error; the list has now been corrected.
The cutoff also follows a silicon logic. The Series 7 and Series 8 use essentially the same processor as the 2020 Series 6; the 2023 S9 was the first real leap, with a four-core Neural Engine capable of processing Siri on the watch itself. The compatibility list matches the Apple Intelligence list exactly: the cutoff is the AI cutoff. The requirement on the other side does not change much either: watchOS 27 requires an iPhone 11 or later (or a 2nd-generation SE) with iOS 27.
Siri AI is the rebuilt-from-scratch Siri that Apple introduced at WWDC 2026, and on the watch you can see it right from the animation: an orb that glows and spins on the screen.
The deeper difference is in the conversation. You can ask open-ended questions, request ideas for a workout routine, and ask follow-ups without starting from scratch: Siri keeps the thread. It also knows your personal context — your driver’s license number, the door code for your accommodation, that note you saved — and performs actions in apps: sharing your flight details, playing the song someone recommended, or changing your Activity ring goal.
The other new feature is the Siri app, which brings all conversations together in one place and lets you pin the ones you use most.
Conversations sync across devices: you can start a request on the iPhone and pick it back up on the watch right where you left off. And the app screen debuts a dynamic grid that arranges itself around the apps you use most, with the Siri app always at the center.
The asterisks are the same ones attached to the rest of the ecosystem: Siri AI arrives in beta at the end of the year and starts in English. The Watch is not listed in the European exclusion, which applies to iOS and iPadOS. That said, for artificial intelligence features, the watch needs to be near an iPhone with Apple Intelligence — that is, a 15 Pro or newer.
Workout Buddy, the AI coach that debuted last year, adds the two improvements it most needed. First: it now speaks Spanish, with personalized motivation in a language that feels natural in the middle of a run. Second: it learns from your history and returns new data, such as your progress in pace, distance, and duration, or which heart rate zone you spent most of the workout in.
And it no longer requires the iPhone on you: Workout Buddy works with the watch alone, with nothing in your pocket or in your hand. The requirements remain an iPhone with Apple Intelligence paired to it and Bluetooth headphones, with the language set to Spanish or English.
Cycle Tracking adds support for perimenopause and menopause: when registered cycle patterns suggest a deviation, the app sends an alert, lets you log related symptoms, and provides educational resources. The alerts apply from age 40 and do not replace a medical diagnosis.
For indoor training, improved motion algorithms measure the distance of treadmill runs and walks more accurately, directly from the wrist.
There is a new gesture: bring your index finger and thumb together once, and the Smart Stack widget opens — useful when your other hand is busy. The Smart Stack also suggests more actions when they are relevant: greeting a nearby contact on their birthday, seeing where you parked the car, adjusting an alarm before a holiday, or pinning a transit card to check the balance.
Call Context is also added: when you call a business, the watch pulls in relevant information from your apps, such as a confirmation code from Mail while you wait for the airline.
Liquid Glass has also been refined on the watch, with more uniform refraction and better contrast so everything remains easy to read.
Find My unifies devices, people, and items into a single app with a map view, instead of three separate apps. Music starts faster, Fitness step counts finally sync with Health, and the system can suggest battery optimizations.
Wallet can now create its own passes for any card or membership with a QR code or barcode — a library card, for example — and pin them to the Smart Stack. And with Apple Watch For Your Kids, you can set up a watch for your child even if they do not yet have an iPhone, using a Child Account and built-in protections so they can stay connected and active.
watchOS 27 arrives as a free update in September, alongside the new iPhone models. A developer beta is already available, and a public beta arrives in July. Siri AI comes later, in beta at the end of the year and first in English.
watchOS 27 is the most ambitious watch release in years and, at the same time, the toughest. Siri turns the Apple Watch into more than a notification viewer, and the dynamic grid and Smart Stack point in the same direction: a watch that anticipates. The compatibility cut has real logic behind it — the S9 was the first silicon leap since 2020, and without that chip, AI does not run — but that is little comfort to anyone who bought an Ultra or a Series 8 in 2022. In daily use, the thing you will feel most is not Siri, which arrives late and in English, but Workout Buddy in Spanish and without a phone on you. If your watch made the list, the update is worth it; if it was left out, watchOS 26 remains secure, but Apple’s message is clear: the future of the Watch starts with the S9.
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