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Your Apple Watch can do so much more than just display the time and odd notification on your wrist. With every update, your Apple Watch loads up with new features you might not even know exist unless you know where to look. That’s why we here at iPhone Life comb through every update to tell you not only what you can do, but how to do it. I’ve created this guide to walk you through every element of this update so you can customize your watch to your exact preference. To help you get a feel for the new features, I’ve included exercises I encourage you to try out, ending with a quiz, so read through carefully! (Don’t worry, you’re not being graded.) …
1 Wrist Flick: To dismiss a notification on Apple Watch Series 9 or later, just turn your wrist away from you and back. Go into Settings, Gestures, and toggle on Wrist Flick to set it up. 2 Workout Buddy: Your Apple Watch can now give you stats and encouragements for your workouts! Navigate to a compatible workout, tap the Notifications icon, tap Workout Buddy, and toggle Use Workout Buddy on. 3 Blood Pressure Monitoring: Let your Apple Watch keep an eye out for hypertension. Toggle this setting on in the Health app on your iPhone, and if after 60 days your Apple Watch detects a pattern of hypertension, it will alert you. 4 Live Translation: Your Apple Watch can now translate conversations in Messages in real time. If your Apple Watch…
THE SECRETS TO A FULLY CUSTOMIZED DISPLAY Congratulations, you’ve just upgraded to watchOS 26! While the visual redesign isn’t quite as drastic as what you’re seeing on your iPhone and iPad, your Apple Watch did also adopt elements of the new Liquid Glass look. Before diving in to all the cool new tricks (hello, blood pressure monitoring!), you’ll want to learn how to master the interface. Whether you’re looking to reduce the effect of Liquid Glass, explore the new watch faces, or clear your screen with just one quick gesture, this section will teach you how to customize your display to look exactly what you want. DON’T LOVE LIQUID GLASS? REDUCE ITS EFFECT Liquid Glass is the new transparent design Apple released across devices this round that makes app icons,…
Apple currently sells three Apple Watch models, plus Hermès & Nike editions. The three latest Apple Watches released by Apple in October 2025 are the Series 11, SE (Gen 3) and Ultra 3. Apple Watch Ultra 3 (Starting at $799) The Ultra 3 is a must-have for adventurous dare devils who might get lost in the mountains for days and need a watch that can keep up. The updated rugged Ultra 3 is perfect for extreme athletes or people who just need longer battery life and a larger display to read from. It comes with a tougher exterior and neverseen-before features such as a built-in dive computer and an 86-decibel emergency siren that can be heard for miles if you are hurt and need help. Apple Watch SE 3 (Starting…
NEW FEATURES TO BOLSTER YOUR BODY Apple focused mostly on the Workouts app in watchOS 26, giving us some high-level upgrades. This also means a new interface to learn and a whole new virtual coach to master. Not to be forgotten, Apple is also giving us a couple powerful new health tools, including blood pressure monitoring and sleep scores. Let’s take a look at all the ways watchOS is going to make us healthier, stronger, and better rested. NAVIGATE THE NEW WORKOUT APP Okay, there isn’t actually a new Workout app. It’s the same app we’ve always had, but it looks a lot different. Most of the functionality hasn’t changed, but how you access it has. While changing things around can be a pain at first, the new format takes…
Q: How much free storage do you need to download watchOS 26? A: Your watch needs to have at least 4 GB of free storage in order to download watchOS 26, but more free space is better or else it might slow down your watch performance. Q: Why is my battery draining faster since I updated to watchOS 26? A: Major updates require a lot of background tasks to happen, even if your watch says it’s done updating. It’s normal for your battery to drain faster than usual for a few days after you update, but if it goes on for more than a week, you should check all your settings to make sure the update didn’t activate a battery-draining feature. If the update itself is the culprit, Apple will likely…
