Siri has been on the Apple Watch since day one, though I’m often hard-pressed to find people who use it well. It’s like… I’ve been there — mostly as a way to set timers when I have my hands full. But after playing with the watchOS 27 developer beta, I’m getting a feeling that will start to change. Not for everyone, and certainly not overnight, but the upgrade from plain Siri to Siri AI feels like a significant shift in how Apple — and other tech companies — think we should use our smartwatches.
To be clear: If all you want Siri to do on your wrist is set an alarm or get the weather forecast, by golly, that’s still great. But while I previously found the Apple Watch useful for tracking health and fitness through the notification triage side, Siri AI lets me do more. the original computer from the wrist. The main reason for that is that it doesn’t feel like there are two separate Siri apps on your phone and watch.
“Our main goal with the integration with the Watch is to make sure that the experience was the same. What we don’t want is for the user to have this experience when they ask Siri in one place, and they get a different answer when they ask. [in] one,” said David Clark, Apple’s senior director of watchOS software engineering. “By integrating the watch tightly with the phone, having that personal touch drive the entire experience, we can start to set expectations that Siri AI is one.”
The disconnect between phone and watch was an issue I had last year when testing the Gemini on the Pixel Watch 4 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 8. I often struggled to weigh whether it made sense to test the Gemini on my wrist versus taking my phone out. The use cases suggested to me were to answer random questions, where the call was still fast, or to complete complex questions that involved multiple applications. Commands like “Remember to remind me to bring an umbrella if it rains” or “Create a K-pop inspired playlist on YouTube Music.” The Gemini on the wrist was smelly at first, and while it did make the playlist, it wasn’t the most natural request I would ever make. When I asked it to recommend a local coffee shop and texted my co-worker, I found a place 40 blocks away. I got better results on my phone, even if I had to text the location manually.
I’ve never had this issue with Siri AI in watchOS 27. Partly because Siri AI is very upfront about what it can do and will suggest alternatives. For example, it can’t create reminders based on weather forecasts, but it can set reminders based on when I leave the area. In terms of phone vs. wrist search results, I didn’t notice any wide differences. In fact, the questions you make on your wrist are stored in the same app as your phone.
Due to the often annoying ecosystem lock-down, the Apple Watch is a great device for taking notes on the go. Siri AI makes reference notes and reminder lists on my phone or MacBook easy because I just know ask to reveal the content. While Michael was shopping for embroidery floss I was able to ask Siri to bring up a list of thread colors that I’d attached to the Reminders app, and strap it to my wrist as I hunted through the haphazardly filled bins. Similarly, it’s easy to start looking up something while you’re out and about and continue later on your phone or in the Siri AI app for MacBook.
The biggest effect of Siri AI is a new habit to build. When I had to think quickly, I often didn’t remember the development of my watch. You still have to deal with delays while Siri AI thinks, and even if Big Tech claims that LLMs understand verbal information naturally, it always works better when you say your requests directly. As an AI assistant, it tends to have goofs. If you’re an impatient person, it’s possible that Siri AI on your wrist will annoy you from time to time.
Workout Buddy – the AI-powered fitness “coach” – is getting a few improvements. In watchOS 26, Workout Buddy has gone a step further. This year, it expands what information is available and now works in Spanish.
“This year we’ve added more in-depth look at your trends, not just based on today’s vs. historical trends. [ones],” said Clark.” “If you’ve just climbed a hill, you sweat a little, we’ll know the speed you’ve gained despite the altitude, so it’ll congratulate you for hitting the top of that hill and keep going.”
My workouts haven’t been very intense as of late, so I haven’t gotten any of these new insights yet. If you were hoping for Siri AI on your wrist to provide health, that’s not in the cards right now. I’m personally relieved that Workout Buddy or Siri AI don’t offer health advice at all. However, Clark says you can use Siri AI’s extensive world knowledge to get “science-backed answers” to questions like “What is LDL cholesterol?” or recommend stretches for recovery. In other words, it is mainly intended to be a resource to help people access information quickly.
Another nice update is the new app launcher, a sort of quick menu for the apps you use most or recently. As someone who’s used to running the same six apps on the Watch, this was surprisingly easy. You might find it a little too much if you’re using a watch face with a lot of problems, but I’ve been experimenting with a zen watchface with a picture of my derpy cat. This allows for aesthetic flexibility without sacrificing functionality.
But my favorite watchOS 27 feature is the new one-touch action. Where a pinch lets you scroll, and a wave of the hand brings up screens, a single tap lets you select. Combined with a smart stack and lift to talk touch, of course super It’s easy to use the Apple Watch with one hand. I’m a touch savvy person, and this made it easy for me to check information quickly without needing a second hand. If you don’t do it use these features, I highly recommend giving a touch of something else
I’m still trying out various parts of watchOS 27, but so far, it feels like the result of several updates over the past three to four years. Touch extensions, smart stack widgets, and now Siri AI make today’s Apple Watch feel like a very different device than it will in 2022. Individually, the features were neat but a bit repetitive. With the arrival of Siri AI, these different parts are starting to come together into a bigger picture: a watch that can eventually become a useful wrist computer. It’s not all there yet, but still – I’m still very happy.
