Your Apple Watch just got a lot smarter with watchOS 26

Liquid Glass redesign means it looks different, too.

- BY DAVID PRICE

At its Worldwide Developers Conference 2025 keynote (fave.co/4k9Nn1j) in June, Apple announced the latest watchOS update for the Apple Watch. The new software sees more Apple Intelligence elements than ever land on the watch, as well as a major aesthetic redesign. And yes, as expected (fave.co/44FXITI) Cupertino has switched from traditional version numbers (the previous update, watchOS 11, was the 11th yearly update) to ones based on the year when the software will primarily be in use. The new update, which will launch to the public in September and carry on until the next fall, is named watchOS 26 (for 2026).

LIQUID GLASS: THE BIG REDESIGN

Earlier in the keynote, Apple announced a broad project called Liquid Glass (fave.co/3TV56ih), a sweeping cross-platform redesign affecting the interfaces of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV...and Apple Watch. So the smallest screen in Cupertino's stable gets a new look at the same time as the larger and costlier products.

Liquid Glass takes its inspiration from Vision Pro and encompasses a range of visual and interactive changes. More user interface elements than before are translucent, with menus and buttons constructed as layers that refract and reflect the colors and shapes beneath. Furniture is rounded and dynamic, shrinking and expanding as you navigate through the interface. Specular highlights make everything look shiny.

Liquid Glass encompasses a range of visual and interactive changes.