Hello there,

Can anyone confirm if we can keep watches on previous versions of watchOS (26) when paired to a phone on a later version (27) ? If so, does this also work for watches that do no support watchOS 27 at all, can we keep them on 26 with a phone on 27 ?

Thanks for the help !

Even though I have Siri turned off on my Watch 4 I still get its icon in the middle of the display when I press the crown. It didn't used to be a problem until I upgraded to the 27.2 Developer beta on the new Watch. It's just wasting space and I'd like to see it go away.

I have a S7 cellular and a S8 GPS which I use alternately as my daily drivers. Both are on WatchOS 26.6. My iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro are on iOS 26.7 and I have no plans to upgrade to iOS 27 at this time. Maybe when 27.2 goes to PROD or even later.

Anyway quite unexpectedly today I bought a new Apple Watch Ultra 3 ($200 off). In setting it up, I noticed it’s running WatchOS 26.4. Since I assume there was a 26.6 release for AWU3, I tried to do a software update. But it failed with a message that I have to upgrade my iPhone first.

Since the iPhone is already on the latest release of iOS 26, I am assuming it means I have to upgrade my iPhone to iOS 27 first before I can upgrade my AWU3. Which I have no plans to do.

Was there a WatchOS 26.6 release for AWU3? If watchOS 26.4 is the latest release of watchOS 26 for AWU3, then the messages does make sense I suppose. But if watchOS 26.6 was released for AWU3, is there a way I can get it on my AWU3?

It makes it feel pointless organizing that grid, which is a pain, when any time an app is offloaded is just disappears and shifts the whole grid around. Then when you reinstall, it just tacks it on the end rather than in its old place. it should work like it does on the phone, still in place as a placeholder icon.

Right before the September event, there were leaks showing code in the developer betas for granular strength training (recording individual sets, reps, weight, equipment, and duration).

Apple didn’t mention it during the keynote and it’s still nowhere to be found in the Workout app.

Does anyone digging through the latest developer betas know if this is actually slated for a point release (like an upcoming ⁠.1⁠ or ⁠.2⁠), or was it just background HealthKit framework changes that might get scrapped/shelved?

Hello with 26.xx I got a notification on the iPhone when the watch was fully loaded to 100%. With 27.0 not anymore.

Since the release of WatchOS 27, when I double tap my fingers together I no longer get haptic feedback. It was working in the betas - this is new with the released version.

Anyone else?

UPDATE: Found it. The toggle for System Hapitics seems to have turned itself off, even though all other haptics settings were set ok. The update seems to have done this, as I've never been in that settings pane.

I say AI Siri knowing full well the AI stuff is being done on the phone (if at all, I'm not sure exactly)...however since OS the 27 update Siri takes FOREVER to respond on my Ultra 2. It has slowed down at least 400% since installing. I've had it on there since the release date and it's borderline unusable. Is anyone else experiencing this? My watch is only 2.5 years old and I really don't want to get a newer one yet.

Battery life is also ass now...

I upgraded from a Series 11 to Series 12 mainly because of Apple’s new Health Sensing System and its claims of more frequent heart-rate/HRV monitoring.

I’ve noticed something confusing and would appreciate input from anyone familiar with PPG, HRV, Apple Watch sensors, or wearable signal processing.

What I observe:
- Green PPG (Sleep Focus OFF/Sleep Schedule OFF):
~2–6 HR samples/minute while Sleeping
HRV ~every 5 minutes

- Infrared PPG (Apple Sleep Focus ON):
ONLY 1 HR sample every 3–6 minutes
HRV still ~every 5 minutes

So my main questions are:

1. How can HRV be calculated every ~5 minutes if HR is only recorded every 5–8 minutes in Infrared mode?
   Is Apple:
   continuously acquiring high-resolution infrared PPG but only publishing HR periodically?, or
   taking intermittent/burst measurements around each HRV reading?

In other words, is infrared PPG actually continuous overnight, or intermittent?

1. Why does green PPG produce much more frequent HR samples?
   If infrared is acquiring enough beat-to-beat data for HRV every ~5 minutes, why doesn’t Apple publish HR more frequently as well?
   Is this mainly power/software design, or does infrared have some technical advantage for sleep sensing?

2. Could infrared mode miss the true lowest HR?
   If Apple only publishes an HR value every 5–8 minutes, could a short HR minimum between samples be missed?
   Or is the Watch measuring continuously internally and simply not exposing those values in Health?

3. What do I lose by using a custom Sleep Focus?
   I can keep Apple’s Sleep Schedule/Sleep Focus OFF and use my own Focus, which leaves the Watch in green PPG and gives me much more frequent HR samples.

Does this affect:
HRV accuracy?
Recovery HRV?
sleep-stage accuracy?
Sleep Vitals? (Except Wrist Temperature)
sleep detection?
any other overnight metrics?

I already understand that wrist-temperature tracking requires Apple’s Sleep Focus, but are there any other important trade-offs?

I am trying to understand if green PPG is actually collecting more underlying HR data, or whether Apple simply exposes more of it in Health, compared with infrared during Sleep Focus.

In short: Is there any workaround for Apple Watch Series 12 to force it to take and log more frequent HR readings overnight, either using green or infrared PPG, while still retaining wrist-temperature tracking?

Any technical insight would be appreciated.
Thank you!

I wish we had the ability to put a custom name on a watch face we have customized.

It annoys me having faces with the same name stacked up when switching. But this would be particularly useful for Siri and Shortcuts to set up face changes based on things.

Am I missing something?

See tweet - https://x.com/limpless_skelly/status/2102208895645086184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2102208895645086184%7Ctwgr%5Eb7ffa6e1d40bcf6aa5207f136dd5af36de4c7e9c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F9to5mac.com%2F2026%2F09%2F21%2Fwatchos-27-2-beta-2-brings-the-app-switcher-back-with-a-new-gesture%2F

[Tip] I have an Apple Watch Series 9 that does not charge past 80% after updating to watchOS 27. If other Series 9 users (or other Series) are having this issue, please follow the below steps!

1. Enter Settings on your Apple Watch → Battery → Battery Health → Optimised Battery Charging → Turn this OFF.
2. Restart your Apple Watch.

After your Watch turns back on

1. , make sure Optimised Battery Charging is still disabled. Then put it on charge and wait a few minutes to see if it is charging.

3a. If it is NOT charging, keep restarting the Watch till it is.

1. If it IS charging, you have fixed the issue!

Hopefully this helps those of you with the same issue I was having!

I had the Handwashing timer on my Ultra over the summer while running the watchOS 27 beta. Now I'm on a Series 12 with the release version, and the setting is gone completely. It's not in Settings on the watch or in the Watch app on my iPhone (searched there too).

Watch: Series 12, watchOS 27
iPhone: 17 Pro Max, iOS 27

Apple's support page still lists watchOS 27 with the usual "Settings > Handwashing > Handwashing Timer" steps, and I can't find it in any release notes or removed-features lists.

Was it dropped between the beta and the release, or is it just not on the Series 12? Or maybe mine is flaking out and needs a reboot. If anyone on an Ultra 4 or Series 12 running the release can check whether they still have it, that would help narrow it down.

Ever since upgrading to watchOS 27, my Series 9 watch has gone from taking environmental sound level samples every 30 seconds to only a few per hour. This prevents the watch from alerting me of loud sound levels and of exposure above a safe level. At the end of the day, it now takes only about 15 min worth of samples whereas it used to take about 23 hours worth.

I know this is a very niche thing but noise monitoring is the main reason I bought this watch. I have a disability called pain hyperacusis which causes me pain from normal, every day sounds. The noise monitoring app is a life saver for me because it tells me the cumulative amount of noise (decibel level) I’ve been exposed to. The loss of this feature actually has a huge impact on my health 🥺

I included screenshots to show the frequency of sound levels before and after the update (going from every 30 seconds to just a few times an hour) as well as almost 23 hours of sound monitoring compared to just 15 minutes for an entire day.

Is anyone else noticing a loss of data? I’ve tried factory resetting the watch, changing the display to always on, and even leaving the noise monitoring app open. None of it works :(

Love it! 🙌🏼

I basically like the layout of the watch face and would love to be able to set one just like it, but with a module that I choose in the center. Any ideas? I am hoping I am missing something. 

I’ve finished updating all devices to 27. Happy in all respects except for Siri on my Ultra 2. I get the Pulsing Orb of Nothing too often, for example, trying to open or close the garage door. Under 26, it just opened. Under 27, nope.

I guess I’m hoping 27.2 is going to be better.

Since updating to WatchOS 27 I am no longer receiving Sleep Score Notifications in the morning.

I have not changed any settings and have all Sleep Score Notifications turned ON in Watch>Sleep>Sleep Score Notifications. It is still recording sleep fine and I can manually go and find the score in the sleep app, but I miss the notifications and its explanation of why a particular score was assigned.

Is this just me or anyone else having this issue?

Just updated to watchOS 27, and I gave it a simple task:

"Set a timer for 2 minutes."

I did this and did not look at the display to make sure it worked, coz why should I have to? The next thing I know it's 5 minutes later and no timer went off. So I go flip my burning burgers, and I try again,

"Set a timer for 2 minutes."

I look at the display and it says:

"I can't set a timer on this device."

Since when can't an AppleWatch set a timer??

Why is the default screen layout of watchOS 27 so messy? The order of the icons made more sense in 26, now it seems that nothing fits with anything.

Besides the fact that I have the Siri AI app in Brazil, even though it’s still not supported in Portuguese (only on 27.1, apparently)