Apple has officially announced the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. While the new hardware drew attention, the software updates stole the spotlight—especially a feature called Live Rewind. With a double press of the Digital Crown, Live Rewind displays the last 15 seconds of nearby speech as on-screen text, helping you catch anything you missed in a conversation.
If you already own an Apple Watch or plan to buy one, these software features could change how you use the device. Live Rewind and a companion feature called Siri Recap will arrive as a beta later this year. Both require a modern iPhone paired with the watch to function.
Your Watch Is Learning to Listen, Just Not Yet
Apple groups these capabilities under a new umbrella called Audio Intelligence. The suite includes enhanced Sound Recognition, designed for accessibility to alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing when the watch detects sirens, alarms, doorbells, or a crying baby. Live Rewind is the most eye-catching element: it plays an audible chime and shows an on-screen animation while active so others nearby are aware the feature is listening and transcribing the last moments of speech.
Siri Recap goes further than simple transcription. When enabled for specific times or locations, it creates short written summaries in the new Siri app. These recaps present a title and key points rather than a full verbatim transcript, offering a compact review of what just happened without storing raw audio long-term.
Apple says the raw audio is never retained. Audio is processed locally within a dedicated, secure partition of the S11 chip—referred to as the Secure Enclave—and is deleted immediately after processing. The watch does not attempt to identify individual voices, and any summaries that are generated are encrypted end-to-end so that even Apple cannot read them.
There are some limitations. Live Rewind and Siri Recap require an iPhone 16 or newer (the iPhone 16e is excluded) paired with the watch. At launch, the features will be available in English only and will not initially roll out across the European Union. These restrictions mirror how Apple has been gradually releasing its broader Siri updates over the past year.
The Health Side Got a Real Upgrade Too
Beyond audio features, the Series 12 and Ultra 4 introduce upgraded health sensors. New heart sensors sample heart rate every five seconds throughout the day. Heart rate variability (HRV)—a key measure of stress and recovery represented by the micro-intervals between heartbeats—is now sampled far more frequently, with Apple stating it can be measured up to 24 times more often than before.
Apple tested the updated sensors against other leading wearables with more than 1,000 participants and reports improved accuracy. The additional data feeds a new Readiness score: a daily score from 0 to 10 that helps you decide whether to rest, take it easy, or push your training. A Health Age feature is also coming, showing how your metrics compare to your chronological age inside a redesigned Health app that will arrive later this year. Because these capabilities depend on the new sensors and the S11 chip, they are limited to the Series 12 and Ultra 4—similar to how some older Apple Watch models were left out of recent software updates.
Price points remain unchanged. The Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399, while the Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at $799, matching last year’s pricing. Both models are available for preorder today, with initial shipments scheduled to begin on September 18.