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Apple’s new watches listen, summarise and chime while they do it

September 9, 2026 Emily Chen Clock

Apple's New Watches Listen, Summarise, and Chime While They Do It

Apple's Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 can transcribe the last 15 seconds of a conversation and summarise it afterwards, processed in an isolated compartment on the new S11 chip. Audio Intelligence will not be available in the EU at launch. AirPods 5 bring noise cancellation to $129.

Key Features:

  • Live Rewind: Press the Digital Crown twice to replay the last 15 seconds of a conversation as text on your wrist.
  • Sound Recognition: Alerts deaf and hard-of-hearing users to sirens, alarms, doorbells, and baby crying, running on-device without an iPhone nearby.
  • Siri Recap: Siri writes a short summary of conversations with a title and key points.
  • Shazam: Identifies music playing around you.

Privacy Engineering:

The S11 chip features a Secure Exclave—a hardware-isolated compartment that processes audio in isolation, deletes it, and is inaccessible to the operating system, apps, users, or Apple itself. Every feature is opt-in individually, and Live Rewind explicitly informs nearby people when it's active.

Exclusions and Availability:

Audio Intelligence "will not initially be available in the EU." This also applies to Siri AI on watchOS, with no reasons or dates provided. Both features require an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone 16 or later (excluding the iPhone 16e).

Heart Rate Claims:

Apple states that both watches deliver the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable, based on a study of over 1,000 participants against leading rival devices. The new Health Sensing System uses larger green LEDs and measures heart rate every five seconds all day, with HRV measured more frequently for daily stress and recovery.

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