One of the nifty things about modern impertinent machine is that they ’re gifts that keep on gift , thanks to their frequent software update . Whether it ’s a phone , a scout , or even a TV , chance are the machine you ’re using today is n’t quite the same one you buy three or four eld ago .
That ’s just as true with theApple Watch . When Apple releases its watchOS 12 update later this year , many Apple Watch owners will find themselves with an even more powerful wearable than they first bought .
It wo n’t be long before Apple take the wrapper off watchOS 12 to tell us what we can expect , but in the interim , here ’s what we ’ve heard so far .
When will we see watchOS 12?
For twelvemonth , you ’ve almost been able-bodied to mark your calendar for when Apple unveils its unexampled operating scheme , and we do n’t expect this class to be any different .
Apple show off its entire card of operating organization updates during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference ( WWDC ) . That ’s nearly always hold up during the second week of June , with a keynote intro on the first Monday . So , it was n’t a big surprisal whenApple of late announced that this year ’s WWDC keynote will be on June 9 , 2025 .
Apple has n’t officially herald a sentence for the keynote , but if retiring years are any meter reading , we can anticipate it to kick off at 10:00 a.m. PT ( 1:00 p.m. ET ) , where Apple is expect to bring out watchOS 12 alongsideiOS 19 , iPadOS 19 , macOS 16 , and more .
The first developer genus Beta of watchOS 12 will in all likelihood be released the same day , espouse by a public genus Beta sometime in July . The final tone ending of watchOS 12 will come in September , alongside the Modern Apple Watch model that Apple typically unloosen in the descent .
What the rumors say about watchOS 12
So far , the rumor grind has been pretty muted about what we can expect in terms of Modern software program features in watchOS 12 — at least for those things that will apply to be Apple Watch models .
Instead , source are focused on whatthe Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3will bring to the board . These 2025 clothing will send with watchOS 12 out of the box , so it will need to substantiate whatever Apple has in store for those models .
Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman , who usually has some pretty honest insights , has evoke this could be the year that gamey blood insistency monitoring come to the Apple Watch . Apple has been endeavor to check this ballock for year , and while premature paper suggested it was having problem getting clinically precise reading , late information indicates that it will belike give up on precision and simply market this as a high blood pressure detector , alike tothe sleep apnea detection featurethat Apple introduced in watchOS 11 . This would alert users when abnormally high blood insistency was detected rather than providing continuous measure or specific systolic and diastolic interpretation .
With sleep apnea detection , Apple surprised us by also bring it to the older Apple Watch Series 9 in watchOS 11 . However , that is n’t potential to happen with lineage pressure monitoring , as this feature is believed to require a new computer hardware sensor . By comparison , eternal rest apnea detective work used a raw AI algorithm to canvass data from the existing sensors , and therefore only needed a processor that was sinewy enough to handle the computation .
Along like lines , the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to get 5 M and orbiter connectivity as part of watchOS 12 . However , hardware requirements will almost certainly make it exclusive to that model .
AI-driven health features
Beyond that , most of the reports around watchOS 12 are principally educated supposition at this stop . Apple ’s AI ambitions for the iPhone , iPad , and Mac hint that it may be after to impart some more sophisticated Apple Intelligence capabilities to the Apple Watch , but nobody is quite sure what form those would take .
It ’s extremely improbable we ’ll see standalone AI features in watchOS 12 , as exist watches miss the horsepower needed to run Apple Intelligence . However , Apple has reportedly been calculate for new way to leverage the iPhone to study wellness and fitness data . In this regard , it ’s been dawdle behind rivals likeSamsung ’s Galaxy Watch 7andGoogle ’s Pixel Watch 3 , both of which provide AI - drive health insights that can extradite thing like Readiness Scores and Energy Scores that let you know how your torso is doing at a glimpse .
These summarized health insight are something that ’s been sorely miss from Apple ’s Health initiatives . The Apple Watch can track a lot of data point and provide you with all the metric around it , but it ’s up to you to calculate out what it stand for . There ’s plenty to read in the iPhone Health app to help you understand your wellness data , but the analysis is up to you .
Gurman has previously revealed that Apple is working on an AI health coaching job inspection and repair code - name “ Quartz ” that may call this need . He has n’t read anything about when this is coming but say it ’s expected to concenter on preventive wellness care rather than what sources call “ post - sick wellness guardianship . ” In other word , Apple hop to establish algorithmic program that will keep you from getting sick in the first place .
By hold AI algorithmic rule to this data , the wellness manager could provide users individualize insights into their bodily process levels , sleep traffic pattern , and other wellness metric .
Apple ’s coaching service would utilize AI example to analyze data collected from an Apple Watch . This data , which is already available in the Health app in natural grade , would be used to create individualized coaching programme tailored to each case-by-case user ’s need , offer insights into activeness stage , sleep patterns , and more . These programs could admit usage regimens and recommended diet and would likely adapt as a individual ’s wellness motivation change .
There are meter reading that Apple wants to have this ready for watchOS 12 ( and iOS 19 ) . However , some sources have hint that it could become a new subscription help , either as a standalone “ Apple Health+ ” plan , as part of Apple Fitness+ , or cast into an Apple One bundle . However , Apple has probably not yet settled on a pricing model or even a name . The holistic nature could moderate Apple toward something like “ Apple Wellness ” rather .
What about Siri improvements?
One thing we are n’t potential to see are any significant improvement to Apple ’s beleaguered phonation help . After all , Applerecently announcedthat the more personal Siri it had foretell for the iPhone in iOS 18 will take longer than expected — possibly into early 2026 — and it has n’t even made any such promises for the Apple Watch .
Apple made some Siri improvement in watchOS 10 , travel to on - equipment processing on the Apple Watch Series 9 and later models , thanks to their more powerful chips . This also allowed user to call up and lumber health data via Siri — a characteristic that was previously unavailable due to Apple ’s reluctance to process such tender data in the swarm .
Siri could previously account data from apps on the watch , such as slumber information , but could n’t delve into deep health data that was otherwise only available in the iPhone ’s Health app . If the rumors of Apple ’s AI - get wellness feature film are true , it ’s potential that Siri will also provide a way to call up things like sleep and health scores and possibly even put them into a broader context of use . The groundwork for that was already laid in watchOS 10 , so it ’s just a topic of Apple giving Siri more data to work with .
Design and watch faces
While recent reports have suggestediOS 19 may get a overbold coat of paint , we ’ve hear nothing that argue such dramatic changes for watchOS 12 . Unlike Io , which has looked the same for over a decade , Apple did a handsome redesign in watchOS 10 , so it ’s improbable to feel the need to change things again so soon .
However , each watchOS updateadds new watch front , and there ’s no reason to believe that watchOS 12 will be an exception . We have absolutely no estimation what to expect here just yet — and to be fair , they ’re a surprise every year — but it ’s a safe bet that this year ’s passing will sum two or three unexampled launching .
The wishlist: what folks are clamoring for
lamentably , we ’ve listen nothing to make us hope Apple will bring one of the most - requested customization features to watchOS 12 this year . Customizable or third - political party watch face support is likely to remain as limited as ever . In watchOS 7 , Apple enclose the ability for developer to provide preconfigured variant of standard picket faces with specific ramification for users to instal , but that ’s about as sophisticated as it ’s receive .
There ’s a long list of other Apple Watch features that some folks have been requesting for years that have seemingly fallen on deaf ear in the Asaph Hall of Apple Park . For lesson , watchOS still lack a native Apple Notes app . Full promissory note - taking is apparently Laputan , but the ability to more quick dictate and view short notes would be quite utile . Some third - company apps sate this gap , but Apple Notes is popular enough on the iPhone to leave folks lamenting its inaccessibility from the Apple Watch .
We also often hear petition for enhanced wellness and physical fitness metrics . Apple does make underage improvement to these year - over - year , but if it does indeed embrace AI - driven wellness analysis , this could be the year that finally chance in a way that satisfies what many are craving : a more effective presentation and analysis of health data in a way that makes it much easier for unremarkable folks to understand and absorb .
Apple render a lot of datum , but it does n’t do a good job of sublimate it down to the key points . Last year ’s Vitals app in watchOS 11 was a gradation in that direction , and many hope Apple will take that to the next level in watchOS 12 by making it more patent to users what these numbers think of — and what they should do about them .
Third - party apps fill this vacuum right now , and Apple ’s HealthKit model makes everything collected by the Apple Watch opened to nearly any iPhone or Watch app you instal and authorize . However , many choose to keep their wellness data point in the more private and secure Apple ecosystem .
Which devices will get watchOS 12?
We wo n’t know for sure which Apple Watch models will be support by watchOS 12 until Apple unveils it in June , but we can make some educated guesses ground on past press release .
It ’s uncommon for Apple to dismiss living for old Apple Watch models with fresh watchOS spillage . The Apple Watch Series 3 , released in 2017 with watchOS 4 , was supported until watchOS 9 was released in 2022 . That put the Series 3 slightly past its expiration date , as many family line reported problems running the newest software on that aging wearable .
The Apple Watch Series 4 , which came with watchOS 5 , made it to watchOS 10 before being leave out in last yr ’s watchOS 11 release . However , that also eliminated the Apple Watch Series 5 and the first - generation Apple Watch SE since all three model used essentially the same mainframe .
Since the Apple Watch Series 6 through Series 8 also apportion the same underlying chip ( the S6 , S7 , and S8 are all just repackaged versions of the sameT8301 silicon ) , it ’s very likely that watchOS 12 will continue to support the same Apple Watch models as watchOS 11 .
