Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 owners have two more features on the way. Apple has confirmed that Siri Recap and Live Rewind will arrive in beta later this year, starting in English, according to a new Apple Support page published today.
Both are part of Audio Intelligence, a new set of Apple Intelligence features that use the watch’s microphones and the new S11 chip. The other two, Sound Recognition and automatic song detection with Shazam, are already available. Siri Recap and Live Rewind are the more ambitious pair, and the catch is that you’ll need more than just a new watch to use them.
Siri Recap: notes on your day, without the notebook
Siri Recap listens to your conversations in the background and turns them into short, high-level summaries generated by Apple Intelligence. The idea is to help you remember what was discussed later, so you can focus on the conversation now.
Apple stresses that it isn’t a transcript or a recording:
- No audio is stored. Sound is processed inside a protected area of the S11 chip and deleted right away.
- No speaker labels. Summaries can include names that come up, but they don’t say who said what.
- Sensitive details are filtered. Apple says recaps are designed to leave out things like financial data and ID numbers.
- Summaries delete themselves after 7 days unless you save or export them.
- You control when it runs. Set a schedule by time or place (for example, only at work), or switch it on and off from Control Center.
Saved recaps live in a new Recaps tab in the Siri app and sync with end-to-end encryption through iCloud.
Live Rewind: catch what you just missed
Live Rewind is the simpler of the two. Double-press the Digital Crown and your watch shows a text snippet of what was said in the last 15 seconds. It’s handy for a name you didn’t catch, a number someone rattled off, or a term you don’t know. From there you can ask Siri about it or save it to the Siri app.
It only works when you trigger it, and it doesn’t keep transcribing in the background. Apple says the snippet disappears about 30 seconds after the screen dims unless you save it. Processing happens on your watch and iPhone, and only goes to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute if you ask Siri about the snippet or save it.
To make it obvious to people nearby, Live Rewind plays a chime from the watch speaker, even in silent mode or with headphones connected, and shows a full-screen animation and microphone indicator.
You’ll turn it on in the Watch app on your iPhone, under Siri > Live Rewind.
Why only the Series 12 and Ultra 4, and which iPhone you’ll need
Both features rely on the S11 chip’s Secure Exclave, a sealed-off part of the chip that handles audio privately. Older watches don’t have it, so no earlier model will get Siri Recap or Live Rewind, including the Series 11 and Ultra 3.
The bigger surprise is the iPhone requirement. Unlike Sound Recognition and Shazam, which work with an iPhone 11 or later, Siri Recap and Live Rewind need an iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence and Siri AI:
| Requirement | Siri Recap and Live Rewind |
|---|---|
| Apple Watch | Series 12 or Ultra 4 |
| iPhone | iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro or 16 Pro Max; iPhone 17, 17e, 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max; iPhone Air; iPhone 18 Pro or 18 Pro Max; iPhone Duo |
| Software | Apple Intelligence and Siri AI (beta) turned on |
| Language | English first, more to follow |
| Region | Siri AI isn’t initially available in the EU on watchOS |
| Age | 13 or older; under-18 Child Accounts need a parent to turn it on |
In other words, if you paired a new Series 12 with an iPhone 15 or older, these two features won’t work for you, even on an iPhone 15 Pro, which supports Apple Intelligence but isn’t on Apple’s list. The iPhone 16e is missing from the list too.
When it’s coming
Apple only says “later this year,” in beta, starting with English, and that more details will come at launch. It hasn’t named a month or a watchOS version. Based on how Apple usually rolls out features, a watchOS 27.x update before the end of 2026 is the likely route, but that’s our expectation, not Apple’s confirmation.
Our take: Live Rewind sounds like the more useful of the two for most people, especially in meetings, lectures or noisy places. Siri Recap is the bigger bet. Apple has put a lot of privacy safeguards around it, but a watch that summarises your conversations will make some people around you uneasy, so it’s worth using the schedule controls.
Will you turn on Siri Recap or Live Rewind? Let us know in the comments.
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Sources
- About Audio Intelligence features on Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 (Apple Support, September 30, 2026)
- Audio Intelligence Privacy Overview (Apple, September 2026)