Each June, Apple previews the next software that will power the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Vision Pro and Apple Watch. This year, it’ll unveil the new software on Monday, June 9.
Apple Watch's new operating software is about to be revealed.
Getty ImagesAlong with the new features coming, Apple also reveals which products will work with the new OS. This is what it seems will be happening for the Apple Watch this year.
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Right now, the latest Apple Watch software, watchOS 11, works with the following watches: Apple Watch SE 2nd generation, Apple Watch Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, Series 9 and the latest Series 10. It’s also compatible with Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch Ultra 2.
As part of a predicted new naming structure, watchOS 11 will be replaced not by watchOS 12 but watchOS 26 (alongside, iOS 26, macOS 26 and so on). The numbering is to reflect the number of the year in which the OS is around longest, in this case 2026.
According to a new report in a private account on X, picked up by MacRumors, the list of compatible watches will be identical to watchOS 11. That is, Apple Watch SE 2nd generation and newer.
Which is great news, obviously, if you have one of the watches on the list and you’d like to keep it for longer. This situation, where the compatibility one year is the same as the next, doesn’t happen at every whole-number update, so it’s quite possible that this time next year the Apple Watch SE 2nd generation and Apple Watch Series 7 will drop off the list. We’ll see.
It doesn’t mean that your watch will gain all the new enhancements of the upcoming OS — for example, there may have been hardware changes in more recent Apple Watches which don’t work with the latest features.
However, it means that the Watch will receive feature updates and, importantly, security updates, for another year.
While we don’t know what the enhancements to watchOS will be, Apple regularly adds new watch faces (though some are restricted to most recent models or screen sizes). It’s thought that there’ll be a design overhaul this year, and the watch will benefit from that, as will the iPhone and other devices.
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