Category: watchOS 12

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WWDC 2025: everything you need to know
The Worldwide Developer Conference or WWDC is one of Apple’s most vital annual events where software updates take the center stage. At WWDC 2025, Apple is expected to showcase changes to the iOS and macOS that will substantially improve how we interact with the iPhone, iPad, and the Mac. But that are not all the announcements, as Apple will also discuss improvements to all of its interface running on different categories of devices. Besides software, we might witness some hardware announcements too.

Here’s everything you need to know about the potential announcements Apple is likely to make in June this year at WWDC 2025.

WWDC 2025: When will it happen?

WWDC typically takes place in the first half of June every year, though the dates change every year. Apple likes to kick off the event with a keynote on a Monday, and will continue the tradition this year.

Apple has already confirmed WWDC 2025 will be inaugurated with a keynote on June 9, with various developer sessions through June 13.

How and where can I watch WWDC 2025?

Apple

WWDC 2025 will be hosted online and is free to watch for all. The livestream for the keynote, as well as various subsequent sessions, can be found on the dedicated page on Apple’s website and Apple’s official YouTube channel.

However, Apple will give a select few the opportunity to attend the conference in person and interact with technical experts at the Apple Park in Cupertino. This is open to a limited number of developers, who can apply here, and winners of the Swift Student Challenge (2023 to 2025).

With WWDC being Apple’s biggest non-hardware event of the year, we expect several announcements on the future of software and user experience across its many devices. Below, we will talk about all the changes we expect to see at the conference this year.

iOS 19

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

With the iPhone being the biggest contributor to Apple’s revenue, iOS is easily the most vital product to be discussed at the annual conference. 2025 is the year of iOS 19. Although a stable release will come with the iPhone 17 series later this year, Apple will preview the next generation of iOS.

While nothing concrete is known of the update, we have seen numerous rumors about a massive shift in the iPhone’s software experience. As one of the most reliable sources behind Apple’s developments, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has claims iOS 19 will be “one of the most dramatic software overhauls” in the history of the iPhone. This year’s update is expected to bring a significant visual revamp for the first time since iOS 7 was released in 2013.

With the upcoming update, Apple is expected to enact fundamental changes in how iOS looks and operates. iOS 19 is expected to borrow largely from the Apple Vision Pro’s translucent visual elements and systematically overhaul multiple features, including the look and style of icons, menus, touch controls and buttons, menus, and even system apps. Apple aims to achieve visual consistency across multiple platforms and simplify how we interact with devices.

Apple is also expected to refine system animations with a focus on translucency. And while, iOS 19 has a supremely long list of new features, some of the features yet to be delivered from last year’s iOS 18 are also expected to hop on. This primarily includes the promised set of Apple Intellgence features that have yet to be available.

Apple Intelligence

Notification Summaries in Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 16 series Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends

Apple has gradually released several promised Apple Intelligence features with spaced out iOS 18 updates since the iPhone 16 launch back in September. With the latest iOS 18.4 launching soon, eligible devices are set to gain features such as Priority Notifications, improvements to Image Playground, and availability of Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. These add to the already available features, such as notification summaries, writing tools, Genmoji, Clean up in Photos, and Smart Replies and Summaries in the Messages and Mail apps. In addition, Apple is expected to expand Intelligence features to more languages and regions.

Some of the Apple Intelligence features showcased previously remain unreleased, and are expected to get picked up this year. The most important of them all is the more personalized Siri with awareness of your personal information as well as the actions you perform on your Apple devices.

At WWDC last year, Apple gave us a glimpse of a smarter version of its virtual assistant, Siri. It was subsequently updated to perceive requests and fetch responses to queries using ChatGPT, but a broader update was promised to arrive some time in 2025. However, recent developments suggest while Siri upgrades may be part of iOS 19, they might not ship immediately.

In addition to more natural conversations and better context, Apple also teased Siri’s ability to view what’s on your screen for additional context when answering your queries. These features might be delayed too.

Apple might build on improvements to existing Intelligence features to buy some time before the major overhaul.

The odds against a more personalized Siri

Apple

Earlier in March, Apple said these upgrades would finally arrive sometime “in the coming year,” indicating they might not even be ready to ship in time for the iPhone 17 launch. The unreasonable delay has become a topic of embarrassment for Apple and has amounted to legal trouble, with a group of users suing Apple — and seeking a class action status for their lawsuit — for misleading information about the timeline of releasing these features.

With this being a touchy subject for the average consumer, Apple might skip any boastful claims from the keynote. Though with deeper control over apps being yet another facet of the overhauled assistant, some later sessions may be dedicated to educating developers.

iPadOS 19

Prakhar Khanna / Digital Trends

Alongside iOS 19, Apple will also showcase the version of the operating system especially tuned to larger screens on the iPad. Like its mobile variant, iPadOS 19 is expected to come with radical changes to the interface, with more fluid elements.

The exact changes for iPadOS 19 have yet to be detailed, but we expect similar treatment in terms of simplified menus as iOS 19. With iPadOS also enabling a desktop-like interface through Stage Manager or by attaching an external display, we could see it adopt simplified app windows inspired by visionOS and better support for tiling multiple open windows like we saw on macOS last year.

macOS 16

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Like iOS 19, macOS is also slated to be part of Apple’s plan to overhaul interfaces visually to improve how we interact with Mac devices. Bloomberg’s Gurman expects this to be the biggest upgrade since Big Sur in 2020. The objective of these updates is to consolidate all of Apple’s operating system to look and function similarly.

While the name for macOS 16 won’t be officially revealed until WWDC — or through leaks a few weeks leading up to the event, trademarks filed by Apple may shed some light on the topic. Apple typically names macOS updates after landmarks in California, and two trademarks that have remained unclaimed so far are Skyline and Rincon. Apple might use either of the two to christen the next macOS edition.

As with iOS 19, Apple is expected to delve into translucent and fluid design elements for the macOS update. We expect to see more desktop-specific Apple Intelligence features, though with Apple’s general sluggishness with its AI rollout, they may not launch this year.

Lastly, even though there isn’t solid to indicate Apple bring more game studios onboard, we hope to see more titles being adopted for the ecosystem.

watchOS 12

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

Unlike upcoming versions of iOS and macOS, there have been fewer rumors foretelling any visual upgrades to the interface on the Apple Watch. Last year, Apple introduced changes in the form of a Live activities tracker and a Smart Stack for widgets that can be accessed straight from the homescreen by rotating the crown button.

With watchOS 12, the biggest anticipation is not visual but rather in terms of features. Apple may predominantly be looking to make AI-powered health insights accessible through supported Apple Watch models. One can expect these insights to be identical to the daily Readiness and Energy Scores provided by competitors such as the Galaxy Watch 7 and the Pixel Watch 3. We could also expect more personalized health routines or coaching features during physical activities.

With limited processing power on the SiP driving the Apple Watch, we can expect most of the processing happening on the iPhone while the Watch acts as a mere interface for collecting data and showing brief or momentous overviews. Similarly, it remains to be seen if the Apple Watch also gets the upgraded version of Siri.

Additionally, Apple is reportedly working to bring high blood pressure alerts to the Apple Watch Series 11 and Watch Ultra 3. Since these features will require specialized hardware, we don’t expect them to trickle down to existing models. Future generations of the Apple Watch might come with more powerful hardware and a camera to enable Visual Intelligence-like functionality, though the chances of that happening this year are very lean. We don’t expect existing Apple Watch models to receive these features either.

Beyond AI upgrades, watchOS 12 could be expected to bring new watch faces for the Apple Watch. We can’t say just yet what these would look like but can hope some AI insights seeping through the watch faces as well.

visionOS 3

Zeke Jones / Digital Trends

visionOS is Apple’s software for its premium mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro. Since visionOS itself is the substrate for Apple’s upcoming ambitious design change, we may not see many visual changes.

While the original software on the headset focused largely on entertainment and immersive experiences, visionOS 2 brought a host of improvements, expanding how Apple’s premium headset can be used alongside other Apple products, such as Mac, and used as a replacement for large physical displays, and expanded applications to control the headset with eye movements.

There aren’t many rumors about what we could expect of the next iteration of software for the premium headset, Apple might add better support for VR games. It has been in talks with Sony to support PlayStation VR controllers on the Vision Pro, which means we might see some iPad-ready AAA titles, such as some Resident Evil titles but with VR support.

tvOS 19

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Among all the operating systems, Apple’s interface for the Apple TV box has received the least attention in terms of rumors. With the previous update, tvOS received updates in the form of improve dialogues, subtitles, spatial audio support, and improved access to connected devices listed in the Home app.

Though there aren’t sufficient rumors or leaks indicating what some of the new features may be, we expect Apple to inject some AI features for better content discovery. Meanwhile, more personalized stats from the Apple Watch we discussed above may also feature on the TV as part of Apple’s push to integrate fitness features into it. Furthermore, we hope for some improvements to Home controls.

HomePod with a display

Zeke Jones / Digital Trends

Apple’s smart speaker lineup hasn’t been refreshed in over two years, which suggests new models could arrive this year. For starters, Apple is said to be working on a new HomePod Mini with a far better Wi-Fi 6E protocol. This, however, may not arrive until the end of 2025.

Meanwhile, several rumors point to yet another upgrade in the HomePod family — bringing a display that attaches to the smart speaker. Smart speakers with displays have already been explored by plenty of brands, including Google, Amazon, and Meta. What Apple is expected to do differently is attach the display with a robotic arm to move the display around to face you as you move in your physical space.

While the display is said to be identical to an iPad, the said HomePod is suggested to run a distinct interface, called “homeOS.” It is also suggested to be driven by an A18 chipset to enable Apple Intelligence features.

In addition to the sophisticated hardware, Apple might launch a simpler model with a display attached to the base of a HomePod speaker, pretty much like an Amazon Echo Show. The abundance of rumors suggests Apple might launch these smart speakers at WWDC 2025.

New hardware

Apple often releases new hardware on the sidelines of WWDC, and while most of the popular categories of products have already been refreshed, some less popular ones might be refreshed at this year’s event. Before going over potential launches, let us take you through all the products Apple is unlikely to launch at WWDC.

Since the iPhone 16 launch last September, Apple has launched myriad new products. The list includes the following:
- iPad Mini with A17 Pro
- 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pro with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips
- a redesigned Mac Mini M4
- iMac M4
- iPad Air M3
- Mac Studio with M4 Max/M3 Ultra
- 13″ and 15″ M4 MacBook Air
- a new base iPad
- iPhone 16e
That means, we shouldn’t expect Apple to release new products in these categories. While the list is nowhere short, Apple could add several more products this year, and it might start with the second generation of AirTag.

The AirTag 2 with improved range up to 90 meters (about 300 feet) and better privacy features is expected to arrive soon, and may be launched at WWDC 2025. It is rumored to be equipped with an improved Ultra Wideband chip which will contribute to better precision tracking.

In addition, Apple is expected to launch the M5 iPad Pro, a new 4K Apple TV box, and the second-generation Studio Display, though conservative assumptions suggest Apple would launch them after the iPhone 17 launch in September.
March 27, 2025
watchOS 12: everything you need to know

One of the great things about modern smart devices is that they’re gifts that keep on giving, thanks to their frequent software updates. Whether it’s a phone, a watch, or even a TV, chances are the device you’re using today isn’t quite the same one you bought three or four years ago.

That’s just as true with the Apple 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 won’t be long before Apple takes the wraps off watchOS 12 to tell us what we can expect, but in the meantime, here’s what we’ve heard so far.

When will we see watchOS 12?

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

For years, you’ve almost been able to mark your calendar for when Apple unveils its new operating systems, and we don’t expect this year to be any different.

Apple shows off its entire lineup of operating system updates during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). That’s nearly always held during the second week of June, with a keynote presentation on the first Monday. So, it wasn’t a big surprise when Apple recently announced that this year’s WWDC keynote will be on June 9, 2025.

Apple hasn’t officially announced a time for the keynote, but if past years are any indication, we can expect it to kick off at 10:00 a.m. PT (1:00 p.m. ET), where Apple is expected to unveil watchOS 12 alongside iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, and more.

The first developer beta of watchOS 12 will likely be released the same day, followed by a public beta sometime in July. The final release of watchOS 12 will come in September, alongside the new Apple Watch models that Apple typically releases in the fall.

What the rumors say about watchOS 12

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

So far, the rumor mill has been pretty quiet about what we can expect in terms of new software features in watchOS 12 — at least for those things that will apply to existing Apple Watch models.

Instead, sources are focused on what the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 will bring to the table. These 2025 wearables will ship with watchOS 12 out of the box, so it will need to support whatever Apple has in store for those models.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who usually has some pretty reliable insights, has suggested this could be the year that high blood pressure monitoring comes to the Apple Watch. Apple has been trying to crack this nut for years, and while previous reports suggested it was having trouble getting clinically accurate readings, recent information indicates that it will likely give up on precision and simply market this as a hypertension detector, similar to the sleep apnea detection feature that Apple introduced in watchOS 11. This would alert users when abnormally high blood pressure was detected rather than providing continuous measurements or specific systolic and diastolic readings.

Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends

With sleep apnea detection, Apple surprised us by also bringing it to the older Apple Watch Series 9 in watchOS 11. However, that isn’t likely to happen with blood pressure monitoring, as this feature is believed to require a new hardware sensor. By comparison, sleep apnea detection used a new AI algorithm to analyze data from the existing sensors, and therefore only needed a processor that was powerful enough to handle the computations.

Along similar lines, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to get 5G and satellite connectivity as part of watchOS 12. However, hardware requirements will almost certainly make it exclusive to that model.

AI-driven health features

Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends

Beyond that, most of the reports around watchOS 12 are primarily educated speculation at this point. Apple’s AI ambitions for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac suggest that it may plan to bring some more advanced Apple Intelligence capabilities to the Apple Watch, but nobody is quite sure what form those would take.

It’s highly unlikely we’ll see standalone AI features in watchOS 12, as existing watches lack the horsepower needed to run Apple Intelligence. However, Apple has reportedly been looking for new ways to leverage the iPhone to analyze health and fitness data. In this regard, it’s been lagging behind rivals like Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 and Google’s Pixel Watch 3, both of which provide AI-driven health insights that can deliver things like Readiness Scores and Energy Scores that let you know how your body is doing at a glance.

These summarized health insights are something that’s been sorely missing from Apple’s Health initiatives. The Apple Watch can track a lot of data and provide you with all the metrics around it, but it’s up to you to figure out what it means. There’s plenty to read in the iPhone Health app to help you understand your health data, but the analysis is up to you.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Gurman has previously revealed that Apple is working on an AI health coaching service code-named “Quartz” that may address this need. He hasn’t said anything about when this is coming but says it’s expected to focus on preventative health care rather than what sources call “post-sick health care.” In other words, Apple hopes to build algorithms that will keep you from getting sick in the first place.

By applying AI algorithms to this data, the health coach could offer users personalized insights into their activity levels, sleep patterns, and other health metrics.

Apple’s coaching service would utilize AI models to analyze data collected from an Apple Watch. This data, which is already available in the Health app in raw form, would be used to create personalized coaching programs tailored to each individual user’s needs, offering insights into activity levels, sleep patterns, and more. These programs could include exercise regimens and recommended diets and would likely adapt as a person’s health needs change.

There are indications that Apple wants to have this ready for watchOS 12 (and iOS 19). However, some sources have hinted that it could become a new subscription service, either as a standalone “Apple Health+” plan, as part of Apple Fitness+, or rolled into an Apple One bundle. However, Apple has likely not yet settled on a pricing model or even a name. The holistic nature could lead Apple toward something like “Apple Wellness” instead.

What about Siri improvements?

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

One thing we aren’t likely to see are any significant improvements to Apple’s beleaguered voice assistant. After all, Apple recently announced that the more personal Siri it had promised for the iPhone in iOS 18 will take longer than expected — possibly into early 2026 — and it hasn’t even made any such promises for the Apple Watch.

Apple made some Siri improvements in watchOS 10, moving to on-device processing on the Apple Watch Series 9 and later models, thanks to their more powerful chips. This also allowed users to call up and log health data via Siri — a feature that was previously unavailable due to Apple’s reluctance to process such sensitive data in the cloud.

Siri could previously report data from apps on the watch, such as sleep information, but couldn’t delve into deeper health data that was otherwise only available in the iPhone’s Health app. If the rumors of Apple’s AI-driven health features are true, it’s likely that Siri will also provide a way to call up things like sleep and wellness scores and possibly even put them into a broader context. The groundwork for that was already laid in watchOS 10, so it’s just a matter of Apple giving Siri more data to work with.

Design and watch faces

Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends

While recent reports have suggested iOS 19 may get a fresh coat of paint, we’ve heard nothing that indicates such dramatic changes for watchOS 12. Unlike iOS, which has looked the same for over a decade, Apple did a big redesign in watchOS 10, so it’s unlikely to feel the need to change things again so soon.

However, each watchOS update adds new watch faces, and there’s no reason to believe that watchOS 12 will be an exception. We have absolutely no idea 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 release will add two or three new entries.

The wishlist: what folks are clamoring for

Titanium Apple Watch Series 10, Milanese Loop band Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Sadly, we’ve heard nothing to make us hope Apple will bring one of the most-requested customization features to watchOS 12 this year. Customizable or third-party watch face support is likely to remain as limited as ever. In watchOS 7, Apple introduced the ability for developers to provide preconfigured versions of standard watch faces with specific complications for users to install, but that’s about as sophisticated as it’s gotten.

There’s a long list of other Apple Watch features that some folks have been requesting for years that have seemingly fallen on deaf ears in the halls of Apple Park. For example, watchOS still lacks a native Apple Notes app. Full note-taking is obviously impractical, but the ability to more quickly dictate and view short notes would be quite useful. Some third-party apps fill this gap, but Apple Notes is popular enough on the iPhone to leave folks lamenting its inaccessibility from the Apple Watch.

Joe Maring / Digital Trends

We also often hear requests for enhanced health and fitness metrics. Apple does make minor improvements to these year-over-year, but if it does indeed embrace AI-driven health analysis, this could be the year that finally happens 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 everyday folks to understand and absorb.

Apple provides a lot of data, but it doesn’t do a good job of distilling it down to the key points. Last year’s Vitals app in watchOS 11 was a step in that direction, and many hope Apple will take that to the next level in watchOS 12 by making it more apparent to users what these numbers mean — and what they should do about them.

Third-party apps fill this void right now, and Apple’s HealthKit framework makes everything collected by the Apple Watch open to nearly any iPhone or Watch app you install and authorize. However, many prefer to keep their health data in the more private and secure Apple ecosystem.

Which devices will get watchOS 12?

Apple Watch Series 3 (left) and the Apple Watch Series 10 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

We won’t know for sure which Apple Watch models will be supported by watchOS 12 until Apple unveils it in June, but we can make some educated guesses based on past releases.

It’s uncommon for Apple to drop support for older Apple Watch models with new watchOS releases. 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 somewhat past its expiry date, as many folks 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 dropped in last year’s watchOS 11 release. However, that also eliminated the Apple Watch Series 5 and the first-generation Apple Watch SE since all three models used essentially the same processor.

Since the Apple Watch Series 6 through Series 8 also share the same underlying chip (the S6, S7, and S8 are all just repackaged versions of the same T8301 silicon), it’s very likely that watchOS 12 will continue to support the same Apple Watch models as watchOS 11.

March 26, 2025