How to Try Out the Audio Intelligence Feature on Apple Watch in Advance
It’s been a busy year for Apple. A CEO change, price increases across the board, and a seemingly endless stream of new devices, including two new Apple Watch models: the Series 12 and Ultra 4. Overall, these watches offer only minor improvements over previous models, featuring new heart rate monitors and the latest S11 processor. But one of the watch’s most significant new features, “Audio Intelligence,” is also its most controversial— and it’s launching in beta today .
What is audio intelligence?
Audio Intelligence is Apple’s brand name for a new set of features exclusive to Series 12 and Ultra 4. These features leverage the new Apple Watch’s hardware, along with built-in and cloud-based AI, for tasks like sound and music recognition, and dictation. Sound Recognition can alert you to important sounds, such as alarms and doorbells, and Music Recognition can automatically display songs playing around you—but you won’t hear about these features in discussions of Audio Intelligence.
In contrast, everyone’s raving about the Live Rewind and Siri Recap features. These audio intelligence features passively “listen” to your conversations throughout the day and, using AI, provide summaries of what was said. Double-tapping the Apple Watch’s crown to use Live Rewind gives you an approximate transcript of the last 15 seconds of the conversation it overheard, while Siri Recap can show summaries of all your face-to-face conversations throughout the day. You can even schedule when your watch “listens” for summaries—for example, only run them during work hours. Apple suggests that each of these features is designed to help you refresh your memory; perhaps you use Siri Recap to recall important discussions you had in the morning, while Live Rewind is meant for those moments when you forget what someone just said. (As opposed to asking someone to repeat what they said, I suppose.)
These features generated some controversy upon their announcement , as the idea of the Apple Watch discreetly recording everything said throughout the day was unpopular with many. However, Apple insists that Audio Intelligence ensures privacy. The company emphasizes that the Apple Watch doesn’t actually record anything; instead, it processes the audio stream through the Secure Enclave, a part of the S11 chip that even watchOS doesn’t have access to, before sending it to your iPhone’s Secure Enclave for further processing. This allows your Apple Watch to create both text transcripts (Live Rewind) and summaries (Siri Recap) without recording or storing the audio. Apple states that speakers are never identified in this process, and Siri Recap and Live Rewind data is automatically deleted unless you choose to save any of these text results in the Siri app.
How to Get Started with Audio Intelligence Early
Apple’s announcements may or may not allay your concerns, but it seems the company is still moving forward. Apple is releasing the Audio Intelligence feature as part of iOS 27.3, the beta of which is out on Tuesday. If you have an Apple Watch Series 12 or Ultra 4, you can try it out today by signing up for Apple’s latest beta.
To do this, you’ll need to sign up for the Apple Developer Program , as iOS 27.3 will be available to developers first. Previously, this program required a $99 fee, but you can now opt for a free account without it. After signing up for this program with your Apple account, open your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Software Update > Betas , and select “iOS 27 Developer Beta.” Go back one page, then follow the onscreen instructions to download and install iOS 27.3 when it becomes available.