Apple Unveils Apple Watch Series 12 Audio Intelligence With Live Rewind And Siri Recap

Apple Watch Series 12 is adding Audio Intelligence features that Apple says are designed to help users remember conversations and stay aware of important sounds, powered by the S11 chip, Apple Intelligence models on iPhone, and Private Cloud Compute.

“A double press of the Digital Crown can show the previous 15 seconds of a conversation as a text snippet”

Apple

Live Rewind is one headline addition, letting users double-press the Digital Crown to show the previous 15 seconds of a conversation as a text snippet, while Siri Recap can create high-level summaries of conversations for review later in the new Siri app.

Apple

Apple says Audio Intelligence does not create or store conventional audio recordings, with processing handled using a Secure Exclave on the S11 chip where raw audio is isolated and deleted after processing.

In Apple’s description of the feature set, Live Rewind also plays an audible chime and displays a visible microphone indicator when activated, and Siri Recap and Live Rewind content can be end-to-end encrypted when synced through iCloud.

Engadget also quotes Apple saying, "Since Apple Watch is always on a user's wrist, it is the perfect device to help users stay alert to important sounds and stay present and engaged in conversations throughout the day," tying the listening tools to day-to-day awareness.E

WIRED describes Apple’s approach as four opt-in “audio intelligence” tools on Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, including sound and music recognition, a conversation recap feature, and “Live Rewind” that shows a transcription of what was said in the previous 15 seconds.W

Apple tells WIRED that "These features do not create or store audio recordings, and raw audio used for processing is completely inaccessible to the operating systems, apps, the user, or Apple," and that it processes locally on the watch so potentially sensitive data doesn’t go to the cloud.

AppleInsider

Engadget adds that users can opt out of each Audio Intelligence feature, and that Live Rewind plays a chime even when the watch is on silent, with a microphone indicator and full-screen animation.E

Engadget also says Audio Intelligence does not identify or attribute speakers, while Siri Recap has safeguards against collecting sensitive information like finances or personal identification numbers.E

In the same WIRED report, Apple’s description of its Secure Exclave says it is "a special memory-protected space that Apple calls the Secure Exclave," designed to isolate sensor data processing from the rest of the system.W

Apple says Audio Intelligence features for Apple Watch Series 12 are enabled by the S11 chip and are designed to arrive later this year, while the company’s press release frames the device as engineered with an all-new Health Sensing System and higher-frequency heart rate and HRV sensing.

“Apple Watch Series 12 is available to pre-order today, with availability beginning Friday, September 18”

Apple

In Apple’s announcement, the company says Apple Watch Series 12 measures heart rate every five seconds all day long and measures HRV up to 24 times more often, with a readiness score powered by the Health Sensing System and S11 chip.

Apple also states that Apple Watch Series 12 is available to pre-order today, with availability beginning Friday, September 18, and it quotes Kaiann Drance saying, "Apple Watch Series 12 is the most advanced health and fitness companion we’ve ever created."

Bloomberg Línea reports that at the iPhone 18 event Apple unveiled an Apple Watch that listens to conversations all day, and it says Siri Recap uses ambient listening to take general notes of the user's conversations throughout the day.

Bloomberg Línea adds that the new audio features will be available for testing in English later this year, and it places the watch’s price at $399 for Apple Watch Series 12 and $799 for Apple Watch Ultra 4.