Turns out the Apple Watch is a fabulous piece of spy equipment. This is by Apple’s own admission and is at the heart of the company’s new Audio Intelligence feature for the Apple Watch Series 12, powered by the S11 chip. Using the watch’s built-in microphone, Audio Intelligence continuously collects auditory information around the wearer, allowing them to rewind real-world scenarios, read conversation transcripts, and be alerted to critical sounds like an alarm or a baby crying.
“Since Apple Watch is always on the user’s wrist, it’s the perfect device to help users stay alert to important sounds and stay present and engaged in conversations throughout the day,” Apple said in its Series 12 announcement post. “With the built-in microphone, the power of the S11 chip, the latest Apple Intelligence on iPhone, and Private Cloud Compute, Apple Watch Series 12 delivers a whole new class of Apple Intelligence features.”
Audio Intelligence includes sound recognition, Live Rewind, Siri Recap and Shazam. Sound recognition alerts users to important noises like sirens, alarms, doorbells, or shouting, and even works when a user’s iPhone is not nearby. Live Rewind provides a transcript of the last 15 seconds of conversation on the watch face, activated by double-tapping the digital crown. Siri Recap generates conversation summaries and saves them in the new Siri app, but this feature must first be activated manually. Shazam does exactly what you’d expect: detect music, then display the song title and artist name in a widget on your wrist.
Apple makes it clear that it considers the privacy implications of Audio Intelligence, promising that the feature does not create or store audio recordings. Apple also claims that the raw audio used to generate transcriptions and summaries is inaccessible to the operating system, applications, the user and Apple itself.
“This is because the S11 chip in Apple Watch Series 12 includes Secure Exclave, a dedicated hardware-isolated compartment that processes audio in complete isolation from the rest of the system and then immediately deletes it,” Apple said.
Additionally, users can turn off each Audio Intelligence feature, and things like Siri Recap must be actively turned on and off. Live Rewind chimes when activated, even if Apple Watch is in silent mode, with a microphone indicator and full-screen animation on the screen. Audio Intelligence does not identify or attribute speakers, and Siri Recap has built-in protections against the collection of sensitive information such as finances or personal identification numbers. Siri Recap doesn’t create a transcript, only a high-level summary of conversations, Apple points out. The company offers an 11-page review of Audio Intelligence’s privacy features to allay concerns.
With Audio Intelligence, Apple is expanding the passive surveillance state we’re gradually building around us in the form of individually worn GPS trackers, police-standard doorbell cameras, always-on smart headphones, and fashionable recording devices. However, Audio Intelligence is also poised to become another useful tool for people living with hearing loss or other disabilities, and it’s wonderful to see the accessibility space continue to evolve. It’s like the song says: you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the Apple Watch Series 12 with Audio Intelligence.
The Apple Watch Series 12, with Audio Intelligence, starts at $399 and will be available September 18.
