Apple’s latest announcements are already causing a stir, with a new AI-powered feature found on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 leaving fans somewhat divided on what they think of the upcoming devices as well as what features they offer. At its special event on September 9, Apple not only introduced the new iPhone Duo and iPhone 18, as well as the new Apple Watches, but also showed off some of the features that will help Apple Watches stand out from the competition, including two new features that rely on the Watch to always listen: Live Rewind and Siri Recap.
These features are expected to be available in beta in late 2026. Live Rewind will allow users to play back the last 15 seconds or so of a conversation, while Siri Recap will go even further by generating a summary of the conversation so users can replay it. It’s a novel idea that can be beneficial, especially for users who suffer from hearing problems or even have trouble following conversations easily. However, the privacy implications have already raised some concerns about the potential use of this feature.
Although the features are all optional and words are not attributed to individual speakers, some users question how valid a blanket approach is. “Register for who? » asked one user on Reddit. They followed up the original question by asking whether or not Apple would get verification of everyone in the vicinity of the watch recording the audio. Because even if you never own an Apple product, it’s possible that your voice will be recorded and then processed by AI in some way thanks to these new features.
Users fear being recorded without their permission
This isn’t the only problem people have with this feature. Some also found it disturbing and even borderline antisocial. Others commented that it would “work just as well as live translation,” another feature introduced by Apple that uses AI to listen to the conversation and then read it back in some way. However, reporting on Live Translate has been less than stellar at times. One of the big concerns shared by one user is that this will further normalize the idea that technology is always listening to everyone.
There are already many concerns about phones and smart speakers always listening in on conversations, and research has been done in the past that has proven that phones are spying on people. Phones listen to you, but it’s not because they’re spying on you; it’s how they respond to wake words like Hey Siri or Hey Google. The difference is that these features are only supposed to listen for the specific keywords they record. Everything else is just background noise. With Live Rewind and Siri Recall, the system is always listening to everything.
How Apple approaches user privacy
Although many people have raised concerns about privacy, it’s important to look at the bigger picture. Apple claims that the audio used for processing is not accessible in any way and is then deleted. Apple designed Live Rewind to provide an audible chime upon startup, as well as display a microphone icon on the device to indicate that it has been activated. Of course, this doesn’t give others around you a chance to opt out, but at least there’s some sort of sound notification.
It’s also possible that the AI is also mistaken, as the AI is prone to hallucinations. In the past, the company had to disable AI-based features due to incorrect summarization. So it will be interesting to see how well Live Rewind and Siri Recap perform in comparison. Additionally, Apple notes that Siri Recap was designed to completely exclude sensitive information and that Live Rewind text snippets as well as any summaries created with Siri Recap are end-to-end encrypted when syncing with iCloud. So if you’re one of the many people who might find the features useful for a variety of reasons, you can at least rest easier knowing that some privacy protections are in place.
