With the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, Apple is adding Live Rewind, which leverages an S11 processor and new continuous listening features.
Live Rewind listens to what’s happening around the wearer and, when activated by a double press of the Digital Crown, offers a transcription of what was said in the last 15 seconds. Apple says this feature will allow users to detect something they missed or are less familiar with. Snippets can be referred to Siri for further evaluation or saved in the Siri app.
Apple users are already expressing privacy concerns about Live Rewind and comparing it to Meta’s much-maligned smart glasses, but no Apple Watch user will be able to activate it surreptitiously.
When you press the Digital Crown for Live Rewind, Apple Watch emits an audible chime from the speaker. The chime will sound even if Apple Watch is on silent or headphones are connected. At the same time, a full-screen animation and microphone indicator will appear, the combination intended to alert people nearby that the feature has been activated.
Apple says Live Rewind is only activated by deliberately pressing the Digital Crown and all processing is done on-device. It displays the last 15 seconds of speech as a snippet of text on the screen and does not continue transcription in the background. It can be turned on or off via the Watch app on the iPhone.
The Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 have an S11 chip equipped with Secure Excluve. Apple describes the Secure Exclave as an isolated compartment of hardware that processes sensor data separately from the rest of the system. The data processed and analyzed in Secure Excluve is not accessible by the operating system, applications, user or Apple.
Live Rewind and other Audio Intelligence features do not generate audio recordings. Audio flows into Secure Excluve, is processed, and then deleted.
According to Apple, Live Rewind text snippets “permanently disappear” from the Apple Watch approximately 30 seconds after the Apple Watch screen goes dark, unless the information is saved in the Siri app.
Live Rewind requires an Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4 paired with an iPhone 16 or later, although iPhone 16e is not compatible. Apple Intelligence and Siri AI are required and the feature is not available for users under 13. The feature will launch later this year and will not be in the initial releases of watchOS 27 and iOS 27.
