Apple seeded watchOS 27 Beta 2 to registered developers today. The update arrives just a day after the rest of the beta 2 updates that also included iOS 27 Beta 2, iPadOS 27 Beta 2, tvOS 27 Beta 2, visionOS 27 Beta 2, and macOS Golden Gate Beta 2.
The update is available through the Settings app on a compatible Apple Watch, though it requires iOS 27 Beta 2 on the paired iPhone and a free Apple Developer account. A public beta for watchOS 27 is listed as “coming soon” on Apple’s beta.apple.com page, with availability expected sometime in July 2026. The final release is set for fall 2026, likely alongside the iPhone 18 lineup.
What’s new and what’s changing in watchOS 27 Beta 2
Beta 2 continues refining the features introduced in Beta 1. The most prominent user-facing change is the new Dynamic App Grid, which surfaces 5 apps based on your current context and general usage patterns, with Siri positioned at the center. Pressing the Digital Crown triggers the grid regardless of whether you normally use grid or list view, and rotating the Crown from there switches back to your preferred layout.
watchOS 27 is also consolidating the Apple Watch’s built-in app count significantly. Four apps have been removed or merged in Beta 1 and carried through Beta 2:
- Find Devices, Find People, and Find Items are replaced by a single unified Find My app with a map-centric layout, quick access to directions, and Precision Finding for locating a paired iPhone, AirPods Pro 3, or AirTag 2
- Walkie-Talkie has been removed entirely, disappearing from both the app list and Control Center with no option to restore it; Apple has not offered an explanation for the removal
Walkie-Talkie launched with watchOS 5 in 2018, so its removal ends nearly 8 years of the feature on the platform. The consolidated Find My approach makes practical sense given the overlap between the three separate apps, but the Walkie-Talkie cut is more surprising given it had no obvious replacement.
Siri AI and the new watch face are still pending
The headline feature of watchOS 27, Siri AI, is not yet active in the betas, and Apple says the integration is coming later this year. When it does arrive, Siri on the watch will rely on a connected iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence, meaning an iPhone 15 Pro or later is required. Siri will be able to hold full back-and-forth conversations and access personal data to complete more complex tasks, and Apple is planning a dedicated Siri app on the watch to hold those conversations.
A new Modular-style watch face is also absent from Beta 2. Mark Gurman had flagged a simplified take on the Modular Ultra design as expected at WWDC, but it did not appear, and Gurman now expects that face to debut alongside new Apple Watch hardware this fall.
Which Apple Watch models support watchOS 27
watchOS 27 is compatible with the following models:
- Apple Watch Series 9
- Apple Watch Series 10
- Apple Watch Series 11
- Apple Watch Ultra 2
- Apple Watch Ultra 3
- Apple Watch SE (3rd generation)
That list cuts the Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, the original Apple Watch Ultra, and the Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) in a single cycle, which is the steepest single-cycle compatibility cut in Apple Watch history. Apple Watch and Health product marketing manager Cait Dooley attributed the decision to processing requirements, saying that features including Siri AI and the new tap gesture “work best with the processing power that is in Apple Watch Series 9 and later, Ultra 2 and later, and SE 3.”
