watchOS 27.3 beta adds new Siri Recap and Live Rewind features for Apple Watch

Apple has released the first beta of watchOS 27.3 for developers, including two new Audio Intelligence features for Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4: Siri Recap and Live Rewind.

Apple first announced these features at its special event in September, saying they would “arrive in beta later this year.”

Siri Recap and Live Rewind

As a refresher, Siri Recap creates high-level summaries of conversations that you can review later. When the feature is enabled, Apple Intelligence will automatically generate a title and key points that you can review in the Siri app on iPhone.

Apple says:

Siri Recap ambiently takes notes on your conversations throughout your day and creates high-level Apple Intelligence–generated summaries that you can use later to jog your memory, so you can stay present in the moment. Your summaries auto-delete after 7 days if you choose not to save them.

You can turn on Siri Recap in the Watch app on iPhone. When you enable it, you can set a schedule based on time and/or location, or you can manually turn it on or off. You can also access it via Control Center on Apple Watch.

Live Rewind, meanwhile, helps you recall what was just said in a conversation. You can activate Live Rewind by double-pressing the Digital Crown, and then see a transcript of the previous 15 seconds of a conversation.

Live Rewind recalls what was just said in the last 15 seconds by showing a text snippet on your Apple Watch when you double-press the Digital Crown, so you can catch something you missed or are less familiar with. You can ask Siri about the content of the snippet or simply save it to the Siri app.

Apple emphasizes that these features are designed with privacy in mind. For example, Live Rewind plays an audible chime when you use it, even if your Apple Watch is on silent. Live Rewind and Siri Recap do not identify and attribute speakers.

Siri Recap’s summary is described as a “brief, high-level summary of conversations,” not a transcript. Apple says it will “exclude sensitive information like financial information or government-assigned identifiers.”

Live Rewind text snippets and Siri Recap summaries are end-to-end encrypted. Apple says the 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.” The company uses the S11 chip’s Secure Exclave to power the features, a “dedicated hardware-isolated compartment that processes audio in complete isolation from the rest of the system, then immediately deletes it.”

Apple has published a detailed Privacy Overview covering the Audio Intelligence features on its website, as well as a support article:

Siri Recap and Live Rewind are available in beta with watchOS 27.3, which is available now for developers.

My favorite Apple deals right now:

- Pre-order the new Apple TV 4K and HomeView

- AirPods Pro 3 $199 (Reg. $249)

- M5 MacBook Air Up to $200 off

- M6 Mac mini: up to $150 off

- AirTag 2: from $17.50 each (Reg. $29)

- AirPods Max 2 $449 (Reg. $549)

Follow Chance: Threads, X, and Instagram