It has been a big twelvemonth for Apple. There's a new CEO, prices have risen throughout the board, and there's been a apparently endless rollout of new devices, including two new Apple Watches: the Series 12 and the Ultra 4. All things considered, these watches recommendation lone insignificant upgrades complete the former models, shipping alongside new bosom charge monitors and the latest S11 processor. But among the biggest new observe features, "Audio Intelligence," is additionally the most controversial—and it's rolling out in beta today.
What is Audio Intelligence?
Audio Intelligence is Apple's branding for a new set of features exclusive to the Series 12 and Ultra 4. These features use the new Apple Watches' hardware, alongside alongside on-device and cloud-based AI, for tasks akin audio and music acknowledgment as fine as dictation. "Sound Recognition" can vigilant you to crucial sounds, akin alarms and doorbells, during "Music Recognition" can automatically display songs playing about you—but these aren't the features you'll comprehend talked concerning in discussions of Audio Intelligence.
Rather, everyone is up in arms concerning "Live Rewind" and "Siri Recap." These Audio Intelligence features passively "listen" to your conversations throughout the day, and, using AI, provision summaries of what was said. When you double-click your Apple Watch's crown to use Live Rewind, you'll get a free copy of the final 15 seconds of conversation it overheard, during Siri Recap can display summaries of all your in-person chats throughout the day. You can equal configure a agenda for whenever your observe is "listening" for recaps—e.g., lone run during activity hours. Apple suggests all is intended to assistance jog your memory; perchance you use Siri Recap to recall crucial discussions you had that morning, during Live Rewind is meant for moments anywhere you ignore what person fair said. (As opposed to asking them to reiterate themselves, I suppose.)
These features sparked several disagreement following their announcement, since the idea of Apple Watches quietly record everything stated throughout the day doesn't sit fine alongside many people. Apple is adamant, however, that Audio Intelligence preserves your privacy. The business emphasizes that the Apple Watch never really records anything; instead, it processes an audio stream through the Secure Enclave, a part of the S11 part that equal watchOS itself can't access, before sending it to your iPhone's Secure Enclave for additional processing. This lets your Apple Watch create the two transcripts (Live Rewind) and summaries (Siri Recap) without always really record or storing audio. Apple says speakers are never identified in this process, and the two Siri Recap and Live Rewind data are automatically deleted, unless you desire to preserve any of these content results to the Siri app.
How to try Audio Intelligence early
Apple's claims may or may not assuage your fears, but it seems the business is pushing on onward regardless. Apple is releasing Audio Intelligence as part of iOS 27.3, which launches in beta on Tuesday. If you have an Apple Watch Series 12 or Ultra 4, you can try it out today, assuming you enroll in Apple's latest beta version.
To do so, you'll need to sign up for the Apple Developer program, since iOS 27.3 is rolling out archetypal for devs. This program used to necessitate a $99 fee, but you can skip it now if you opt for the liberated account. Once you enroll your Apple Account in this program, you can open your iPhone, caput to Settings > General > Software Update > Beta Updates, and choose "iOS 27 Developer Beta." Go rear one page, afterward prosecute the on-screen instructions to download and instal iOS 27.3 whenever it's available.
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