Apple Watch Series 12 Gets Always-Listening AI in Beta

Apple has started shipping two AI features to the Apple Watch Series 12 that listen to the conversations happening around the wearer. In developer betas of iOS 27.3 and watchOS 27.3, Gizmodo reports, a double-press of the digital crown triggers "Live Rewind," which returns a transcript of the preceding 15 seconds; a second feature called "Siri Recap" sits in the background and summarizes the day's conversations into notes that can be saved to the iPhone Notes app.

Live Rewind snippets are deleted after 30 seconds unless the wearer saves them. Siri Recap summaries disappear within seven days.

The privacy problem is that the other people in the room have no idea. Gizmodo's Ece Yildirim writes that the features are "potentially even illegal in some states, due to the fact that people being discreetly recorded by these Apple Watches won't be able to openly give consent." Apple's answer is an audible chime and a visible on-screen animation when Live Rewind is activated. Yildirim notes that Meta's smart glasses tried similar bystander alerts, "which were bypassed by doggedly determined perverts."

The features are not available in the European Union, a decision Apple made months ago. In a statement, the company said it is "working constructively with the EU in an attempt to find a path forward." Full public rollout is scheduled for December. Two of the researchers we follow were already circulating the story the morning it went live.