Apple just made Siri on the Apple Watch much more useful – and finally fixed one of its oldest frustrations
Apple's latest developer beta introduces several meaningful upgrades that make the Apple Watch feel noticeably smarter
Apple's latest watchOS 27 developer beta, announced at WWDC 2026, doesn't introduce a long list of headline-grabbing features, but it does mark an important milestone for the software.
The third beta is the first to enable Apple's new Siri AI experience on the Apple Watch, while also delivering a handful of practical refinements that make the smartwatch feel a little more intuitive in everyday use.
The biggest addition is Siri AI, which is now available to developers testing watchOS 27 on supported Apple Watches paired with an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone.
Siri can now understand follow-up questions, maintain conversational context, and deliver more natural responses.
Apple has also introduced a dedicated Siri app, making it easier to interact with the assistant directly from the wrist instead of relying solely on voice commands.
Siri gets smarter in more ways than one
Alongside the AI upgrade, developers have also spotted a small but welcome improvement to one of Siri's longest-standing frustrations.
Until now, asking Siri to add time to an active timer would usually prompt the assistant to ask users to specify a new duration.
In watchOS 27 beta 3, Siri now understands requests such as "add five minutes to my timer" or "give me another minute", making it much more useful when cooking, exercising or tackling jobs around the house.
Another useful improvement is better continuity between devices.
Conversations started with Siri on the Apple Watch can now continue on a paired iPhone without losing context, helping Apple's assistant feel more like a single experience across its ecosystem rather than separate versions running on different devices.
Beyond these additions, beta 3 is primarily focused on refinement, with developers reporting improvements in Siri's responsiveness, alongside the usual collection of bug fixes, performance enhancements, and battery optimisations.
While this isn't the most feature-packed beta Apple has released, it gives the clearest indication yet of what using Siri on the Apple Watch will look like when watchOS 27 launches later this year.
watchOS 27 is only available on Apple Watch Series 9 and newer, as well as the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and the Apple Watch SE 3.
watchOS 27 is currently available as a developer beta, with a public beta expected later this month. The full release is expected to arrive in September alongside Apple's next-generation Apple Watch models.
Anyone can now try the watchOS 27 developer beta by signing up for a free Apple Developer account. There's no longer a paid membership requirement to access Apple's developer builds.
[via NotebookCheck]
