Apple Watch gets Audio Intelligence and Siri features in watchOS 27.3 beta

Apple has released the new watchOS 27.3 developer beta, introducing Audio Intelligence features powered by Siri to the Apple Watch. The update leverages the watch's microphone for ambient listening and enhances how users interact with their voice assistant.

• Siri Recap and Live Rewind utilize the Apple Watch microphone for audio processing
• Live Rewind generates text transcripts of the last 15 seconds via Digital Crown
• Apple Intelligence automatically generates titles and key points in the Siri app
• User privacy is protected as raw audio is handled on dedicated hardware without being saved

How Live Rewind works on Apple Watch

The new Live Rewind feature is designed to help users recall what was just said during a conversation. A double-press of the Digital Crown displays the previous 15 seconds of a conversation as a text snippet, allowing users to catch details they might have missed or found unfamiliar.

Users can ask Siri questions about the text content or save it to the Siri app to revisit later. This tool integrates deeply into the watchOS interface, offering quick access to missed audio snippets directly from the wrist without pulling out an iPhone.

Summarizing conversations with Siri Recap

Another major addition is Siri Recap, which can create high-level summaries of conversations for users to review later. When Siri Recap is enabled, Apple Intelligence automatically generates a title and key points in the new Siri app after a conversation ends, allowing users to stay engaged in the moment.

This approach eliminates the need to manually take notes during meetings or lengthy discussions. All core takeaways are structured neatly, enabling users to jog their memory whenever they need to revisit the context of a past chat.

Privacy implications of ambient Audio Intelligence

Given the implications of an ambient, always-listening AI, Apple has released a detailed Audio Intelligence Privacy Overview document explaining how user privacy is protected. The company emphasizes its commitment to safeguarding personal data against unauthorized access.

According to Apple, users' raw audio is handled within dedicated hardware, is not saved as a file, and remains inaccessible to the operating system, apps, or Apple itself. When using iCloud with two-factor authentication, saved summaries or text snippets sync end-to-end encrypted across devices in the Siri app.