Apple has released a developer beta-testing updates for the Apple Watch and iPhone that introduce Audio Intelligence features introduced in September, including controversial tools that rely on always-on listening via a watch’s microphone.
Audio Intelligence powers features such as Siri Recap, which listens to a conversation and provides bullet-point summaries of the main elements, similar to existing apps such as Granola and Otter, and Live Rewind, which generates a text transcript of the last 15 seconds of audio detected by the watch microphone.
The features are enabled in iOS 27.3 and watchOS 27.3, which were made available for developer testing on Tuesday ahead of a planned public launch in December.
Always-on listening
Audio Intelligence, which works with Series 12 and Ultra 4 smartwatches, arrives at a time when the growing prevalence of AI-powered recording tools in wearable devices, such as Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, has met with public resistance over privacy concerns.
In some jurisdictions, the features could test eavesdropping laws that require parties’ consent to being recorded.
Apple has said the underlying audio isn’t actually recorded or stored, the tools don’t attribute transcribed comments to named individuals, and summaries may omit potentially sensitive material such as financial information, personal identifiers or authentication data.
It said the processing is carried out on the device and, when transcripts are synchronised via the internet, they are encrypted.
Health app, China AI
The updated iOS also brings in a redesigned Health app with an Insights tab that monitors heart rate, vital signs and fitness metrics, along with other features that are similar to those offered by competitors such as Oura and Whoop.
With the updates, Apple Intelligence features the company first brought out in late 2024 and early 2025 have been introduced for users in China for the first time, following long-running negotiations with the Chinese government.
The China updates don’t include the most recent, chattier version of Siri, which is powered by Google’s Gemini, a technology that isn’t permitted in China.