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Your Old Apple Watch Is Getting Some of the Most Exciting New Features

Apple’s Ultra 3 and Series 11 are its new elite smartwatches. However, some of their standout new features are coming to older Apple Watches, as well.

A black smartwatch with a rectangular face and rounded edges, displaying an analog clock with white hour and minute hands and a red second hand. The watch is worn on a wrist with a dark woven nylon band. The watch face also shows additional information such as temperature (74°) and UV index. The background is blurred and light-colored.Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

By Tucker Bowe

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Even with all the hoopla around Apple’s four iPhone 17 models, the Apple Watch was arguably the star of yesterday’s big keynote. It marked the first time in three years that Apple announced next-gen models of all three of its Apple Watch models.

Obviously, all three new Apple Watch models received some hardware improvements over their predecessors — with the biggest being the SE 3, which finally gets an always-on display — but Apple made an even bigger deal about the software enhancements and new features it’s delivering to each, too.

However, as it turns out, many of the most impactful new features are coming to older Apple Watch models as well.

Two smartwatches are shown side by side. The left watch has a gold case with a light-colored band and displays a sleep score of 84 with a circular graph and the label "High" for the period Mar 31 – Apr 1. The right watch has a black case with a black band and shows a health alert with a red heart icon and the text "Possible Hypertension.
Hypertension notifications and Sleep Score are two of the standout new health and wellness features coming to your Apple Watch.
Apple

There are two headline health and wellness features that Apple is introducing with its newest Apple Watches.

Hypertension notifications

First, hypertension notifications. For the first time, the Apple Watch can alert wearers of signs of chronic high blood pressure — or hypertension — which is a common issue that could lead to a heart attack, stroke or kidney disease.

This feature requires an Apple Watch with an optical heart sensor, meaning it’ll work on the Series 11 and Ultra 3, but not the SE 3. If you have an older Series 9, Series 10 or Ultra 2, they’ll support these hypertension notifications, too. The first-gen Ultra will not.

Smartwatch displaying the time 10:09 and date Tuesday, April 1. The screen shows a sleep score widget with a score of 84 labeled as "High," featuring a circular progress graphic in teal, red, and blue colors. The watch has a gray case and a braided blue-gray band.
Sleep Score rates your quality of sleep out of 100.
Apple

Sleep Score

Second, there’s Sleep Score. This new feature provides Apple Watch wearers with a “Sleep Score,” rating the quality of their sleep out of 100. This feature is similar to what other fitness trackers, including Whoop, have been able to do for some time.

Sleep Score is a new feature that will be available on all Apple Watches that support watchOS 26. This means it’ll work on all Apple Watches that are Series 6 and later, second-gen Watch SE and later, as well as all Ultra models.

watchOS 26 wrist flick
Wrist Flick is a physical movement that essentially functions as a Home button.
Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Wrist Flick

Last and potentially most importantly, there’s Wrist Flick. This new feature requires a physical movement — a quick wrist roll (or “flick”) away from you — to dismiss notifications, incoming calls and timers.

I’ve been running the public beta of watchOS 26 for several weeks and Wrist Flick is probably the standout new feature because it essentially works as a Home button. Simply flick your wrist and you’ll get back to the Home watch face. No need to tap or touch your Apple Watch.

Wrist Flick is an Accessibility feature that will be supported on any Series 9 and later, or Ultra 2 or later, running watchOS 26. It is also supported on the newest SE 3 (but not on the SE 2).

Two smartwatches worn on a single wrist, one with a black fabric strap displaying an analog clock face with temperature and UV index, and the other with a white silicone strap showing a breathing exercise animation and heart rate information.
The Series 11 and SE 3.
Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

watchOS 26 will deliver a bunch of other features to older Apple Watches, too, including a “Liquid Glass” redesign, Workout Buddy, new Control Center apps, updated Smart Replies for iMessage, and customizable widgets for the Smart Stack.

Apple will officially release watchOS 26 to the public on September 15th. The new Apple Watch models are available for pre-order now, with shipping set for September 19th.

About the Author: Tucker Bowe has been on Gear Patrol’s editorial team since 2014. With a passion for consumer tech and hi-fi, he tracks everything from headphones and turntables to smartphones and wearables. If it lights up or makes noise, he probably covers it.

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