- Tips - Easily track your overall health 🍎
- Deep Dive - Surprising Apple Watch features 🤯
- Health Challenge Update - Join our August 2026 Challenge! 🏆
- 🚫 Turn off your nightstand mode.
- 📖 Listen to audiobooks from your wrist!
- 🍎 Save time with week to week.
For a long time, I just used my watch as an iPhone that could also track my steps and sleep. But over time, I discovered cool features that I never would have guessed existed. My last tip is all about the watchOS 27 Siri AI app that I've been testing before it goes public this fall, so make sure to read until the very end!
1. Group Photos Made Easy
If you wear an Apple Watch, you should not be setting up your phone, then running for your life to get into a group photo while your phone timer counts down to snap the shot. Make things easier: Use your watch's Camera app to check that everything looks good, then tap the shutter button on your watch to capture the memory! This can also be used for scenic selfies if you're all alone with no one to hand your phone to.
2. Ping Your iPhone
I use my watch to find my phone more times a day than I care to admit. But instead of just tapping the ping iPhone button in your watch's Control Center to make your phone make noise that helps you find it, you can try long-pressing that button, which makes the phone's camera flash blink on and off, so that you can find it even under the sofa or in a dark space. If your phone is further than you think, your watch will show you the direction and distance to your phone. A lesser-known feature is that your phone can also ping your watch!
3. Live Translations on Your Wrist
Communicating effectively can be a struggle, especially if there's a language barrier, like when you are traveling abroad. Now you can use your Apple Watch's Translation app without having to pull out your iPhone. You can also use Live Translation right on your watch's Message app to translate the messages you receive into a language you understand without any extra steps!
4. Hypertension & AFib Alerts
Your Apple Watch cannot replace a doctor or give you 100% reliable health data, but it can help alert you if it senses that something is wrong. Newer Apple Watch models offer hypertension alerts, as long as you enable the feature via the Health app and wear your watch consistently. Keep in mind that it takes a month to analyze your metrics before it can detect hypertension. If you wear your watch to bed, it can also help detect AFib (atrial fibrillation)! I recommend exploring your Health app to see if there's anything else you didn't realize you could track.
5. Siri AI Transforms the Apple Watch
Ever since AI became mainstream, I've been getting ads for AI wearables that help you navigate your life. watchOS 27, which will be publicly released this fall, brings the smarter standalone Siri AI app to your wrist. This means that your watch now has access to all of the information on your Apple devices and in your iCloud, so you can finally use Siri to ask the questions that matter… like "Is anyone's birthday coming up?", "Remind me what recipe my mom sent me recently," and "When is my dog's upcoming vet appointment?" This update actually makes Siri feel like a true personal assistant that knows you and your schedule better than you do! You can try Siri AI for yourself by downloading the public beta for iOS 27 on your phone and watchOS 27 on your watch. We don't always recommend putting the beta on your primary devices since it can cause glitches and you won't be able to remove it until the public update comes out.
Is there a feature that you didn't learn about until recently? Email OntheWatch@iphonelife.com and let me know!
The iPhone Life July Health Challenge is almost over, but you can sign up for our upcoming August Challenge today!
The monthly iPhone Life Challenge is a great way to come together as a community and motivate each other to reach our health goals by staying active. We'll be doing a weekly accountability post for subscribers in our Insider Facebook group. Join to share struggles, trade tips, and support one another on our journeys.
To join the challenge, download the free Challenges app on your iPhone and enter the code TGFQ when prompted. Need help? This article explains the steps and tells you more about the app.
Are you enjoying the challenge? Do you have any suggestions for how we can make it even better? Email OnTheWatch@iPhoneLife.com and let me know.
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