watchOS 27 Drops Apple Watch App-Switching Gesture for Live Rewind, Adds Hidden Siri Chat Continuation

Before watchOS 27, Apple Watch Series 11, Ultra 3 and SE 3 allowed users to double-click the Digital Crown to jump between the current app and the previously used app, or between the watch face and the last viewed app. The shortcut worked without tapping the display. In watchOS 27, the double-click gesture is gone. 9to5Mac reported that the reason is partly a hardware-specific feature coming to Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 later this year. Apple announced last week that Live Rewind, a feature that provides a 15-second transcript of spoken audio, will arrive on the new watches as part of the Audio Intelligence feature set that also includes Siri Recap. Live Rewind is invoked by double-clicking the Digital Crown. Series 11, Ultra 3, SE 3 and earlier Apple Watches will not support Live Rewind.

9to5Mac said the explanation is unsatisfying for two reasons. On Apple Watches without Live Rewind, the double-click gesture now opens the new dynamic app grid, the same as a single click. Also, not every user will want Live Rewind, even though Audio Intelligence features can be controlled. The report suggested a settings option could address the feedback in watchOS 27.1 or 27.2. For now, the feature has not shipped and is limited to new hardware, leaving users to rely on the dynamic app grid and its five suggested apps around Siri.

watchOS 27 also includes an all-new Siri app. Starting with Apple’s OS 27 software updates, Siri can save chat history for the first time. The change lets users reference something they looked up before without asking again, and resume a conversation without starting from scratch. On iPhone, iPad and Mac, Siri apps make picking up a conversation intuitive, similar to using an iMessage thread. On Apple Watch, 9to5Mac reported that the Siri app does not support resuming chats in an obvious way. Chat threads are displayed, but there is no clear user interface for continuing the conversation from within the Siri app.

The workaround is to invoke Siri while the chat thread is open in the Siri app, either by holding the Digital Crown or by saying “Siri” or “Hey Siri.” Siri on watchOS then appends the new input to the chat thread in view. 9to5Mac called the method unintuitive but functional, and said a better approach may come in a future version of watchOS 27. Siri AI requires specific hardware and supported markets, and may be waitlisted before becoming available.

Apple Watch Series 12 is available for pre-order from $399, and Apple Watch Ultra 4 is available for pre-order from $799. Both models launch on September 18.