Want weekly shortcuts like this?
Join the Shortcuts community.
Join
We've been busy exploring the latest software betas. The upcoming watchOS 27 update brings some fantastic quality-of-life improvements to your wrist. From a much smarter Home Screen to unified tracking apps, the team at Apple has shipped features that make interacting with your watch faster and more intuitive. Let's dive in.
One of the coolest new features for your Apple Watch actually starts on your iPhone. If you have a gym membership, a local coffee shop loyalty barcode, or an event ticket that doesn't offer a native Apple Wallet app, you can now build one yourself.
Using Apple Intelligence, you can instantly convert a screenshot of a barcode or QR code into a sleek, functional Wallet pass. Once created, it automatically syncs straight to your wrist.
Pro tip: You can also enter pass details manually and customize the colors and design for standard tickets or memberships.
Navigating your apps is getting a major overhaul. The traditional honeycomb grid and the simple alphabetical list have been reimagined to surface the apps you need exactly when you need them.
Apple is finally cleaning up the Find My experience on the Apple Watch. Previously, tracking your friends, your iPad, and your AirTags required opening three completely separate apps. Now, everything lives under a single roof.
Once you're viewing your items or devices, you can easily sort the list alphabetically or by distance to quickly track down exactly what you're looking for.
If you track your sleep with your Apple Watch, you might be tired of waking up to a notification every single morning telling you exactly how you slept. Now, you can filter these alerts so you only get pinged when it actually matters.
Sharing your morning run or weekend cycling route is getting a massive visual upgrade. When you complete an outdoor workout that generates a map, you can now export a clean, highly shareable image of your route directly to your camera roll.
This generates a polished graphic featuring the workout type icon, total distance, active calories, and a dark-mode map of your exact route—perfect for dropping into a group chat or posting online.
If you've been running older betas or struggling with battery drain on your current Apple Watch, you'll be happy to hear that background efficiency is getting better. Early testing on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 shows much-improved battery retention on watchOS 27, keeping your watch alive significantly longer than previous software iterations.
That's a wrap on the biggest changes coming to your wrist. The new Home Screen alone fundamentally changes how quickly you can interact with your watch, and the unified Find My app is a much-needed cleanup. Take these new features for a spin and see how they speed up your daily routine.