Apple says Live Rewind on new Watch models cannot be activated covertly

Apple announced that the Live Rewind function, introduced with the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, can only be triggered by a deliberate double-press of the Digital Crown. When activated, the watch emits an audible chime, displays a full-screen animation and a microphone indicator, even if the device is set to silent or headphones are connected, to signal that recording is occurring.

"Live Rewind only activates with a deliberate press on the Digital Crown and all processing is done on-device," the company said.

The feature captures the last 15 seconds of ambient speech, converts it to a text snippet, and presents it on the watch screen. Users may forward the snippet to Siri for further analysis or save it in the Siri app. Text snippets disappear automatically about 30 seconds after the display dims unless saved.

Apple emphasizes that the audio never leaves the device; it is processed inside a hardware-isolated Secure Enclave and then deleted, with no recordings stored. Live Rewind can be enabled or disabled through the Watch app on a paired iPhone, requires an iPhone 16 or later (excluding the iPhone 16e), and is unavailable to users under 13. The feature will roll out later this year but will not be part of the initial releases of watchOS 27 or iOS 27.