Surprised to learn your older Apple Watch can run watchOS 26? You might still be missing out on some great new features

• Apple unveiled watchOS 26 at WWDC yesterday
• watchOS 26 is compatible with Apple Watches going back years
• But some of its best features require a more recent device

When Apple unveiled watchOS 26 at WWDC 2025 yesterday it showed off an operating system that had been upgraded with a welcome range of new features and abilities. If you’re hoping to try these out, though, you’ll want to check if your Apple Watch is compatible – because plenty of the most popular models won’t be.

On the face of it, most of the best Apple Watch models will work with watchOS 26. Apple says it’s compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 or later, the second-generation Apple Watch SE, plus every Apple Watch Ultra model; you’ve also got to pair your Watch with an iPhone 11 or later that’s running iOS 26. That’s a good range of devices going back many years.

But there are several features that will only work if you pair your Watch with a much more recent iPhone. For a start, anything powered by Apple Intelligence will require an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any device from the iPhone 16 range. That immediately raises the threshold for compatibility with Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform.

As well as that, some of the new features introduced in watchOS 26 have requirements of their own. The 'wrist flick' gesture, for example, needs an Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, or Ultra 2. Again, this excludes many of the older devices that can technically run watchOS 26.

Check the small print

Potential limitations like this show that it’s important to check device requirements before you get excited about downloading an update like watchOS 26. That one new tool that caught your eye might not work with your existing hardware.

And it’s especially vital to do this before buying a device. You might have found a great deal on an older Apple Watch, for example, but if it can’t run the features you’re dying to try out, you’ll be out of luck.

WatchOS 26 has a bunch of interesting new updates, including a Liquid Glass design overhaul, a Workout Buddy fitness assistant, improved Smart Stack algorithms, and more. If you want to give any of these a go, be sure to double-check if your Apple Watch is compatible.

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• Workout Buddy? Forget it: watchOS 26's most exciting addition was only hinted at