Apple’s new Live Rewind feature for the Apple Watch is drawing privacy concerns after its launch alongside the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Watch Series 12. The feature can recover the last 15 seconds of spoken conversation and turn the recent speech into text on the watch.
Apple says Live Rewind is designed for situations where users miss part of a conversation. It can help when someone speaks quickly or when a sentence is difficult to understand. Users can activate the feature by double-pressing the Digital Crown. The watch then processes recent speech and displays the words as text.
Apple says the watch does not continue listening or transcribing once Live Rewind processed the recent audio. The recent speech is then deleted from the device. The displayed transcript also does not stay permanently on the watch. Apple says it disappears around 30 seconds after the display dims. Users can choose to save information to the Siri app if they want to retain it.
Live Rewind also works with Siri. Users can connect the displayed text with Siri for additional help or save relevant information through the app. The feature can be enabled or disabled through the Watch app on an iPhone. It requires an Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4 paired with an iPhone 16 or newer.
Privacy concerns focused on whether someone could use Live Rewind without others knowing. Apple says the feature is designed to make activation noticeable to people nearby. When Live Rewind starts, the watch plays an audible chime through its speaker. Apple says the sound can be heard by people nearby even when the watch is set to silent mode or connected to headphones.
A full-screen animation also appears on the display when the feature starts. The watch additionally shows a microphone indicator while Live Rewind is active. Apple says these signals are intended to make it clear that the feature is activated. Live Rewind requires Apple Intelligence and will not be available to users under 13. Apple plans to introduce the feature later this year rather than with the initial versions of watchOS 27 and iOS 27.
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