I won’t switch to Apple Watch because watchOS is missing one key feature

As I can often be found doing at this time of year, I’m sitting watching the WWDC live stream while munching on some pizza but something odd happened. Apple’s section on watchOS 11 had me sold on switching to an Apple Watch but the firm later revealed its latest smartwatch software will be missing a key feature. 

watchOS 11 will arrive later this year, presumably along with the Apple Watch Series 10, and though I’ve had many smartwatches over the years, an Apple Watch hasn’t been among them. 

Apple’s slick event presentations can be pretty convincing and the new features coming in watchOS 11 look enticing enough for me to give one a go. The latest version will add handy features like Live Activities to quickly get information such as your flight status and all kinds of things.

I’m not into fitness much so the Training Load and Effort rating don’t appeal to me but interactive widgets, enhanced ticketing, more intelligent Smart Stack, Translate and even the ability to suggest photos from your library for a watch face, cropped and everything, all caught my eye. 

Apple adding a double tap API (which can recognise when you tap your thumb and forefinger together) so developers can add shortcuts to apps will open up a world of possibilities. 

However, Apple reached a section of the keynote we were all expecting to announce Apple Intelligence, its home-grown AI system baked into software and watchOS wasn’t mentioned once. 

Considering Apple makes its own hardware and software, it’s disappointing that its smartwatch portfolio has been left out of the Apple Intelligence update roadmap. Especially as your watch is the one device that’s always with you (I’m always leaving my phone in some new hiding place around the house).

Typically, I’m not allured by AI tools and features but many things that Apple Intelligence can do appear to be genuinely useful (along with some creepy stuff) and the kind of thing I’ve wanted digital assistants to do for a long time. 

For example, Craig Federighi gave an example where a meeting time being moved may affect whether he could attend his daughter’s show at a theatre. Apple’s AI can take all the relevant information such as times, locations and expected traffic to quickly tell Craig whether this new schedule would work or not. 

Apple didn’t even say that Apple Intelligence would come to watchOS at a later date, which is ominous if you ask me. 

It’s a real shame as Apple almost had me sold for a minute there so I guess I’ll patiently wait for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and Google Pixel Watch 3 as the next contenders for my wrist.