One Reason to Be Glad Your Apple Watch Won't Support watchOS 27
· Lifehacker
Apple's biggest announcements at WWDC 2026—Siri AI and new Apple Intelligence features—weren't surprising. Leaks and rumors covered most of them well ahead of time, so Apple spent most of the event confirming our expectations. What was shocking, however, was watchOS 27's list of supported devices. Apple only mentioned iOS 27's compatibility during the event, and since that list was the same as iOS 26's, it was easy to assume that would also be the case for Apple's other platforms.
But in fact, macOS 27 Golden Gate drops support for all Intel Macs, while watchOS 27 drops support for the Apple Watch Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, the second-gen SE, and the first-gen Ultra. In short, it was a bit of a bloodbath for Apple's wearables. But that might not be entirely a bad thing, if you're a fan of one Apple Watch feature in particular.
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watchOS 27 actually takes away a feature from the Apple Watch
In fact, those of us with "older" Apple Watches can rest assured that while we aren't gaining any new features this year, we're also not losing any features, either. That's not the case for users upgrading to watchOS 27. It seems, based on the first watchOS 27 developer beta, that Apple has axed a feature that has been a part of watchOS since 2018: Walkie-Talkie.
As reported by MacRumors, watchOS 27 developer beta 1 scrubs Walkie-Talkie from the app list and Control Center. It's a bizarre omission, one that Apple did not announce during WWDC or on the watchOS 27 preview page. Sure, it's not as if Apple has paid Walkie-Talkie any mind in the eight years since it launched, but it's odd to remove a core function like this without any justification or notice.
For the uninitiated, Walkie-Talkie lets Apple Watch friends talk to each other in real-time on their wearables, without needing to call each other first. It requires some setup to get started, but once enabled, you can push a button to start a live chat with your friend. It's a small feature, but one it seems many Apple Watch users enjoy: Certainly, the news has lit a fire on the r/apple subreddit. Some users are mourning the change, bemoaning how they use it all the time to talk to friends and family. One user even relies on it while shopping with their wife, to "divide and conquer" Costco to save time, while another says they bought an Apple Watch specifically for Walkie-Talkie. Still, others highlight how the feature rarely worked for them, if ever. I personally never use it, though I remember playing around with it once more of my friends and family members started getting Apple Watches.
Now, there's a big caveat here: This is the first watchOS 27 beta of the season. As such, what we see in this beta is not what watchOS 27 will necessarily look like in the fall. It's possible Apple will bring the feature back, either because it always planned to, or due to user feedback. Maybe it will roll Walkie-Talkie into a different app entirely: As some Redditors point out, Walkie-Talkie is powered by FaceTime, so it's possible Apple will incorporate it into the Phone app. Or, Apple is taking this opportunity to say "goodbye" to a feature it perhaps no longer wants to develop and manage. We'll simply need to wait and see how this beta cycle continues.
Outside of Siri AI, watchOS 27 isn't a major upgrade
It's always frustrating to lose software support for your device, especially if you happened to drop $800 on that Ultra just a few years ago. But, admittedly, if there were a year to lose support, it was this one. There aren't too many new features in watchOS 27: outside of Siri AI, the update comes with a new app grid, some updates to Workout Buddy, and a new single-tap gesture for selecting widgets without touching your watch's display. Beyond those additions, and with the exception of some other very small updates, you aren't missing out on too much if your Apple Watch is stuck on watchOS 26.