The latest Apple Watch upgrade, watchOS 26, focuses on supporting users to be active with personalised, spoken motivation during workouts.

The Workout Buddy experience has been enhanced with Apple Intelligence to incorporate a user’s workout data and their fitness history to generate personalised, motivational insights during their session, based on data such as heart rate, pace, distance, activity rings and personal fitness milestones.

To offer meaningful inspiration in real time, Workout Buddy analyses data privately and securely, with Apple Intelligence. A new text-to-speech model then translates insights into a dynamic generative voice built using voice data from Fitness+ trainers, so it has the right energy, style, and tone for a workout.

For example, as a user starts a run, Workout Buddy will give a personalised pep talk based on information such as their running mileage for the week so far, or how well they're doing against their activity ring goals.

During the workout, Workout Buddy will add motivation by giving information about their kilometre splits or if they hit a new milestone. At the end of the run it will recap their workout stats and celebrate their achievements.

David Clark, Apple’s senior director of watchOS Engineering. “From a gorgeous new design, to Workout Buddy with Apple Intelligence, personalised music suggestions in the Workout app and more intelligence in the Smart Stack and Messages, we’re excited about the many ways watchOS 26 will support each user in staying active, healthy, connected, and safe throughout their day.”