SKINARMA doles out dual-color Apple Watch straps and cases to remix your wrist rotation
The Apple Watch strap GEMINI takes unshakable security to the next level. The first of SKINARMA's catalog to feature a magnetic band and locking pin mechanism, it is created for action and locked in for performance.
The strap includes a protruding tab that securely tucks into the groove, eliminating the need for a traditional buckle, which is prone to give way. Keeping the water-resistant silicone tonal, SKINARMA merges power with style, accentuating the overall design with metallic connectors for a futuristic, embellished edge.
Next up, the Apple Watch case ATOM makes the other half of a whole. Born out of the love of reinforced protection, ATOM is a flawless construction of a durable hybrid shell that absorbs impacts from all angles. From hard bumps and deep scratches to the inevitable wear and tear of daily use, this case takes the hits so your smartwatch doesn't have to.
Despite covering it from top to bottom, ATOM still provides unhindered access to all watch features and functions. The rugged hardware and the transparency of the case create a striking contrast, sparking curiosity and inviting you to take a closer look at the tech inside.
Syncing up with the sweet spot between Valentine's and White Day, the GEMINI x ATOM collection unabashedly offers styles for both partners—even if they are opposites. Numerous colorways are available to match the moment, including Pink and Mauve, Black and Purple, and Mint and Orange for the 42mm straps and cases.
For those with 46mm straps, the options expand even further, offering more variety between cases and straps. Choose from straps like Orange and Black, Blue and Black, Navy and Blue, Chalk and Black, and more, paired with cases in Navy and Black or Orange and Black.
A glow-in-the-dark version, created for both 42mm and 46mm, adds whimsy to urban style while providing visibility in low-light settings.
Mix and match within your own collection, or coordinate with your other half for a perfectly paired look.
SKINARMA's latest release puts a futuristic spin on classic cosmic aesthetics. As a trailblazer in street style, the brand is on a mission to elevate subcultures by supercharging the raw energy of streetwear with the cutting-edge world of tech. GEMINI x ATOM is the paragon of such a fusion, empowering Apple users with the belief that the best pairs are often the ones that balance each other out.
'The GEMINI x ATOM collection represents the intersection of innovation and design that SKINARMA is known for. With the addition of a special glow-in-the-dark edition and its mix-and-match possibilities, this collection was made to let you style your Apple Watch in the exact way you want—a way that truly represents you as an individual,' said Darren Tan, Fashion Director at SKINARMA.
Style should never be one-dimensional. Experience the beauty and strength of a unified GEMINI x ATOM with an order on the SKINARMA website. To score 10% off your next purchase, subscribe to their mailing list, which also offers discount codes, special launches and more. For more updates, follow SKINARMA on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
SKINARMA
SKINARMA, a Singapore-based fashion-forward tech brand, offers streetwear-inspired accessories like iPhone, MacBook and AirPods cases, along with bags and apparel. Since its launch in 2018, the brand has built a dedicated following in cities such as Shanghai, Tokyo, Bangkok and Dubai. With community and culture at the heart of their designs, SKINARMA aims to rewrite the intersection of fashion, technology and art.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
14 minutes ago
- Forbes
Apple iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro Release Date: New Date Enters The Schedule
Updated Aug. 13 with further details for the full schedule of what's coming when. In less than four weeks, all will be revealed about the iPhone 17 series. That's because on Tuesday, Sept. 9, Apple will hold its keynote unveiling the new hardware, I believe. Now, a new date has been added to the mix. You can read the full schedule here but it's also laid out in detail below. Apple iPhone 17 Release Date: The New Entry In The Schedule Mark Gurman's Bloomberg Power On newsletter is always full of interesting nuggets. In the latest issue, he mentioned something that has so far been absent from release date schedules. Among all the talk of the keynote date, the onsale date and even the date for when the keynote date will be unveiled (all of which are below, with timings down to the minute), there has been scant talk of the release for iOS 26. More than in recent years, the new software has captured the public's imagination this year. Although iOS 26 will be pre-installed on the iPhone 17 series, it will also work on iPhones all the way back to the iPhone 11. So, when will it go on general release? Gurman commented that the new software is 'pretty smooth', and has since said on X that the latest, sixth developer beta is 'ridiculously snappy'. So much so that 'it's clear that we're pretty close to the release of the final, public versions,' he said. I believe it's possible to pin the release down further than 'the first half of September,' as Gurman comments. Last year, iOS 18 went on general release on Monday, Sept. 16, exactly a week after the keynote and four days before the Friday, Sept. 20 onsale date of the iPhone 16 series. I believe this year's general release for iOS 26 will follow a near-identical schedule, and will be available from around 10 a.m. Pacific on either Monday, Sept. 15 or just possibly Tuesday, Sept. 16. I favor the Monday because excitement in the new software is so high Apple will want it out as soon as it can, plus, it seems in good shape already. iPhone 17 Release Date: The Full Schedule As for the rest of the schedule, here are the most important dates. I'll also update this post as soon as any are confirmed officially. First up is the announcement of the keynote. This is likely to be around 8 a.m Pacific, on Tuesday, Aug. 26. This is when invites are sent out by email to selected members of the press and special guests. The exact time is subject to an hour or so's leeway, and it's even possible that the invites will go out a day before. Check back here for details as soon as it's gone live. The next big piece of the puzzle will be the keynote itself. The time will be 10 a.m. Pacific, as this is always Apple's chosen time for Cupertino unveilings. I believe it will be on Tuesday, Sept. 9 and the possibility of a date change now seems vanishingly small. Pre-orders open: 8 a.m. Pacific, Friday Sept. 12. Reviews appear: Tuesday, Sept. 16 or Wednesday, Sept. 17, likely 6 a.m. Pacific. Onsale date: Friday, Sept. 19 at 7.a.m. wherever you are.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How we found TeaOnHer spilling users' driver's licenses in less than 10 minutes
For an app all about spilling the beans on who you're allegedly dating, it's ironic that TeaOnHer was spilling the personal information of thousands of its users to the open web. TeaOnHer was designed for men to share photos and information about women they claim to have been dating. But much like Tea, the dating-gossip app for women it was trying to replicate, TeaOnHer had gaping holes in its security that exposed its users' personal information, including photos of their driver's licenses and other government-issued identity documents, as TechCrunch reported last week. These gated community-like apps were created ostensibly to let users share information about their relationships under the guise of personal safety. However, shoddy coding and security flaws highlight the ongoing privacy risks inherent in requiring users to submit sensitive information to use apps and websites. Such risks are only going to worsen; popular apps and web services are already having to comply with age verification laws that require people to submit their identity documents before they can be granted access to adult-themed content, despite the privacy and security risks associated with storing databases of people's personal information. When TechCrunch published our story last week, we did not publish specific details of the bugs we discovered in TeaOnHer, erring on the side of caution so as to not help bad actors exploit the bug. Instead, we decided to publish a limited disclosure, because of the app's rising popularity and the immediate risks that users faced when using the app. As of the time of disclosure, TeaOnHer was #2 in the free app charts on the Apple App Store, a position still held by the app today. The flaws we found appear to be resolved. TechCrunch can now share how we were able to find users' driver's licenses within 10 minutes of being sent a link to the app in the App Store, thanks to easy to find flaws in the app's public-facing backend system, or API. The app's developer, Xavier Lampkin, did not respond to multiple requests for comment after we submitted details of the security flaws, nor would Lampkin commit to notifying affected TeaOnHer users or state regulators of the security lapse. We also asked Lampkin if any security reviews were carried out before the TeaOnHer app was launched, but we got no reply. (We have more on disclosure later on.) Alright, start the clock. TeaOnHer exposed 'admin panel' credentials Before we even downloaded the app, we first wanted to find out where TeaOnHer was hosted on the internet by looking at its public-facing infrastructure, such as its website and anything hosted on its domain. This is usually a good place to start as it helps understand what other services the domain is connected to on the internet. To find the domain name, we first looked (by chance) at the app's listing on the Apple App Store to find the app's website. This can usually be found in its privacy policy, which apps must include before Apple will list them. (The app listing also claims the developer 'does not collect any data from this app,' which is demonstrably false, so take that as you will.) TeaOnHer's privacy policy was in the form of a published Google Doc, which included an email address with a domain, but no website. The website wasn't public at the time, so with no website loading, we looked at the domain's public-facing DNS records, which can help to identify what else is hosted on the domain, such as the type of email servers or web hosting. We also wanted to look for any public subdomains that the developer might use to host functionality for the app (or host other resources that should probably not be public), such as admin dashboards, databases, or other web-facing services. But when we looked at the TeaOnHer's public internet records, it had no meaningful information other than a single subdomain, When we opened this page in our browser, what loaded was the landing page for TeaOnHer's API (for the curious, we uploaded a copy here). An API simply allows things on the internet to communicate with each other, such as linking an app to its central database. It was on this landing page that we found the exposed email address and plaintext password (which wasn't that far off 'password') for Lampkin's account to access the TeaOnHer 'admin panel.' The API page showed that the admin panel, used for the document verification system and user management, was located at 'localhost,' which simply refers to the physical computer running the server and may not have been directly accessible from the internet. It's unclear if anyone could have used the credentials to access the admin panel, but this was in itself a sufficiently alarming finding. At this point, we were only about two minutes in. Otherwise, the API landing page didn't do much other than offer some indication as to what the API can do. The page listed several API endpoints, which the app needs to access in order to function, such as retrieving user records from TeaOnHer's database, for users to leave reviews, and sending notifications. With knowledge of these endpoints, it can be easier to interact with the API directly, as if we were imitating the app itself. Every API is different, so learning how an API works and how to communicate with one can take time to figure out, such as which endpoints to use and the parameters needed to effectively speak its language. Apps like Postman can be helpful for accessing and interacting directly with APIs, but this requires time and a certain degree of trial and error (and patience) to make APIs spit out data when they shouldn't. But in this case, there was an even easier way. TeaOnHer API allowed unauthenticated access to user data This API landing page included an endpoint called /docs, which contained the API's auto-generated documentation (powered by a product called Swagger UI) that contained the full list of commands that can be performed on the API. This documentation page was effectively a master sheet of all the actions you can perform on the TeaOnHer API as a regular app user, and more importantly, as the app's administrator, such as creating new users, verifying users' identity documents, moderating comments, and more. The API documentation also featured the ability to query the TeaOnHer API and return user data, essentially letting us retrieve data from the app's backend server and display it in our browser. While it's not uncommon for developers to publish their API documentation, the problem here was that some API requests could be made without any authentication — no passwords or credentials were needed to return information from the TeaOnHer database. In other words, you could run commands on the API to access users' private data that should not have been accessible to a user of the app, let alone anyone on the internet. All of this was conveniently and publicly documented for anyone to see. Requesting a list of users currently in the TeaOnHer identity verification queue, for example — no more than pressing a button on the API page, nothing fancy here — would return dozens of account records on people who had recently signed up to TeaOnHer. The records returned from TeaOnHer's server contained users' unique identifiers within the app (essentially a string of random letters and numbers), their public profile screen name, and self-reported age and location, along with their private email address. The records also included web address links containing photos of the users' driver's licenses and corresponding selfies. Worse, these photos of driver's licenses, government-issued IDs, and selfies were stored in an Amazon-hosted S3 cloud server set as publicly accessible to anyone with their web addresses. This public setting lets anyone with a link to someone's identity documents open the files from anywhere with no restrictions. With that unique user identifier, we could also use the API page to directly look up individual users' records, which would return their account data and any of their associated identity documents. With uninhibited access to the API, a malicious user could have scraped huge amounts of user data from the app, much like what happened with the Tea app to begin with. From bean to cup, that was about 10 minutes, and we hadn't even logged-in to the app yet. The bugs were so easy to find that it would be sheer luck if nobody malicious found them before we did. We asked, but Lampkin would not say if he has the technical ability, such as logs, to determine if anyone had used (or misused) the API at any time to gain access to users' verification documents, such as by scraping web addresses from the API. In the days since our report to Lampkin, the API landing page has been taken down, along with its documentation page, and it now displays only the state of the server that the TeaOnHer API is running on as 'healthy.' At least on cursory tests, the API now appears to rely on authentication, and the previous calls made using the API no longer work. The web addresses containing users' uploaded identity documents have also been restricted from public view. TeaOnHer developer dismissed efforts to disclose flaws Given that TeaOnHer had no official website at the time of our findings, TechCrunch contacted the email address listed on the privacy policy in an effort to disclose the security lapses. But the email bounced back with an error saying the email address couldn't be found. We also tried contacting Lampkin through the email address on his website, Newville Media, but our email bounced back with the same error message. TechCrunch reached Lampkin via LinkedIn message, asking him to provide an email address where we could send details of the security flaws. Lampkin responded with a general 'support' email address. When TechCrunch discloses a security flaw, we reach out to confirm first that a person or company is the correct recipient. Otherwise, blindly sending details of a security bug to the wrong person could create a risk. Before sharing specific details of the flaws, we asked the recipient of the 'support' email address if this was the correct address to disclose a security exposure involving TeaOnHer user data. 'You must have us confused with 'the Tea app',' Lampkin replied by email. (We hadn't.) 'We don't have a security breach or data leak,' he said. (It did.) 'We have some bots at most but we haven't scaled big enough to be in that conversation yet, sorry you were misinformed.' (We weren't.) Satisfied that we had established contact with the correct person (albeit not with the response we received), TechCrunch shared details of the security flaws, as well as several links to exposed driver's licenses, and a copy of Lampkin's own data to underscore the severity of the security issues. 'Thank you for this information. This is very concerning. We are going to jump on this right now,' said Lampkin. Despite several follow-up emails, we have not heard from Lampkin since we disclosed the security flaws. It doesn't matter if you're a one-person software shop or a billionaire vibe coding through a weekend: Developers still have a responsibility to keep their users' data safe. If you can't keep your users' private data safe, don't build it to begin with. If you have evidence of a popular app or service leaking or exposing information, get in touch. You can securely contact this reporter via encrypted message at zackwhittaker.1337 on Signal.
Engadget
43 minutes ago
- Engadget
watchOS 26 preview: It's the little things
At WWDC 2025, Apple announced it was replacing the sequential numbering for OS versions and with year numbers. So instead of watchOS 12, I've spent the past two weeks with the public beta of watchOS 26. The naming scheme shift is subtle, but helpful — which is how I'd describe the upgrades the new software brings to the Apple Watch. The AI-powered Workout Buddy better contextualizes your Fitness data and an added gesture gives the watch a fun trick that's actually helpful. Other upgrades — including better smart replies and the Liquid Glass treatment — all combine to make the watch work and look a bit better than it did before. It's not a game-changing shift, like other OS 26 releases, but it manages to make a great watch a touch better. Luminous Liquid Glass Every Apple operating system got the Liquid Glass treatment this year, including watchOS 26. The change is less noticeable on the Apple Watch than on the iPhone or iPad, though. You'll notice the semi-transparent buttons and flowy movement when entering your password and opening the control center — the icons look like they're surrounded in little drops of water, which is quite pretty. You'll see it on the Photos watch face, too, especially if you select the 'glass' color for the time readout. The Liquid Glass treatment for the Photos watch face. (Amy Skorheim for Engadget) The Smart Stack now has a liminal glow and the app icons are likewise a touch more luminous than before. The effect is subtle and nicely unifies the look of the watch and its companion iPhone. Like all design upgrades, Liquid Glass made me feel like I was using a new watch — though, like everything, the novelty wore off after a week or two. Revamped Workout app combines AI stats with a DJ In addition to the Buddy, the Workout app has a new look with icons in each of the four corners of the screen that give you easier access to adjust your data view, play music, set goals and tweak Buddy settings. My favorite new feature is in the music menu and it's limited to Apple Music for now. If you tap the music icon, you have the option to auto-play music. From there, you can also select 'Picked for you' or 'Choose media.' The former will select music that matches the type of workout you're doing and what you like to listen to. As someone who gets derailed from pretty much all my tasks when I have to interact with my phone, I appreciate anything that can make decisions for me and prevent me from reaching for it. I was presented with peppy beats that matched the cadence of my run, from bands and artists that were familiar as well as new-to-me selections that fit my tastes. Unfortunately, it didn't always work correctly. Sometimes I'd get no music, other times the music would play but the Workout Buddy would fall silent. I realize I'm testing a public beta of watchOS 26, so I'm holding out hope the feature will work at launch. Because when it worked, it was glorious. The new Workout app layout. (Amy Skorheim for Engadget) The new Workout Buddy is probably the biggest AI play in watchOS 26. It uses historical and real-time data collected by your watch to give you a window into how you're performing at the beginning, end and throughout a workout. It works for walking, running, cycling and other workouts but requires headphones and a nearby Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone. That gave me pause. I hate carrying stuff and/or sticking things in my ears when I run. But after acquiring some open earbuds and digging out my old Spibelt, I made it work. There are three voices to choose from as of this writing, a bright feminine option, a British male-sounding one and another female-presenting version with a lower register. These were built on vocal data from Fitness+ trainers and have an authentic sound to them. At the start of a workout, you'll get a brief pep talk along with some recent milestones. My pre-game walking and running talks included references to the day of the week, my location and accumulated fitness data. For example, 'Way to get out there on a Wednesday morning walk in Albuquerque. So far this week, you've done three walking workouts. Let's get in some steps!' Depending on the type of exercise, you can set target ranges for cadence, heart rate, speed, distance, power (cycling), time and others. During a workout, the AI will let you know if you're at, below or above those levels. The first time I tried Workout Buddy, my run was quite lonely. I didn't realize I had to turn on the Buddy, as well as the various goal metrics within the Workout app. I did that and, on my next run, the AI delivered cadence and heart rate updates, and let me know when I hit milestones like distance and duration. At the end of a workout, you'll see a thinking animation as the AI assembles a summary. It'll recap data like your pace, distance, average and peak heart rate, as well as progress on your Activity rings. It'll also point out comparisons or cumulative milestones you may have hit. For example, after a longer walk, it told me that I'd just burned the most calories on a walk so far. Another day, it told me I'd walked ten miles so far this week. It closes the update by encouraging you to take the energy into the rest of your day or something similarly positive but measured. That's a big improvement over the first few times I used the feature. My first few pep talks were cloying, telling me something along the lines of 'It's not easy to get out there early in the morning!' and 'Your effort is inspiring!" After I stopped a run early to fuss with settings, it told me I did a 'Great job!' on a three-minute run. Thankfully, Apple appears to be tweaking the Buddy behind the scenes, calibrating the AI's 'personality.' Recent pep talks have become noticeably less sycophantic and therefore more enjoyable. I imagine the Buddy will only continue to evolve even more from here. The Workout Buddy is not a coach The Workout Buddy is a motivational experience that provides personalized insights you can use to gauge your performance. But I just finished trying out Samsung's AI running coach on the Galaxy Watch and couldn't help comparing the two. That coach pushed me to run five kilometers for the first time in my life. The Buddy made me feel like I'd accomplished something special just by taking my dog on a stroll. Both have their place, but I'd say Apple's version is probably best for those who already know what their goals are and what they need to do to hit them. Samsung's version may be better for beginners who want some help shaping their fitness journey. In addition to the Buddy, the Workout app has a new look with icons in each of the four corners of the screen that give you easier access to adjust your data view, play music, set goals and tweak Buddy settings. My favorite new feature is in the music menu and it's limited to Apple Music for now. If you tap the music icon, you have the option to auto-play music. From there, you can also select 'Picked for you' or 'Choose media.' The former will select music that matches the type of workout you're doing and what you like to listen to. As someone who gets derailed from pretty much all my tasks when I have to interact with my phone, I appreciate anything that can make decisions for me and prevent me from reaching for it. I was presented with peppy beats that matched the cadence of my run, from bands and artists that were familiar as well as new-to-me selections that fit my tastes. Unfortunately, it didn't always work correctly. Sometimes I'd get no music, other times the music would play but the Workout Buddy would fall silent. I realize I'm testing a public beta of watchOS 26, so I'm holding out hope the feature will work at launch. Because when it worked, it was glorious. More hands-free fun with wrist flick I love the double tap gesture Apple introduced with the Apple Watch Series 9 — it's a pleasure to stop timers, start auto-detected workouts and answer calls without getting my other hand involved. But it took some practice before I could reliably get the watch to recognize the gesture. (The trick is raising your wrist in an exaggerated checking-the-time motion then quickly, but not too quickly, tapping your thumb and finger together twice.) Luckily, the new Wrist Flick motion introduced in watchOS 26 takes practically no effort to get right. It involves quickly turning the back of your wrist away from you and back up again. Doing that can silence a call, stop a ringing timer, dismiss notifications and return you to the watch face from any app you open. It also makes those irritating helpful 'Time to stand!' reminders go away. The wrist flick doesn't clear alerts, just dismisses them — so the red indicator dot disappears, but the notification remains and you can see it if you swipe down. Just note that it's only available to Apple Watch Series 9, 10 and the Ultra 2. A demonstration of clearing notifications with the wrist flick gesture (Amy Skorheim for Engadget) Wrist flick is a great feature — though it's important to note that Android wearables since WearOS 2 had a similar feature for a while now. And I'd like to see Apple adopt more hands-free interactions like this. Apple already has many gesture-based controls as part of its existing AssistiveTouch feature. Actions like fist clenches, wrist tilts and single or double taps can control most of the navigation on the watch. Unfortunately, turning on AssistiveTouch turns off the universal double tap feature. I'd be interested in seeing something that splits the difference. Perhaps four or five gestures for basic functions that can be used in conjunction with screen input. Smarter replies could make Messages a usable watch app The Apple Watch is great for reading texts, but replying is awkward. That tiny keyboard is an interface for ants — even talk-to-text input is inefficient as it's tough to correct mistakes. Smart Replies are little canned responses that appear as suggestions below the reply field. Those aren't new, but now Series 9 watches and later will use an improved on-device language model to come up with relevant bits of text you can send with a tap. In addition to the choices that are always offered — Okay, Yes, No, Thank you and Can I call you later? — I saw things like 'Ok, let me know' and 'That's so sweet!' both of which applied to their respective conversations. I wasn't always given Smart Reply suggestions, and some of them weren't very relevant, but again, it's a great feature that will save time when it works. Another Messages update is a carryover from iOS 26 (and borrowed from countless other messaging apps). You can now set custom backgrounds for each of your (Apple-only) contacts. Just note that whatever you set will be seen by all participants in the conversation, once they update to iOS 26. On your watch, the photo, gradient or pattern you pick carries over to your conversations. Not only does it look nice, I find backgrounds help me to not accidentally text my mom something I meant to send to my sister. Backgrounds are now available in Messages. (Amy Skorheim for Engadget) Notes have arrived The Notes app is now on Apple Watch. I honestly hadn't noticed the lack before this — I know there are plenty of Notes enthusiasts out there, but in my world, Alexa handles all reminder and shopping list duties. Still, I can see how the new integration could come in handy. After creating a simple shopping checklist in the iOS Notes app, I opened the list on my watch while I was shopping and found it far easier to check things off on my wrist than dragging out my phone every time I stuck something in my cart. I'm curious to see whether Apple's improved prediction algorithms for the new OS will eventually add Notes to my Smart Stack suggestions after I open the Notes app a few times at the grocery store. As it stands now, the Notes widget will pop up first in the Smart Stack if that's the last app you used. The rest of the new stuff Face Gallery The iPhone Watch app has a new look and now organizes watch faces by category instead of by name. Groupings include New, Clean, Data-rich, Photos and Health and Fitness, among others. It's certainly an improvement, but one that makes you wonder why it wasn't always like this. The Watch Face gallery is categorized now. (Amy Skorheim for Engadget) Adaptive sound Another nice-but-obvious update adjusts the volume of pings and beeps to fit the environment — quieter in a noiseless office and louder at a raucous BBQ. I set a timer to go off when I was quietly working at my desk and then again with loud music playing and I couldn't really tell the difference. But that's a hard metric for the humble human ear to judge. Again, this is a feature reserved for Series 9 models and later. Smart Stack The Smart Stack will now add a small prompt to your watch face when it detects certain situations. For example, if you open the camera app on your phone, a small camera icon appears at the bottom of your watch screen, as a suggestion to open the remote shutter. Apple gives other examples, such as showing the workout icon when you arrive at your usual pilates studio or the Backtrack navigation feature when you journey away from cellular connectivity. I didn't see the prompt very often, but I did notice that the Smart Stack rearranged itself according to my habits — such as putting the medication widget at the top of the stack right around the time it was time to take my prescription, or shuffling Shazam to the top when it hears music playing. Siri is still Siri Coming fresh off of reviewing the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, I can't help but notice a stark difference between that wearable's fully integrated, AI-powered Gemini and Apple's same-old Siri. Gemini on the Samsung watch helped me find new stuff in my city, performed convoluted tasks and answered some pretty esoteric questions. I use Siri on my watch to reliably set timers, text people and add events to my calendar. But it's not quite on the level of Gemini's contextually-aware, generative capabilities that can interact with multiple apps. Asking something like 'Where should I have lunch?' gave me a list of businesses with lunch in the name followed by Siri asking me: 'Which one?' Not sure what that meant. Gemini, on the other hand, gave me local and relevant ideas for places I'd actually want to eat. Even before AI swallowed everyone's mind, I had a soft spot for digital assistants. When Alexa sings the 'You're very, very, oh so very welcome' song, I get a dopey smile on my face. I've tried to love Siri, but I get frustrated by being misunderstood, misdirected, misheard and flat-out ignored. I know Apple doesn't like to release new tech until it's fully up to snuff, and I'm looking forward to seeing what finally happens with new Siri. But for now, the disparity shows. Wrap-up The changes watchOS 26 brings to the Apple Watch are perhaps not as grand as those for other Apple devices. Liquid Glass here isn't as all-encompassing as it is on the iPhone. The new watch features don't make the wearable finally realize its full potential like iPad OS 26 does for the tablet. And there isn't one major feature upgrade that transforms the watch experience, like macOS 26 does with Spotlight on Macs. But the updates do push the experience of using the watch forward. Liquid Glass is pretty and nicely ties the wearable with its companion devices. The Workout app, which was already good at tracking fitness metrics, is even better with the Workout Buddy, providing stat summaries and automated playlists. Improved smart replies for Messages and the addition of the Notes app fix two of the watch's previous shortcomings. And the wrist flick adds another option for hands-free interaction and — I hope — is a precursor to more such utility. I'm still holding out hope for an improved, personable and helpful Siri once Apple is ready, but for now, these are all welcome upgrades for what's already the industry's best overall smartwatch.
