Apple has introduced "Audio Intelligence," a suite of Apple Intelligence-powered features for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, designed to enhance audio awareness. Using the built-in microphone, these features help users catch missed conversation moments and stay alert to important sounds.

The suite includes four key features. Siri Recap generates high-level notes from conversations, creating an Apple Intelligence-generated title, summary, and key points accessible in the Siri app. Live Rewind allows users to "go back in time for 15 seconds" to replay and transcribe missed dialogue with a double press of the Digital Crown.

Shazam automatically identifies music playing nearby and displays the song title and artist on the Music Recognition widget in the Smart Stack. Sound Recognition provides alerts for users who are deaf or hard of hearing, detecting sirens, alarms, doorbells, and baby cries, even without an iPhone nearby.

All features are opt-in and configurable, with users controlling when Siri Recap listens—for example, only at work or never at night. Apple assures privacy: no audio recordings are stored, as processing occurs in an isolated Secure Exclave on the S11 chip. These features require an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone 16 or later (excluding iPhone 16e) and will launch in beta later this year, initially in English, with more languages to follow, and not available in the EU initially.