Revolutionizing Apple Watch with Siri AI: A Sneak Peek at watchOS 27 Beta 3

It’s been two weeks since Apple released its second round of OS 27 developer betas, and that can mean only one thing: the third betas have landed.

This time around, we’re getting all six on day one: iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate, watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27.

That’s a refreshing switch from last time, when the second watchOS 27 developer beta came a day late. The delay stoked hopes that Apple might be prepping the Siri AI app for its wearable OS — a feature that was specifically skipped in the first beta — but alas it was nowhere to be found.

At the time, we mused that the delay may have been a result of a failed plan to have it working in the second beta, but we’ll probably never know. Regardless, the good news is that we didn’t have to wait too long, as the third watchOS 27 beta finally introduces the new Siri to the Apple Watch (or is that the other way around?)

Siri AI on Apple Watch

The third watchOS 27 beta is accompanied by a corresponding iOS 27 beta, and as usual, you’ll need to update your iPhone first. This may not be merely a semantic distinction, either; there are some Siri changes on the iPhone side that might tie into the new Apple Watch feature.

While my iPhone 17 Pro Max smoothly updated to iOS 27 DB3 without any problems, we’ve already seen reports of some folks having to wait for a new Apple Intelligence download before Siri AI comes back online. In either case, it seems the Apple Watch will need to do its own Siri download before it’s ready to go.

There’s no word yet on how long we can expect this to take — as of this writing, it was still in progress for me after nearly an hour — but it doesn’t appear to be a waitlist like we saw with the initial iOS 27 beta; rather, opening the Siri app simply says it needs to download support for Siri.

The message directs users to the Settings app to check the status. There’s no progress indicator, per se, although a new “Set up Now” option under Siri settings lets you force the data download without waiting for your Apple Watch to be back on the charger.

Optimizing Search and Siri on iPhone

The third beta of iOS 27 consolidates Siri-related optimization tasks into a section labeled “Optimizing Search and Siri.” So far, only one card appears here, explaining that users can continue using their iPhone normally and explaining what the indexing process is doing.

The wording is similar to what we saw in the first developer beta, but the move into its own section suggests Apple plans to eventually show more information here. As is the norm for betas, the “Learn More” button currently goes to a webpage that doesn’t yet exist.

However, the key point here is that iOS 27 DB3 appears to have kicked off some further optimization. That’s not too surprising, as we’re still in the early stages. It’s unclear whether this is merely polishing up the indexes after an update or if it’s somehow also related to the appearance of Siri AI on the Apple Watch.

Expressive Voices for Siri

Even though Siri AI had an impressive start in beta one, Apple has been slow-walking some of the more advanced features. In addition to waiting to bring Siri to the Apple Watch, it’s also been gradually phasing in Siri’s more conversational and expressive voices.

The first developer beta offered an “Expressive Voices Preview” toggle that opened a static screen with every option grayed out. Beta two brought the ability to preview two expressive voices, but lacked the ability to adjust the Pace and Expressivity sliders.

While today’s latest beta doesn’t add any new voices — only one American female and one American male are available — the customization options have now been unlocked, giving us an idea of what we can expect from them:

1. Pace is pretty self-explanatory. Five positions let you choose how fast Siri talks, from a relatively normal pace in the middle, a slow play-by-play on the left to something bordering on a hyperactive squirrel on the extreme right.
2. Expressivity is a bit more interesting. Contrary to what some assumed, this doesn’t have any impact on how much Siri says. It’s not about terseness versus wordiness, but rather intonation. Move the slider to the extreme left and Siri sounds as monotone as Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (“Bueller? Bueller?”); at the other end you get a Siri voice that as lively as a children’s storyteller.

Selecting a voice from the colored circles will immediately begin playing some sample statements, including an announcement for new messages and timers, providing directions in Apple Maps, explaining some facts about otters, and reading a recipe: