watchOS 27 arrives Monday on Series 9, SE 3, Ultra 2 and newer

watchOS 27 brings a new app grid, one Find My app and perimenopause support to eight watches on Monday. Series 6, 7 and 8, the second-generation SE and the first Ultra are off the list, with no reason and no security promise published.

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Five Apple Watches will not get watchOS 27 on Monday. The Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, the SE from the second generation and the first Ultra all ran watchOS 26, and none of them appears on Apple's list, which starts at Series 9, SE 3 and Ultra 2.

The Series 7 came out in 2021. The Series 8, the second-generation SE and the first Ultra came out in 2022, according to Apple's own specification pages. A watch bought new four years ago has taken its last major release. The first Ultra cost $799 at launch, which is what the Ultra 4 costs today.

There is no stated reason for the cut, no end-of-support notice, and no security-update commitment for the five models left behind. The Apple Watch and iPhone compatibility table on Apple's support site still covers watchOS 26 only, and no About watchOS 27 Updates document exists yet. The Mac Observer found neither one.

Apple has also said nothing about how an unsupported watch behaves once its paired iPhone moves to iOS 27. That list reaches back to the iPhone 11 and the second-generation iPhone SE. Plenty of people will be running a current iPhone next to a watch that has stopped.

watchOS 27 brings a dynamic app grid with Siri-suggested apps, a one-handed tap gesture for the Smart Stack, widget suggestions and a new Siri Modular face. Find My becomes a single app covering devices, items and people on one map. Wallet can build a pass by scanning a loyalty card's barcode or QR code. Call Context pulls up reservation codes and confirmation numbers when you call a business.

Cycle Tracking adds perimenopause and menopause support for users 40 and over, though not in every region. Workout Buddy runs without a nearby iPhone and now speaks Spanish as well as English. GymKit picks up AirPods Pro 3 heart rate during a workout.

Siri AI arrives as a beta, English first, with five more languages in October. Being on the compatibility list is not enough for that one. The watch also has to be paired with an Apple Intelligence iPhone, meaning an iPhone 15 Pro, a 15 Pro Max, or a 16 and later, and Apple says Siri AI will not be available in the EU on watchOS at first.

Apple sells the SE 3 from $249, the Series 12 from $399 and the Ultra 4 from $799. Its trade-in page carries no per-model Apple Watch value. watchOS 27 reaches the eight supported watches free on Monday, September 14.