watchOS 26 launched last month as a major Apple Watch update. It brought a new Apple Notes app, Apple Intelligence features, Control Center upgrades, and more. One new feature is especially unique: ‘hints’ have been added to watch faces in watchOS 26 as a companion of the Smart Stack.
Hints in watchOS 26 solve the Smart Stack’s discoverability problem
In the last two years, Apple launched the Smart Stack in watchOS and has been progressively upgrading it each year.
The Smart Stack is the stack of widgets you see when scrolling the Digital Crown while viewing your watch face.
Last year’s big upgrade was Live Activity support, which made the Smart Stack more timely and relevant.
In watchOS 26, Apple has improved the Smart Stack again. But this time, its key feature may not technically be part of the Smart Stack at all.
Here’s what’s new, per Apple:
In watchOS 26, the Smart Stack improves its prediction algorithms by incorporating more contextual data, sensor data, and data from a user’s routine to provide Smart Stack hints, a proactive prompt for actionable suggestions that are immediately useful. Made of Liquid Glass, Smart Stack hints will appear on the display as a gentle visual prompt. For example, a hint for Backtrack may appear when a user is in a remote location with no connectivity, or a hint for a Pilates workout may show up when a user arrives at a studio location at their usual time.
Hints are Apple’s way of nudging you to open the Smart Stack at key moments when it might be especially helpful.
They exist because the reality is, as useful as the Smart Stack might be, if you never open it, it won’t do you any good.
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