A variety of smartwatches are on the market, including the Google Pixel Watch, FitBit, Suunto, Garmin, and Coros. Nevertheless, many of these do not work with iPhones, which can be disheartening. This situation may be changing shortly.

Apple unveiled the iOS 26.1 beta 1 code on Monday, and Macworld uncovered some code that might improve the compatibility between smartwatches and iPhones via a feature named Notification Forwarding. This feature would enable users to select which devices receive notifications from their iPhone, such as a different smartwatch or fitness monitor. Moreover, Macworld highlighted code that could streamline the pairing process for third-party devices.

Besides possible enhancements for smartwatches, 9to5Mac found a number of updates in iOS 26.1 beta, including five additional languages for AirPods Live Translation, eight new languages for Apple Intelligence features, a fresh swiping function on Apple Music and MiniPlayer, revamped views for Apple Calendar, a new playback scrubber for the Photos app, and more.

There is no guarantee that these features will be included in the final iOS 26.1 update, anticipated to launch in October.