Apple's watchOS 27 is expected to be unveiled alongside the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 at the company's "Surprise and Shine" event, and a new leak suggests the update could bring a long-requested upgrade to the Workout app's strength-training capabilities.
What The Leak Says
According to details reportedly found in the watchOS 27 beta and shared on the MacRumors forum, Apple is working on what is being described as "richer details in strength workouts".
A leaker described the change in more specific terms: "The new implementation can describe individual sets and store repetition counts, weight, equipment, body side, and duration for each set. A workout activity can now represent a session with multiple sets, with different loads and repetition counts in each."
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Catching Up To Third-Party Apps
If accurate, the update would bring Apple's native Workout app closer to functionality that third-party apps have offered for years. SmartGym, one of the more popular Apple Watch fitness apps and Apple's own App of the Year pick in 2023, already lets users track individual reps and sets during strength routines, a feature the stock Workout app has historically lacked.
A Longstanding Gap In Functionality
At present, a strength-training session in the Apple Watch's Workout app is logged as one continuous activity, without a breakdown by exercise. This means users have no way to see how many reps or sets they actually completed for any given movement.
Many have worked around this limitation by keeping a separate log of their routine in a note-taking app, requiring them to toggle between two apps throughout a gym session. A "Custom Workout" feature does offer some help, allowing a rough set-and-rest timer with basic exercise labels, though it functions more as a stopgap than something that actually solves the underlying problem.
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What Remains Unclear
Several questions remain unanswered ahead of Apple's official reveal, including whether the updated Workout app will function independently of a paired iPhone, the way SmartGym does, while displaying all relevant data directly on the Apple Watch.
With Apple's event scheduled for September 9, more details are expected to emerge shortly.
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