Is Workout Buddy the Apple Watch’s Clippy? I explain the motivational fitness feature
watchOS 26 comes with a new Apple Watch fitness feature called Workout Buddy, designed to motivate you – here's how it works
At WWDC 2025, Apple unveiled all of its latest software releases. The new Apple Watch update – watchOS 26 – finally brings Apple Intelligence to your smartwatch, alongside the new Liquid Glass redesign. But one of my favourite features has to be Workout Buddy.
It’s Apple’s idea of a motivational sidekick for your Apple Watch – almost like Microsoft’s Clippy assistant from (simpler) days gone-by! It delivers personalised fitness coaching during your workouts, without needing an actual human to breathe down your neck. In fact, it’s all powered by Apple Intelligence, with digital trainer voices that talk to you on the fly.
But how exactly does Workout Buddy work? Here’s everything you need to know!
How does Workout Buddy work?
Think of Workout Buddy like having a slightly overly enthusiastic personal trainer strapped to your wrist. It uses your workout data, your health history, and a rather chatty generative AI voice to offer spoken motivation during your sessions.
It pulls from a range of data points like your heart rate, pace, distance, Activity rings, and past fitness milestones to deliver real-time spoken updates. Starting a run might trigger a voice telling you how many miles you’ve already knocked out that week, or how close you are to closing your Exercise ring.
During the session, it’ll chime in at key moments, marking your splits or highlighting a personal best. And when you’re done, it wraps things up with a detailed summary of your performance, including pace, distance, and heart rate, all topped off with a bit of positive reinforcement, naturally.
To make it all sound less robotic, Apple’s used voice data from its Fitness+ trainers to build a dynamic voice that doesn’t come across as robotic as Siri. The result is a pep talk that’s meant to sound like it’s coming from a real human, even if that human lives inside your watch. And because this is Apple, all the data analysis happens privately and securely on your device.
Workout Buddy is available for a handful of workout types when watchOS 26 rolls out later this year, including outdoor and indoor runs, walks, cycling, HIIT, and both functional and traditional strength training. It works with Bluetooth headphones and requires an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone nearby.
How to use Workout Buddy on watchOS 26
To use Workout Buddy, you’ll need to head into the Workout app (which itself has been given a facelift in watchOS 26) on your Apple Watch. Once your workout begins, Workout Buddy kicks in automatically for supported workout types, providing mid-session insights and post-workout recaps without you having to poke around for stats manually.
You can also set up music or podcasts to play automatically when you start, with Apple Music now picking playlists based on your workout and listening habits, provided you’ve got a subscription. It’s a feature made for those who want to sweat to something other than the default beep of their heart rate monitor.
Connor Jewiss
