How Apple’s creepy new Live Rewind feature works, that lets you replay real conversations

Apple held its annual Apple Event on Wednesday and announced a load of new releases, including a terrifying new Apple Watch feature called Live Rewind that literally replays people’s real-life conversations – here’s how it works, if it’s safe and most importantly, how to switch it off. 

Alongside the vibey new iPhone Duo that folds in half, Apple decided it would be a great idea to let people see what was said around them for the last 15 seconds.

“Live Rewind recalls what was just said in the last 15 seconds by showing a text snippet on your Apple Watch,” Apple said. “So you can catch something you missed or are less familiar with.”

Credit: Apple

Launching with the new Apple Watch Series 12, it’s designed for when you miss a key detail of what someone said and “wish you could go back,” like someone giving you a book recommendation or a waiter telling you the restaurant’s daily specials. Basically, anything you didn’t quite hear properly the first time.  

You double-press the button on the side of your Apple Watch, and it automatically brings up a transcription of the last 15 seconds of the conversation on the screen using Apple Intelligence.  

People think the whole thing sounds like something out of the sci-fi series Black Mirror and is so scary. The idea of your Apple Watch constantly recording private conversations without consent is terrifying. But Apple insists it’s safe.

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Credit: Apple

“Live Rewind only activates when you deliberately double-press the Digital Crown (side button). It only shows the last 15 seconds of speech as a text snippet on your display. It doesn’t continue to transcribe in the background, nor does it save the text unless you choose to ask Siri about the content or save it to the Siri app,” Apple said. 

The tech company also revealed that Live Rewind “plays an audible chime” when it’s being used, even if Apple Watch is on silent, and “shows a full-display animation and microphone indicator so people nearby can hear and see that the feature has been activated”. 

Live Rewind doesn’t create or store audio recordings, and the raw audio is not accessible to anyone, Apple told Wired. But if you’re still not convinced about its safety, you thankfully can switch it off. To turn it off, open the Apple Watch app on your phone and go to Siri > Live Rewind. Then, toggle off Double Click Digital Crown.

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Featured image credit: Apple