Is Apple’s Live Rewind a privacy nightmare? Here’s how the Apple Watch feature really works — and whether it violates your privacy

Apple debuted a new Apple Watch feature called Live Rewind It lets you play back audio from the last 15 seconds Some observers are worried it could violate people’s privacy When Apple announced its Live Rewind feature at its Surprise and Shine event earlier this week, many observers were concerned that it would allow you to secretly record other people without their consent.

After all, the tool just requires you to press a button on your Apple Watch and it plays back any audio that was captured during the last 15 seconds.

Is this feature a privacy nightmare, one that turns every Apple Watch into a “mass surveillance device,” as some people have worried? Or have people misunderstood what is happening, with Apple putting enough safeguards in place to prevent abuse and privacy violations? Social media users seem to be divided, with some calling it “creepy and antisocial,” while others pointed out how it could be useful for deaf people or those with autism .

Let’s take a look at the facts to find out what’s really going on.

How does Live Rewind work? (Image credit: Apple) What is this Live Rewind feature that is causing so much consternation? According to Apple, users of the Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4 will be able to double-press the Digital Crown and receive a text transcription of what was said over the last 15 seconds.

The company says this is useful if you missed something important, are deaf or hard of hearing, or are trying to recall a tip or recommendation from a friend.

Some people have worried that this would allow you to surreptitiously record other people without their knowledge, then save these recordings to your device for nefarious purposes.

However, Apple explained during the event that the feature never records or stores audio, it doesn’t identify anyone’s voice, and audio cannot be accessed by anyone (including Apple).

To clarify matters, Apple has published an Audio Intelligence Privacy Overview that lays out how this feature — and Apple’s other new Audio Intelligence tools, including Siri Recap — works in detail.

When it comes to Live Rewind, any audio is processed in the Apple Watch’s Secure Enclave .

This is a separate part of the S11 chip that, in this instance, processes audio.

The Secure Enclave is siphoned off from the rest of the device and no part of the operating system can access it or the raw audio it handles.

That includes both first- and third-party apps, and not even Apple can get to anything in the Secure Enclave.

Apple’s privacy paper notes that audio is never saved or recorded when you use Live Rewind.