Apple has introduced a new Apple Watch feature called Live Rewind. It allows you to play audio from the last 15 seconds. Some observers are concerned that this could violate people’s privacy. When Apple announced its Live Rewind feature at the 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, this tool just needs to press a button on your Apple Watch and it will play any audio recorded in the last 15 seconds. Is this feature a privacy nightmare that turns every Apple Watch into a “mass surveillance device” as some people worry? Or have people misunderstood what’s going on because Apple has put in place sufficient protections to prevent abuse and privacy violations? Opinions among social media users seemed divided, with some calling it “creepy and anti-social” while others noted it could be beneficial for people who are deaf or have autism. Let’s look at the facts to find out what’s really going on. Latest videos fromTechRadar How does live rewind work? (Image credit: Apple) What is this Live Rewind feature that causes so much horror? According to Apple, users of the Apple Watch Series 12 or Apple Watch Ultra 4 will be able to double-tap the Digital Crown and get a text transcription of what was said in the last 15 seconds. The company says it’s useful if you’ve missed something important, are deaf or hard of hearing, or are trying to remember a friend’s advice or recommendation. Some people are concerned that this will allow you to secretly record other people without their knowledge, and then save those recordings to your device for nefarious purposes. However, Apple explained during the event that the feature never records or stores audio, it does not identify anyone’s voice, and no one (including Apple) can access the audio. To clear things up, Apple has published an Audio Intelligence Privacy Overview that details how this feature works, as well as other new Apple Audio Intelligence tools, including Siri Recap. 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, which in this case processes sound. The Secure Enclave is disconnected from the rest of the device, and no part of the operating system can access it or the raw audio it processes. This includes both first-party and third-party apps, and even Apple can’t get anything in the Secure Enclave. Sign up for the latest news, reviews, opinions, top tech deals and more. Apple’s privacy document notes that audio is never saved or recorded when using Live Rewind. Instead, the audio is processed by Secure Enclave and used to create a transcript, and then permanently deleted from both your device and iCloud. No one will be able to listen to the audio later or retrieve it from your device. Audio enters the Secure Enclave as it arrives, meaning old data is continually overwritten and deleted as new audio arrives. When activated, Live Rewind attempts to send the last 15 seconds of audio to your iPhone. If this is not possible (for example, if your iPhone is out of range of a wireless network), the sound will disappear immediately. If the process is successful, the audio is converted to text on your iPhone, deleted, and then the text is sent back to Secure Enclave on your Apple Watch. Saved text remains available on your watch for 30 seconds after the screen goes dark, after which it is deleted. If you wish, you can save it to the Siri app, where it will be encrypted. This is the only time something is saved during the forward rewind process. As mentioned earlier, the text does not contain any author attribution. You can ask Siri for your transcripts, which will send the text to Apple’s secure private cloud servers. If you use iCloud with two-factor authentication and have password protected your device, all transcripts from Live Rewind are synced using end-to-end encryption and not even Apple will be able to decrypt them. Respect for others (Image credit: Apple) What about other people? Will they know you’re using Live Rewind? Can you use this feature secretly? Luckily, you can’t use Live Rewind without anyone knowing. When you double-tap the Digital Crown, your Apple Watch emits a sound that plays even if your device is in silent mode or you’re listening to music through headphones. The screen also plays a full-screen animation and displays a microphone icon. Either visually or through sound, your Apple Watch tries to alert other people to what’s happening. Apple also says the Live Rewind feature is voluntary, not opt-in, and you can turn it on when you set up a new device. You can also turn this feature on or off in Siri Settings on Apple Watch or in Siri Settings in the Apple Watch app on iPhone. While it would be polite to do this, Apple won’t be able to force you to ask permission before using Live Rewind. But you can take comfort from the fact that no one can store or retrieve the audio used by this feature, nor can you assign speakers. All the user gets from this is a text transcript. These privacy protections go some way to distancing Live Rewind from Meta’s so-called “Pervert Glasses” and their consent-violating data collection. Follow TechRadar on Google News. And add us as your preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Post navigation Solheim Cup golf 2026: Europe v USA finely poised in day one fourballs – live “What’s happening in the UK?” A London bakery says it has been kicked out of an area market for being “too successful”