• iOS 26.5 is rolling out to our iPhones
• It includes new third-party wearables support for previously exclusive Apple Watch and AirPods features
• This is only available in the EU for now

Apple’s latest iOS 26.5 update is bringing some AirPods and Apple Watch-exclusive features to third-party earbuds and wearables — but only for phones in the EU.

This is being done so Apple can better comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which means Apple has to relinquish some of the software benefits that were exclusive to its own hardware and bring it to third-party smartwatches like those made by Garmin, Amazfit and Huawei, and third-party earbuds and headphones.

For smartwatch users the biggest update will be the ability to respond to message notifications with reactions or replies. Currently you can only see iOS notifications on third-party tech, whereas Apple Watch users can send a response through the notification pop-up. With this iOS 26.5 update that should start to change, providing other smartwatch makers update their hardware to support the new capabilities.

Just note that your phone can only forward notifications to one device at a time, so if you for some reason have an Apple Watch and an alternative smartwatch, you’ll need to choose which you’d rather support.

Back to iOS 26.5, you’ll get a second notification change too with third-party support for your iPhone’s Live Activities — the real time notifications that sit on your iPhone lock screen or in the Dynamic Island like a sports score or the distance of your Uber driver. These live updates can also appear in the Smart Stack on your Apple Watch, and now they could show up on your other smart wearable — again, if the manufacturer adds support.

More to come?

Not forgetting about the earbuds update, iOS 26.5 also adds proximity pairing support for non-Apple buds.

This is the feature that makes it a one tap process to pair AirPods with your iPhone when you start to set them up nearby. Thanks to the update, third-party earbuds can start to support this simplified setup process.

While none of these new tools feel revolutionary, they strip away more of the friction that comes from choosing a third-party option over Apple’s-own tech, making it a fairer choice between the tech options out there — so this update should be taken as a serious win if you live in the EU.

As for folks who live outside the EU, don’t hold your breath for a similar update. While EU regulation has seen Apple make global changes — such as the implementation of USB-C charging — digital rules are much easier to geolock. We’ve seen this previously with App Store regulations, and I expect Apple won’t want to tear its walled garden down any more than it is legally required to.

What’s more, Apple has argued the EU’s Digital markets Act should be scrapped, and warned that there are risks to users if it is forced to change how its products interact with each other and third parties.

For now we’ll just have to look longingly at the EU-exclusive update, and hope that our own governments introduce similar rules of their own —despite Apple’s protests.

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