Do the older Apple watches keep working, even if your iPhone is using the latest os?
My SE2 watch is working fine after upgrading my iPhone 17 to ios27. So yes they do work.
I used an original SE, for notifications only, with my iPhone 16 Pro until recently. It still works but I’m tired of the constant charging. I think I’m finished buying Apple watches.
Do you have your eye on an alternative? I will probably not look at another Apple Watch until at least the series 14. I do feel a tad annoyed that my SE2 can’t be updated.
Tad annoyed?
I am livid that my Series 7 will not get the update. It’s still a capable watch. Apple could have easily disabled the AI features to get it working on older watches.
What do you miss out on by staying on watchOS 26 (apart from the AI stuff)?
I ask because I don’t see anything especially interesting or new on my series 9 running 27.
I stopped wearing watches after buying an iPhone in '07, and didn’t start again until I purchased a series 2 Apple Watch. Now that I’m back in the habit of wearing watches, I’m using a Timex and a Google Fitbit Air.
I’ve worn the Fitbit for nine days. It does steps, heart rate, sleep tracing, etc, syncs with the Health app, and only needs charging once a week. So far, so good.
I’ve joked in the past about AirPods being a subscription. But any device that needs to be constantly upgraded to keep up with advances in software could be considered a subscription. IMO
Agreed. And that’s what Tech essentially is now, especially with many services backed by Cloud. If the owner switches the Server off, the device/software/service/Game stops working with no way to continue.
Unlike in the 2000s and before, every device has obsolescence built in with no guarantees on the timescale.
Over 94% of companies use cloud services today, and 60% of the cloud market share is held by AWS, Microsoft, and Google.
I work almost exclusively online using apps from Google, banks, credit card, healthcare, insurance, and a number of other companies, etc. I really don’t need powerful devices to run my life.
If someone “switches the Server off”, I’m going to have a lot of company while I sit in the dark. 
I am annoyed because my watch will not be receiving updates henchforth.
You said livid earlier, so I just thought you’d like to know that (apart from the AI) you’re not missing much by not updating. I couldn’t describe what’s actually changed without looking it up.
I suspect that with a 5 year old watch like yours, you’d find the AI version of Siri very slow and clunky. That’s what I’ve found with my S9, which is 3 years old, and the oldest model to get 27. It now takes a lot longer for to turn my torch on using Siri than it did 2 weeks ago.
Sharing that, hoping that you might feel, say, mildly disappointed rather than livid!
I read somewhere that so long as your pre AW9 watch shays paired to an iPhone it’ll receive security updates
Correct.
“the Apple Watch Series 6, 7, 8, the SE 2 and even the original Apple Watch Ultra— won’t get watchOS 27, and so won’t get the new Siri AI features. They’ll only receive basic security support going forward.”
So long as my SE 2 continues to get notifications from my phone, that’s all I need.