Users of the Apple Watch in the European Union may soon lose the ability to sync Wi-Fi networks from their iPhones, according to a new report.

With the release of the first iOS 26.2 developer beta, Apple revealed its Live Translation feature would become available to users in the European Union. However, it's not all good news for those in the EU, as another software change has since come to light.

To be more specific, iOS users in the European Union will have to part with an existing Apple Watch feature. While it was previously possible to sync Wi-Fi networks from an iPhone to an Apple Watch, the capability is now set to be disabled in the EU with a future iOS 26 update.

Apple reportedly told French publication Numerama that it has opted to "disable Wi-Fi synchronization between iPhones and Apple Watches in Europe.

The iPhone maker did so to avoid EU demands that it open up the iPhone's Wi-Fi hardware to third-party companies by the end of 2025. The European Union's interoperability requirements, outlined back in December 2024, provoked objections from Apple on more than one occasion.

Apple takes issue with opening up iPhone hardware to third parties because the company sees this as a threat to the privacy of its users. The company previously said the EU's demands created "a process that is unreasonable, costly, and stifles innovation."

In a statement to AppleInsider in June 2025, an Apple spokesperson said that the EU's requirements would "hand data-hungry companies sensitive information, which poses massive privacy and security risks to our EU users."

"Companies have already requested our users' most sensitive data — from the content of their notifications, to a full history of every stored WiFi network on their device — giving them the ability to access personal information that even Apple doesn't see," reads part of the statement.

Though with reluctance, Apple has previously complied with select EU demands. Alternative app marketplaces, for instance, were made available to users in the European Union as part of the iOS 17.4 update.

In the case of Apple Watch Wi-Fi network syncing, however, the iPhone maker took a different route. Rather than accepting the EU's request, Apple simply decided to disable the capability for users in the European Union.

In practice, this means that Apple Watch users may need to connect to Wi-Fi networks manually if a paired iPhone is out of range. Though the exact effects of this change remain to be seen, it's unlikely the removal of network syncing will have a massive impact on Apple Watch usability in the EU.

Source: Appleinsider