Apple Watch Celebrates Your Birthday With a Special Message in watchOS 4 - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Watch Celebrates Your Birthday With a Special Message in watchOS 4

Among multiple software announcements that came out of WWDC last week, Apple unveiled details about watchOS 4, the newest operating system that will arrive on Apple Watch devices later this fall. As developers spend more time with the watchOS 4 beta, new surprises in the software become uncovered, and now MacRumors forum member mrToasty has come across a previously unseen birthday-related message that Apple has included in watchOS 4.

happy birthday watchos 4
On your birthday, Apple will send a "Happy Birthday!" notification to your Apple Watch, and when you tap on it your watch face will be showered with celebratory balloons. The addition looks visually similar to the "Balloons" screen effect that launched in the iOS 10 Messages app last year. You can watch the full Happy Birthday animation in the video below, which was originally posted by David Boyle on YouTube.

Some of the big changes coming in watchOS 4 include a collection of Activity-focused updates with more personalized achievements for the Workout app, and communication features between Apple Watch and compatible gym equipment. There are also enhancements to the Music app, and a new Siri watch face that will dynamically update based on the time of day and your daily routines, and showcase important data from apps like Activity, Alarms, Breathe, Calendar, Maps, Reminders, Wallet, and more.


Check out the MacRumors watchOS 4 roundup for a complete list of everything we know that's coming in the software update.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 11
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)

Popular Stories

imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
HomePod mini and Apple TV Sage

New Apple TV and HomePod Mini Remain 'Ready' to Launch

Sunday March 22, 2026 6:33 am PDT by
Apple has unveiled nine new products this month, but the wait continues for the next-generation Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini models. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said new versions of the Apple TV and HomePod mini have been "ready" since last year, but he reiterated that Apple has held off on releasing them until the more personalized version of Siri and other...
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....

Top Rated Comments

DaveWotzit Avatar
115 months ago
Underwhelming! Why not a Birthday Watch face? Confetti on the hour every hour!
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
115 months ago
Not interested until it can also buy me a drink.
Technically, it can, where Apple Pay is accepted.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roland.g Avatar
115 months ago
It's all these little things....

That keep them from taking care of some of the bigger items.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
115 months ago
Ah nevermind it will get more personal soon enough!


Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
115 months ago
Great, my watch will encourage me to eat cake. Then it will nag me to breathe. Then when I can't inhale because my jeans are too tight, my Watch will nag me to go burn some calories. It's like being married.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
115 months ago
It's all these little things....

That keep them from taking care of some of the bigger items.
Care to expand on that? How about every watch update has made the watch better with efficiency, battery life, added functionality with the Airpods, etc. That Seems like that's a 'Bigger item' on its own.

The First generation Apple Watch is running three times what it was when It first launched back in 2015. The Apple Watch is the best smart watch on the market from my experiences and the compatibility with iPhone seamless.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)