Last week, Apple unveiled Siri AI across all its devices at its annual WWDC event. While much time was given to how you'll be able to use Apple's new virtual assistant on iPhone, iPad and Mac, the Apple Watch was overlooked — despite the fact that, according to Apple, it's "the most convenient way to interact with Siri" more often than not.

That quote comes from Apple's own David Clark, senior director of watchOS software engineering. I had the opportunity to ask Clark, as well as Cait Dooley, Apple Watch and Health Product Marketing Manager, about how they see Apple Watch users interacting with Siri AI on their wrists.

Clark said one of the goals of watchOS 27 was "to expand the intelligence story on Apple Watch and make it a true co-partner to Apple Intelligence". It's doing so by being a first point of contact, as a wearable is a convenient place to house a microphone for asking Siri questions.

"We really wanted to make sure the Siri experience is a singular and consistent experience, whether I decide to ask Siri on my wrist a question, or whether I have my phone in my hand and I decide to interact with Siri there. We really wanted to feel like it’s one Siri, that has access to your data and is able to personalise it in a consistent way.

"One of the things that Apple Watch brings to the picture is the fact that it’s on your wrist all day, [so] oftentimes it’s the most convenient way to interact with Siri. You can imagine you’re on the go, your hands are full, you have that quick question for Siri and you can interact with Apple Watch. Of course, with the new Siri app, if you want to continue that conversation or go more deeply into some topic you’re interested in, later on you can pull out your phone and pick up right where you left off.”

Clark gives me an example of a grocery list in a store: with hands full, he's able to ask Siri on Watch for the ingredients he needs for a particular recipe. When he gets a moment, he can then open his phone to view that ingredients list in an easier-to-read way. "Working together is that superpower," he says, "and having it all being consistently driven by your data."

The elephant in the room: watchOS 27 and compatibility

As the announcements were rolling out, however, there was a pall over watchOS 27 as it was announced that five older models — 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.

I asked the watchOS team exactly why so many watch users have been left high-and-dry.

"With every software release across every single one of our platforms, we always want to ensure that you have the best experience, so we make power and performance a priority," said Dooley.

"The great new features in watchOS, including the capabilities of SIri AI and the new tap gesture, work best with the processing power that is in Apple Watch Series 9 and later, Ultra 2 and later, and SE 3. Older devices can still be paired with iPhones that are running the latest software and continue to receive security updates, so they can continue to have a great Apple Watch experience."

So while you'll be able to use older your watch with iPhones running Siri AI-powered software, you won't be able to access the new and smarter assistant on your watch. Although Dooley and Clark wouldn't confirm this is the case, it's likely only Apple Watches running Apple's powerful S9 and S10 chips can handle the technical demands of Siri AI.

• Apple’s Walkie Talkie feature seems to be missing from watchOS 27
• It lets you chat to a companion via your Apple Watch
• Users have reported it’s nowhere to be seen in the first watchOS 27 beta

When Apple announces new software, as it did at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8, the usual procedure is that the company adds new features. But this time, eagle-eyed sleuths have noticed that an enjoyable feature has been removed from watchOS 27 — and there’s no indication that it’s coming back.

The feature in question is called Walkie Talkie, and it lets you raise your wrist and chat with another connected Apple Watch user. It’s a fun little way to communicate with other people and can be especially entertaining for younger children.

Yet it appears that Walkie Talkie is entirely absent from the watchOS 27 developer beta that Apple recently released. Although Apple hasn’t made any official announcement on this topic, Walkie Talkie appears to be missing from the first watchOS 27 beta.

Users have taken to social media to voice their disappointment, with user ra4oasis lamenting: “Well that sucks. My son and I use it all the time.” User Loupetron_Primal, meanwhile, explained the usefulness of the feature: “My best friend and I live in a split-level apartment. He’s upstairs and I’m downstairs. We’ve used this feature for years instead of shouting.”

A sadly neglected feature

While I can’t say that I’ve been a frequent user of Walkie Talkie, it’s had its moments over the years that I’ve owned an Apple Watch. It’s a great retro throwback and has genuine utility for those times when you don’t need a full-on phone call or text conversation.

Yet Apple has barely given it a second glance since launching Walkie Talkie in 2018. It’s had no significant updates in the years since, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that many Apple Watch users don’t even know it exists. That suggests this could be a deliberate app retirement from Apple rather than a mistake or oversight.

As well as that, Walkie Talkie has been the subject of complaints and criticism over its occasional unreliability. On Reddit, for example, user nate390 argued that it was always a little flawed: “It was a really nice idea, but in my experience, it didn’t work well. Well, it did when both parties were on cellular, but not so much when one or other end was connected to an iPhone via Bluetooth.” With that in mind, perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised to see it fail to make the cut in watchOS 27.

Still, it’s disappointing that this feature has apparently been removed entirely — perhaps Apple felt it wasn’t worth the effort to fix it up. While there’s a small chance that Apple could change course before watchOS 27 launches to the public in the fall, don’t bet the farm on it.

Today's WWDC 2026 conference has given Apple fans something they've craved for years: a powerful, agentic version of Siri, with its own dedicated app. The new Siri AI is designed to work across the entire suite of Apple tools, from powerful Macs to the smallest watch. But the AI health features we did see were lacking compared to Google's.

One of last year's headline Apple Watch features, Workout Buddy, has been improved: users can now get guidance and encouragement in their ears during exercise while just wearing a watch, and they don't need to bring their phone, as they did in watchOS 26. Plus, new insights, such as heart rate zones, will be built in.

Other expanded health and fitness features include the inclusion of menopausal and perimenopausal conditions in cycle tracking (a significant and helpful addition for many women) and improved accuracy of treadmill metrics. Siri AI's health capabilities were also shown off on the watch, using its ability to look for healthy recipes and describe stretching routines based on its broad intelligence.

However, despite rumors saying an AI model specifically dedicated to health and fitness was in the works, nothing materialized this year. Which is a shame, as I've already been using the Google Fitbit Air and its accompanying AI health coach, and I've seen how powerful such a feature can be.

Watch: Marques Brownlee gives his verdict on Siri AI

Despite existing Fitbit fans bemoaning their loss of community features, I ended up liking Google's Health Coach. Unlike the Apple Watch, the Google Fitbit Air is screenless, with all chatbot interaction taking place on the phone in the Google Health app.

To be honest, this works well: if you're going to read reams of text about stretching or your metrics, you want to do it on a proper 6-inch screen oriented specifically for readability, not a 1.9-inch squircle as was demonstrated in Apple's keynote speech.

What's more, the Google Health Coach works with its own library of Fitbit workout and meditation content, allowing you to custom-build workouts just by asking the chatbot, and getting demonstrable, video instruction rather than just a block of text. It also takes your illness or injuries into account, as I found out when I got sick, and the Coach changed my workout plan to recommend rest days and shorter runs.

Apple already has a vast library of fitness content through its premium Apple Fitness+ service, and I expected a health coaching feature to be rolled into that subscription as part of the Siri AI revamp. Maybe that's a feature we're more likely to see at WWDC 2027. But its absence wasn't quite as much of an own goal as Apple's decision to only roll out watchOS 27 to a handful of modern watches.

UPDATE 09/06: This article has been updated to reflect that the Apple Watch Series 9, which was originally missing from Apple's list of watches compatible with watchOS 27, has now been added.

Another WWDC, another set of operating systems. This year's WWDC 2026 keynote has been chock-full of highly-advanced AI-powered features, led by a revamped Siri AI designed to work across the whole Apple ecosystem — but these advanced features need devices capable of running them.

Because Apple updates its software each year, users of older versions of the best iPhones, MacBooks and, of course, the best Apple Watches worry their old technology may not get the new update, and thus official support for it would end.

Although there was no mention of compatibility in this year's keynote speech, the official Apple website confirms it that five watches that support watchOS 26 won't be able to make the upgrade to watchOS 27 — presumably because those models can't handle the new Siri AI.

Here are the watches that will still be supported when watchOS 27 lands later this year:

Which watches will get watchOS 27?

The full list of compatible models are as follows:

• Apple Watch Series 9
• Apple Watch Series 10
• Apple Watch Series 11
• Apple Watch Ultra 2
• Apple Watch Ultra 3
• Apple Watch SE 3

These are the recent models without support for watchOS 27:

• Apple Watch Series 6
• Apple Watch Series 7
• Apple Watch Series 8
• Apple Watch Ultra
• Apple Watch SE 2

The Apple Watch Series' 6, 7, and 8 do not appear on Apple's list of compatible devices. Users running those watches can only expect to receive basic security and maintenance upgrades in the future.

The first-generation Apple Watch Ultra — which is only four years old and was, let's remember, quite a premium product — and Apple Watch SE 2 are also included in this list.

This will be a blow to so many users. Traditionally, Apple has ended support for watches after six or so years, not three or four — to place this in context, last year's watchOS 26 supported Apple Watch Series 6, which was originally released in 2020.

First-generation Apple Watch Ultra users will also be incredibly irate — spending $799 / £849 / AU$1229 on a watch that was only supported for four years will be seen as a very predatory move by Apple, and may drive some customers away to competitors such as Garmin. After an exciting WWDC speech for AI fans, this news will leave a sour taste.

All the above watches' core features will still work, although users will run into problems as the watches reach the end of their lives. For example, you may be unable to update apps which are designed to work with the latest software features.

Series 9 is now the oldest watch to receive new versions of watchOS.

How to download the watchOS 27 beta

If you do have a supported watch and can't wait until September to try out all the new features, you can sign up to beta test Apple's latest OS. To do so, you'll need to enrol in Apple's beta program, which you can do either on Apple's developer portal here for the developer beta, or wait until the public beta next month, which most users will want to do. Remember to always back up your devices before doing so.

On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Software Update > Beta Updates, , and action the software update when available.

Once the update is installed, you can go to the Watch app on your phone and use a similar pathway: My Watch > General > Software Update > Beta updates, enter your passcode and away you go.

Apple is not on its back foot, but there's no question that it's under intense pressure to deliver a razzle-dazzle WWDC 2026 keynote on June 8 at 10AM PT.

It's been tradition over the past four or five years of quick in-person opening remarks before Tim Cook cedes the stage to a series of pre-recorded videos, but that may not cut it. It has to, for instance, tell and show, in real time, the product of deep AI foundation model work that it (and partner Google) is bringing to the all-new Siri.

We've seen videos before and then waited two years for a full Apple Intelligence delivery that never came. That won't work this time. What we want is to see the all-new Siri working on an iPhone 17, demo gremlins and all.

Being that vulnerable on stage will break with recent tradition and whisk us back to the Steve Jobs era, when, without a digital net, Jobs would demonstrate new hardware and software on stage. It's true, he occasionally admonished everyone in Apple's Town Hall at One Loop to "turn off their WiFi," but we'll never forget those moments.

Give us the "Cook" moment

I also think developer and media attendees will demand more than a brief glance at the outgoing CEO. This WWDC keynote will be Cook's swan song as Apple CEO before John Ternus takes over in September, just in time for the iPhone 18 rollout.

We'll want Cook to remark about his impact on the company, a video retrospective, and maybe even some frank comments about highs and lows ("Okay, maybe we went a little too far with Liquid Glass...").

Please, Apple and Tim, let's get real here and embrace the moment in a way that, again, no one will forget.

A series of live presentations

If I had my way, the entire keynote format would be switched up so that Cook engages with each platform lead to walk through the big changes coming with iOS 27 and the rest of the "27" platforms.

The biggest chunk should be reserved for a sit-down with Tenrus, who could walk Cook through the new Siri. It will all be far more impactful than an hour or more of videos, even the humorous ones featuring Craig Federighi's hair.

The hard truth

Any time I mention the possibility of "one more thing" at a WWDC Keynote, I'm reminded that it's not a hardware event...except when it is. The trash can Mac Pro made its debut there, as did the Vision Pro.

I think it's altogether possible that this WWDC 2026 keynote could be the one where Apple gives us a surprise glimpse of the iPhone Ultra (iPhone Fold).

As I've written before, a folding, and possibly two-screen iPhone would make special demands of iOS 27, ones that I think would be hard to hide from the public as dev and public betas start rolling out throughout the summer.

I'd suggest Apple embrace the sea change and reveal that "Of course, we're working on a folding device!"

Tim Cook holding the iPhone Ultra prototype over his head as the company announces an important new entry in the iPhone lineup is quite the image. It will be a brief look, and I'm sure Apple will offer scant details, but can you imagine the excitement and satisfaction for Cook, who will not have the opportunity to do so in September when I suspect the iPhone Ultra officially launches alongside the rest of the iPhone 18 lineup.

The other possibility here is that Cook gets to preview Apple Glasses, maybe even casually walking out on stage wearing the AR spectacles and not revealing the fact until he closes the keynote. People would lose their minds.

For all the success Apple has had in 2026 (mostly thanks to the MacBook Neo), it's clear it's lagging in key areas like foldables, AR, and especially AI. Business as usual will not suffice.

So this is my call to Apple: Don't play it safe, don't prerecord those videos. Leave the comedy behind, and go for an all-live event with high stakes and real impact.

That, my friends, will be a WWDC keynote for the books.

The Google Fitbit Air is here, and early adopters are getting to grips with the new screenless fitness tracker and its AI-powered premium Google Health Coach.

I've shared my early thoughts after a few hours of testing and we've covered existing Fitbit users' disappointment and anger over some of the app changes — but how does it compare against an Apple Watch, perhaps the best-known and certainly the most commonly-spotted fitness wearable on wrists everywhere?

To find out, I went on a 10-kilometer evening run (braving the UK heatwave) with the Google Fitbit Air on one hand, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on the other. I was also wearing the Polar H10 heart rate monitor, intending to use it as a litmus test for accuracy, but the chest strap malfunctioned so I don't have any meaningful results to publish here.

I'm primarily looking at metrics such as heart rate and calories burned. Both wearables use optical heart rate sensors — LED lights that monitor blood flow on your wrist to estimate your heart rate. The estimation of calories burned combines your heart rate data with movement data and other metrics to calculate your energy expenditure.

As well as calories burned and average heart rate, I've included the results for average pace here too. I'm expecting the Apple Watch, with its built-in GPS, to be more accurate than the Fitbit Air, which is piggybacking off the GPS from my iPhone as it doesn't have any GPS capabilities itself.

It's also worth noting I have not linked Google Health and Apple Health at the time of writing, so these results are separate.

The results

Below are the results from my 10km run. Tap the 'next' tab on the graph to cycle through all three metrics.

Previous

1 / 4

Next

Average heart rate

Google Fitbit Air

158

Apple Watch Ultra 3

161

050100150200

Average heart rate Data

Product	Value
Google Fitbit Air	158
Apple Watch Ultra 3	161

Average Pace

Google Fitbit Air

5.37

Apple Watch Ultra 3

5.47

01.534.56

Average Pace Data

Product	Value
Google Fitbit Air	5.37
Apple Watch Ultra 3	5.47

Calories burned

Google Fitbit Air

773

Apple Watch Ultra 3

750

0200400600800

Calories burned Data

Product	Value
Google Fitbit Air	773
Apple Watch Ultra 3	750

Distance

Google Fitbit Air

10.43

Apple Watch Ultra 3

10.03

03.757.511.2515

Kilometers

Distance Data

Product	Value
Google Fitbit Air	10.43
Apple Watch Ultra 3	10.03

As you can see in the graphs above, both heart rate and calorie readings are quite close. The average heart rate for my workout was just a 3bpm difference between the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the Google Fitbit Air. It would have been nice to have information from my chest strap to compare this as well, but I'll try this again before my full review with a different electrical heart rate monitor.

However, on previous tests the Apple Watch Ultra 3 matched the electrical heart rate monitor exactly, indicating that the Google Fitbit Air is pretty dang accurate too.

Likewise, the calorie counts on both wearables were relatively similar, with the Google Fitbit Air exceeding the Apple Watch Ultra 3's calculation by less than 25 calories. No two wearables are going to be exactly alike here, but this is close enough that I'd feel comfortable using the Google Fitbit Air day-to-day.

Average pace is a different matter. As previously mentioned, the Google Fitbit Air has no onboard GPS of its own, and although it showed a lovely map of my route obtained via my iPhone's GPS, it also overestimated my pace and thought I was a whole 10 seconds faster per kilometer than the Apple Watch did.

I know how my paces feel — it was a hot day and I had steep declines and inclines at either end of my run, so I ran slower than my usual brisk clip. I'm far more inclined to agree with Apple's assessment than the Fitbit's pace estimation here. Apple also gave me far more detail about my run, such as stride length and vertical oscillation (how bouncy I was during the run), whereas the Google Fitbit Air collects no such information. What Fitbit does surface, however, is steps taken during the workout (9,342 to be precise), which the Apple Watch Ultra 3 doesn't.

Fitbit also massively overestimated my run at 10.43km rather than 10.03km, even though it shows exactly the same map as my Apple Watch, with an identical finishing point, as you can see below in the comparison pic. Unlike 3bpm or 23kcal, over 400 meters and 10 seconds of pace are big differences.

Apple Fitness

Google Health

Analysis

In terms of the metrics relying on the onboard heart rate monitor, the $99.99 / £84.99 / AU$199 Google Fitbit Air is very accurate compared to the $799 / £749 / AU$1,399 Apple Watch Ultra 3.

I wouldn't have expected the Google Fitbit Air to be as reliable for run tracking as one of the best running watches, considering it doesn't even have GPS — as long as it's consistent for casual users, that'll be fine for most people. Anyone (like me) who cares enough to want maps, technique information like stride length, and pinpoint-accurate pace will likely gravitate towards a dedicated running watch anyway. Still, I was hoping for a smaller difference here.

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 has proven itself to be a very accurate wrist-based optical heart rate solution, so far superseded only by dedicated heart rate monitors. Based on this, I'm happy the Google Fitbit Air cleaves closely to this standard — although it's a shame I can't rely on GPS data harvested from my phone for more than a rough estimation.

• A new report based on 'market expectations' indicates Apple could be making some changes to its Watch Ultra series this year
• The report states a new sensor array is on the way, alongside a 'full redesign' for the Watch Ultra 4
• While new sensors could improve or add more features to Apple's already stellar health tracking, I don't believe a huge-scale redesign of the Watch Ultra is on the cards

Rumors about the Apple Watch Ultra 4 have been thin on the ground until now, but we're finally beginning to hear a few tidbits here and there. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 only launched in September last year (snagging the top spot on our best Apple Watches list), but given that the original Apple Watch Ultra only lasted a year before it was succeeded by the Watch Ultra 2, it makes sense that Apple might announce the 4 during its annual September Event this year.

The report by Digitimes (spotted via 9to5Mac) based on 'market expectations' mentions a 'significant upgrade to sensing functions' for the Ultra 4, with a redesigned sensor array expected to create a large volume of orders from its sensor supplier, Taiwan-Asia Semiconductor.

The Watch Ultra 3's heart rate sensing functionality is already superb (I've personally tested it alongside a Polar H10 chest-mounted heart rate monitor and found it almost 1-1), so a sensor upgrade is likely to focus on improving another feature. Apple has cracked hypertension, which alerts users of potential chronic high blood pressure after 30 days, and packs sensors such as blood oxygen and skin temperature to support features including sleep tracking and women's health tracking.

If a new sensor array is on the horizon, we're likely to see either an entirely new feature from Apple, or an even more accurate version of one of the features above.

A 'full redesign'?

It's the next part of the report that has me pressing 'x' to doubt. Digitimes mentions a 'full redesign' coming alongside the new sensor array, which sounds exciting, but I'm expecting any redesign to be relatively minor.

Apple tends to find a design that works and stick to it, creating a very strong brand identity — you only have to look back at the last 10 years of Apple Watches to see that. The Watch Ultra series was an enormous change (by Apple's standards), equivalent to last year's iPhone Air.

There might be a change in thickness, materials or battery efficiency, but I'm very much expecting the Watch Ultra 4 to look, at first glance, almost identical to the Watch Ultra 3. Granted, it might be marketed by Apple as a redesign, but in real terms I'm not expecting much to change.

• A report claims a new feature is coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 4
• This could measure your blood pressure using new sensors
• It’s apparently currently awaiting FDA approval

It’s safe to say that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is a fantastic fitness tracker. Not only is it the best Apple Watch money can buy, but it’s our pick for the best smartwatch on the market, period. And now, it could be about to get even better thanks to a new feature that’s reportedly just around the corner.

According to a report from DigiTimes (via Gadgets & Wearables), the Apple Watch Ultra 4 — set to be unveiled this September — will come with a new feature that can track and measure your blood pressure, giving you timely alerts if something seems to be amiss. DigiTimes believes will lead to a “sharpening [of] the device’s health-management appeal.”

Although this exact feature isn’t here yet, watchOS 26 brought a confusingly similar sounding hypertension alert tool to Apple’s smartwatch range. That uses the Apple Watch’s optical heart sensor to send notifications to your wrist, and DigiTimes states that the new blood pressure feature will work in a comparable manner.

The fact that the tool reported by DigiTimes isn’t here yet is apparently because it is currently undergoing FDA approval. That might mean it needs regulatory clearance before being added to the Apple Watch; if so, gaining that could suggest it’s a more advanced feature that relies on new hardware to provide more accurate metrics.

Many unanswered questions

The idea that this blood pressure system is linked to new hardware makes sense. Apple is rumored to be launching a major design overhaul of the Apple Watch this September, and that might go beyond a mere visual facelift and include new sensors that the blood pressure feature can take advantage of.

Still, this feature might not be as advanced as some people are hoping. Gadgets & Wearables, for instance, suggests that the platform might offer simple notifications rather than detailed systolic and diastolic numbers, implying it is “more like pattern detection than cuff-style measurement.”

Whether or not this feature comes to older Apple Watch models is unknown. Several Watch versions boast optical sensors of the kind used by Apple’s hypertension alerts, which might enable them to work with the new blood pressure tool. Alternatively, Apple may decide that it requires newer hardware found only in more recent devices. We probably won’t know until Apple unveils new Watches later this year.

Aside from this feature, DigiTimes says the Apple Watch Ultra 4 will get a “full redesign” and a ring of eight sensors on the underside of the device, presumably including the optical sensor for blood pressure detection. If you’re after a high-end wearable that looks after your heart, it could be one to watch.

• Apple has long been rumored to be planning Touch ID on Apple Watches
• These plans have been put on hold, according to leaker Instant Digital
• The leaker says Apple is more focused on improving battery life and health sensors

For some time now, we've been hearing rumors that Touch ID, possibly via the digital crown, would make its way onto the best Apple Watches. But if the latest rumors are correct, don't expect this to be announced anytime soon at this year's WWDC or Apple's September events.

Posting on Weibo (spotted via 9to5Mac), leaker Instant Digital posted that Apple's plans for the Touch ID feature are hokum. They wrote (translated from Chinese via Weibo's native service) that 'currently, claims that wearable devices like the Apple Watch will be equipped with biometric authentication are purely rumors.'

'Apple’s current strategy still prioritizes using the iPhone to unlock other devices via seamless connectivity.'

It makes a lot of sense to keep the phone as the central hub bringing all your accessories together, but I can see why a Touch ID feature could be tempting. We often hear about the ability of an LTE-capable Apple Watch to act as a 'mini phone' of sorts, keeping your contacts, messages, and wallet all close to hand — pun fully intended — when you leave your house without your phone.

Biometric security is a logical step for LTE models, but it remains a niche use case, especially since the watch already locks itself with a passcode when removed from your wrist.

However, the leaker claims Apple isn't focusing on this right now. They write: 'Apple’s current focus is on packing in larger batteries and relentlessly refining its advanced health sensors. Integrating a fingerprint sensor, at least for now, only adds unnecessary cost and directly encroaches on battery space.'

Focusing on what's important

This is music to my ears. I know Apple Watches well, as I review them every year, but I've recently switched ecosystems to Apple, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3 has gone from a testing device to my daily driver.

I would previously switch between the Garmin Fenix 8 and Garmin Venu 4, so I'm used to 10 days between charges. While I love the Apple Watch Ultra series, I won't lie that the need to charge it every couple of days is my biggest annoyance. After the convenience of Garmin's enormous batteries and low power consumption, living with a shorter battery life is an adjustment.

It's great to hear Apple plans to beef up the battery further — and it's good to hear that health sensor accuracy is Apple's priority right now.

Dear Nomad Goods. I'm sorry. I was wrong for making fun of and laughing at the Universal Cable for Apple Watch when you announced it early last year.

When I first saw pictures, I sent them to friends and even family members, laughing at the idea of an Apple Watch charging puck built into a USB-C charging cable.

I mean, look at it. It just looks silly.

I still think it looks weird, but after using the Universal Cable for Apple Watch for a half dozen trips, I'm sold. Let me explain.

I'd consider myself a frequent traveler, as if I'm not hopping on a plane for a quick work trip, I'm driving a few hours away for a baseball tournament. One of the last things I pack for each overnight trek is a charging setup for everyone who's tagging along.

That usually means a wall adapter, typically with two ports, along with a USB-C cable for an iPhone and an Apple Watch Charger. I have a one-gallon plastic bag I use to store everything, so it's easy to access when it's time to hit the road. Multiply that default setup for five people, and I'm sure you can imagine the giant pile of spaghetti living inside said bag. Simply, it's a mess.

Over the years, I've tried, tested, and even reviewed several travel chargers, each one designed to streamline charging on the go. Solutions like the Mophie 3-in-1 Portable Travel Charger, which folded up nicely to fit in a backpack, or Anker's latest Prime Wireless Charging Station. Both do what they advertise, but they're bulky. In Anker's defense, that charging station isn't advertised as a traveling charger — but its overall footprint and design beg to be taken on the road.

A couple of months ago, Nomad sent me the Universal Cable for Apple Watch along with its 65W Slim Adapter to test. A few days later, I went on an overnight trip and took both gadgets with me.

My initial thoughts after unboxing the cable were that it definitely looks weird, and the end with the Apple Watch charging puck is heavier than I anticipated. The braided cable is the same as the rest of Nomad's cables, which means it's built to last. I have one of Nomad's 3-meter USB-C to USB-C cables that's been run over and chewed up by our robot vacuum more times than I can count, and it still has not a single mark on it.

Depending on your setup, you can plug the end with the Apple Watch charger into your wall adapter, leaving the standard USB-C end to plug into whatever device you're charging, which makes sense if the charger is placed horizontally on a table or desk. That arrangement allows you to charge your watch while also using and charging your phone, for example.

However, hotel outlets are almost always inconveniently placed, so I've been using it the other way — with the Apple Watch puck near my iPhone —and it works perfectly for me. I don't usually place my Apple Watch Ultra 3 on the charger until I'm either getting ready in the morning or I'm going to bed, at which point my phone is sitting on the nightstand or desk anyway.

The cable can charge at up to 100W with the appropriate wall adapter, while the Apple Watch charger can fast charge compatible models. Those included the Apple Watch Ultra 1, 2, and 3, the Series 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, and the Apple Watch SE 3.

Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that you can also place AirPods Pro 2 or newer on the Apple Watch charger to top off the charging case. Bonus!

What I like most about the Universal Cable for Apple Watch is that it streamlines what I have to pack for myself. No longer do I need to have multiple cables, which inevitably get tangled and look like a spider's web when I take them out of my plastic baggy.

It's a single cable that can do multiple things, and for that reason, it's now a staple in my travel gear, even if it looks weird.

Right now Nomad Goods has it in stock in the 1.5-meter length – there are 0.5-meter and 3-meter sizes, but both are sold out – for $85 / £69 / AU$129, in your choice of carbide or white. Indeed, it's pricey for a charging cable, but it's not just a cable. You're paying for the additional feature of charging your Apple Watch, along with the durability that Nomad's cables offer.

Most cities and large towns — usually anywhere with a college or university presence or an outdoor sports center — have an oval 400-meter running track that's open to the public. Large cities like London have quite a few.

I've been using the best Apple Watches and testing them during running workouts for quite a few years now, but I'm not a big track runner. I like long, slow, plodding runs, and I like the change of scenery as I jog.

On the track, there's nowhere to hide, and whether you're doing 200-meter speedwork or lap after lap, the asphalt is punishing. It lays all your sins bare: no hiding poor results behind elevation, traffic stops, or the other variables that occur when running in the real world. So I rocked up to the track wearing my Apple Watch Ultra 3 with more than a little trepidation.

Thankfully, you don't have to fiddle with the Apple Watch settings to properly log your track run efforts, as Apple Watches have a couple of neat features that make track running a bit easier. Unless you're a habitual track runner, you've probably never used these, but I encourage you to find your nearest one and give them a try if you're keen to improve your running performance.

Over the past few years, Apple Watches have leveraged GPS and Apple Maps data to automatically detect when you're near an oval track. When you start an Outdoor Run workout within the vicinity of a track, the Workout app will discover the oval and prompt you to start a track workout. This is genuinely very impressive, and according to an Apple representative, "no other smartwatch has this feature". And you'd never know this feature was in there unless your workout took you past a track!

By selecting Track Workout, you'll be prompted to choose a lane by swiping over to the left-hand tile for more accurate measurement. You can adjust lanes during the course of the workout if you find yourself moving lanes for whatever reason, so you're not locked in. You can then use the segment button to mark laps or sections, such as the 200-meter mark. I was doing interval work, putting a lot of effort behind a 200-meter dash, then using the following 200 meters for recovery.

It took all the guesswork and planning out of using the track, so I could just rock up and do my thing. Apple is great at making your life easier if you use all its tech together. While its closed-loop approach to its ecosystem may be frustrating for users who don't want to invest in everything Apple, it allows all your gadgets to work more or less seamlessly.

In this case, the Apple Maps app interfaces with the Workout app to do all the legwork behind the scenes to guess your intentions — work out on a running track — in a very, dare I say it, agentic way. Having recently switched over to Apple tech in a more permanent capacity than my usual testing, I'm consistently impressed by little features like this — and it's certainly motivated me to add more track work into my training.

Why do track training?

A report from the University of Warwick said that track training, be it sprinting or longer-distance training, is a "controlled environment" that "provides an opportunity to enhance your personal performance".

The track offers the ability to precisely measure distance and pace control without variables like traffic or elevation, and the flat, consistent surface provides opportunities to work on your technique, like cadence and stride.

Running loops rather than a changing landscape requires mental resilience, a bit like the best treadmills, and running track offers an opportunity to develop this mindset too. It takes a special kind of person to run in a circle for hours.

• A ban on Apple Watch blood oxygen metrics has been overturned
• A judge has now dismissed the appeal against that decision
• Apple fans could soon see the blood oxygen feature return in full

Apple has been involved in a long-running dispute with medical tech firm Masimo over its top smartwatches, with the latter claiming that all the best Apple Watches infringe on its patents.

In December 2023, that led to an import ban for several Apple Watch models in the US, including the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Yet in a momentous move, that legal decision was recently overturned — and now a judge has declined to hear Masimo’s appeal, scoring a major victory for Apple.

Specifically, Masimo had asked the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to reinstate the import ban that was recently lifted against the Apple Watch models. That decision was made in March and ruled that Apple’s devices did not infringe on Masimo’s patents. But a judge at the ITC has now declined to grant Masimo’s request (via Reuters), and as a result the case has been closed.

What does that mean for you? Quite simply, it means you should soon be able to buy an Apple Watch with its blood oxygen feature enabled. If you want an Apple Watch and that kind of medical tracking is important to you, that’ll be great news.

While this latest development might appear to end the back and forth between the two companies, Masimo still has other options. It could appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, although the company hasn’t yet commented on whether it will do so. Time will tell how far it wants to go before ending the dispute.

Not over yet

The original court ruling against Apple meant that the Cupertino company was forced to disable the blood oxygen feature from all of its best Apple Watches, entirely depriving users of the ability to check their health in this key way.

Later, Apple devised a workaround whereby users could take a blood oxygen reading on their Watch and then have that statistic displayed on their iPhone, which apparently skirted around the judgment. But it was still inferior to being able to measure your blood oxygen levels and see the result on the same device.

Now that Masimo’s appeal has been rejected, however, none of that should be necessary anymore. The way has been cleared for Apple to restore its blood oxygen measurement feature to its wearables and bring back a tool that has been sorely missing from its devices.

Speaking after Masimo’s appeal was rejected, Apple said: “We thank the ITC for its decision, ​which ensures we can continue to offer this important health feature to ​our users. For more than six years, Masimo has waged a relentless legal campaign against Apple, and nearly all of its claims have been rejected.”

Yet with Masimo still being able to appeal – and with Apple appealing against a separate $634 million judgment it lost in November 2025 – we might not have seen the end of this lengthy saga.

• Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 is now available from the App Store
• The update adds Apple Watch camera controls and monitoring of iPhone footage
• New features also include support for ATEM camera controls

Blackmagic Design, the company behind the popular DaVinci Resolve editing software, has launched a big update to its Blackmagic Camera for iOS app.

Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 brings a host of new functions and features - but the highlight for me is the ability to monitor and control the camera using your Apple Watch.

It also brings ATEM camera control for anyone using their Apple device as a live studio camera.

What's new?

The Blackmagic Camera app adds camera controls and image processing, effectively giving iPhones and iPads the ability to recreate a cinematic style of a high-end film camera using mobile devices.

The newly updated companion app gives you control and monitor what the iPhone is filming directly from your Apple Watch.

Blackmagic Design says this lets users "monitor framing and audio levels, start and stop recording and adjust key settings including exposure, focus and LUTs." You can also switch lenses and control the zoom.

All useful stuff, which the company said is "perfect for situations where an iPhone is mounted out of reach or in a position where physically touching it would cause camera shake."

In a press release, Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO, said: “We really want to help everyone use their iPhones in professional productions and to come up with new ways that the iPhone can be used. The Apple Watch companion app does that because it means you can mount an iPhone anywhere and still have full control of it from your wrist.

On top of that, the app also now adds support for ATEM camera control, which allows the iPhone to be "used as a live studio camera."

Hook up the phone to the company's ProDock, and it also offers Blackmagic Focus and Zoom Demands.

Petty called this "the most exciting feature," adding that ATEM camera control support, "means you can use the iPhone as a studio camera while holding onto the tripod handles to focus and zoom. It's a real studio camera and it's a lot of fun."

You can download the free Blackmagic Camera for iOS 3.3 from the App Store by clicking here.

All the features added to version 3.3 - Patch notes via Blackmagic Design

• Camera control and monitoring with companion app for Apple Watch.
• Support for ATEM camera control with Blackmagic Camera ProDock.
• Support for Blackmagic Focus and Zoom Demands with Blackmagic Camera ProDock.
• Support for full screen portrait mode HDMI output.
• Front camera now supports portrait and landscape without rotation for iPhone 17.
• Support for ProRes RAW stabilization in iOS 26.1 and above.
• General performance and stability improvements.

I review the best smartwatches for a living. I’m a keen runner and gym-goer. I analyse my sleep and movement data. I'm the biggest smartwatch advocate you'll ever meet, and yet, every time I’m at a formal occasion or I want to look stylish, I switch it out for an analog rotary watch, because smartwatches just don’t look or scream ‘cool’ to me anymore.

I’m certainly not alone. In 2024, a bride and groom banning guests from wearing smartwatches to a wedding ceremony went viral, with commenters equally split on the decision. A post on Reddit's r/malefashionadvice board with the title ‘Anyone else feel like Apple Watches ruin outfits?’ got over 2,000 upvotes and nearly 600 comments. Respondents mostly objected to the overreaction and emphasized how useful they are for monitoring health, tracking workouts and managing notifications, but agreeing they look tacky.

One commenter said: ‘I wish we could find a sweet spot with wearable tech and not looking like a dork’.

It’s the same problem with phones: smartwatches are no longer fun now they’re everywhere and uniform — they’re utilitarian. They’re useful for tracking health (even life-saving in some circumstances) and great for fitness, but they’re another black screen, a point of engagement in a world increasingly trying to engage us non-stop, and so they’re not very stylish. .

In fact, trends are swinging the other way. Decoupling from the constant white noise of smart technology and returning to lo-fi tech has become a statement in its own right for Gen-Z, manifesting in fads for retro tech like wired earphones (cheaper, better for the planet), the sales uptick for compact cameras (a more deliberate, meaningful experience than snapping on smartphones), a rejection of streaming and a return to physical media like CDs and DVDs, and yes, analog and digital watches. Even I wrote about how much I loved the cheap old Casio F-91W way back in 2023.

To match this trend, wearable tech is evolving. Screenless ‘focus wearables’ such as the Whoop MG, Polar Loop, Amazfit Helio Strap and even the upcoming Fitbit shown off by Steph Curry are the new hotness amongst fitness people, as are the best smart rings like Oura. On the r/malefashionadvice Reddit post above, one commenter said ‘I am legitimately looking into a fitness ring like Oura so I can wear my watches and still track steps and what not’, while I’m seeing far more screenless bands in workout classes and in gyms.

On runs and during cycling, screens are still dominant as maps and mileage are very useful to check with a glance. Function beats form here, as a smartwatch is primarily a tool.

So where do smartwatches go from here? The answer is ‘not very far’. Again, like candybar-style phones, smartwatches have reached the point where they are incredibly useful, yet very boring to look at — a slab of black glass on your wrist. Yes, customisable watch faces and always-on displays certainly help, but making them exciting again by radically changing them will remain the province of fringe brands such as Pebble for the foreseeable future.

I think smartwatch wearers (and makers) have to accept the cold hard truth — they’re brilliant functional devices, but not fashionable ones. Leaning into the techy aesthetic instead of trying to make something sleek and cool is the way forward, because when it comes time to put style first, I can’t ever see myself putting on a smartwatch over an old-school analog watch.

I want to hear from you — do you think smartwatches are ugly and unstylish, or are you a big believer in cool tech? Vote in our poll and let me know in the comments below.

I’ll be honest: I’m a complete Apple Watch fanboy. I’ve been using Apple’s wearable for close to a decade, and I went from reluctant skeptic to total convert the minute I first borrowed a friend’s Watch to see what all the fuss was about. The device is, in my opinion, the best smartwatch money can buy.

That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, though. There are several aspects of Apple’s device that I’m less keen on, from the single-day battery life to the eye-watering price of its straps. And there are two Apple Watch annoyances that top my list of problems: the Wrist Flick gesture and Live Activities. Both are consistent sources of frustration in my day-to-day usage.

With Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) just around the corner, I’m hoping for some changes this summer. Here’s why these two features grate so much for me — and what I hope Apple will do to fix them.

1. Wrist Flick

When it was introduced as part of watchOS 26 in summer 2025, the Apple Watch’s Wrist Flick gesture was pitched as a quick and convenient way to dismiss notifications with one hand. All it took, Apple said, was a speedy backwards flick of the wrist and any on-screen alert would be banished, all without the need to do anything with your other hand.

Yet in practice, I’ve found this gesture to be frustratingly flaky. Sometimes it just doesn’t register my action, leaving my repeatedly rotating my wrist as the notification stays firmly in place, mocking my plaintive irritation. Other times, I’ll raise my wrist to check the alert, but my Watch interprets this action itself as a wrist flick gesture, leading to the notification being dismissed when I in fact wanted to read it.

In other words, I often find that wrist flick doesn’t work when it should and does work when it shouldn’t.

Adding to the problem is its inconsistency. Wrist Flick is not always an issue for me – indeed, sometimes it works perfectly. Most of the time, raising my wrist to check a message does not accidentally invoke the gesture. Yet occasionally it does, with watchOS maddeningly misreading my intention.

That makes it very hard to determine if I’m doing something wrong or if the gesture is just a little buggy. I can never tell when it’s going to work and when it’s not.

Despite that, I love the idea behind it. Like watchOS’s Double Tap gesture, Wrist Flick is a great addition for those times when you’ve only got one free hand and still want to be able to perform an action on your Watch. Ultimately, though, it feels like it needs a little more time in the oven.

Hopefully, Apple will fix it up at WWDC. I don’t need a full-blown wrist flick overhaul. Just a little attention to make it more consistent.

There are reports that iOS 27 – coming at WWDC – will be focused much more on performance and stability improvements rather than new features. Hopefully that applies to watchOS 27, too, with wrist flick getting a spot of much-needed love.

Live Activities

While I’m happy that my Apple Watch can forward texts from my iPhone, record my workouts and start timers on the go, much of the time I just want to use it as a regular, everyday clock. Yet there’s one feature that frequently gets in the way of this: Live Activities.

If you haven’t used Live Activities in watchOS yet, the feature basically works like an automated mini app that mirrors ongoing activities from your other Apple devices. So, if you’re playing music in Spotify on your Mac, for instance, you’ll see a little Spotify ‘now playing’ widget appear on your Apple Watch.

The idea is to give you a way to control what you’re doing on your other devices without having to be physically sat in front of them. In the Spotify example, you could pause your music from your wrist, even if you’re some distance away from your Mac.

That sounds like a pretty handy feature, and it frequently is. But my problem is with how Live Activities tend to take over your watch face – often without you even realizing.

I use an Apple Watch face with four of my favorite complications around its edge: the date, my Watch’s battery level, the temperature, and my activity rings. Tapping one of those complications brings up more detailed information. For that reason, I like to have my Watch face displaying most of the time so that I can quickly use these complications in a frictionless way.

The widgets launched by Live Activities, though, interfere with that. With a Live Activity taking over my Watch display, I have to dismiss it to get to my complications, then bring it back to get the added functionality granted by Live Activities. It’s disruptive for the way I want to work.

As well as that, Live Activities launch themselves automatically – you don’t bring them up manually. Because of that, I often forget they’re there. I’ll raise my wrist to check the time or tap a complication, only to find that the information I need is obscured by something that’s not even happening on my Apple Watch, but is instead taking place on one of my other devices. That makes it feel like my Watch has prioritized something of less importance and relevance to me.

I’m aware that I can disable Live Activities on my Apple Watch – I wrote a how-to guide on disabling the feature, in fact – but the problem is that your only options are severely limited. Essentially, you can either switch off Live Activities entirely or leave them as they are. Yes, you can disable Live Activities on a per-app basis, but you can’t really change how they work. It’s an either-or, on-off situation, with little middle ground.

I would prefer to have an option that sits somewhere between full-blown screen takeover territory and a complete absence of Live Activities. And I’ve got an idea of how that could work.

In fact, that idea comes straight from Apple in the form of Smart Stack hints. These are tiny icons that appear on your Watch when Apple thinks you might want them, such as a workout suggestion right when you’re about to start your daily 8am jog. It’s all arranged through harnessing artificial intelligence to predict what you might want to do with your Watch.

Why not take out the AI guesswork and expand these hints to Live Activities? When you start playing music on your Mac, your Watch could show a little Spotify icon at the bottom of your screen. One tap and the full Live Activity would launch. That would be a good compromise, enabling you to still get Live Activity functionality without the feature dominating your display.

Now, before you tell me this already exists, I know that there’s a toggle called Auto-Launch Live Activities buried in the Apple Watch’s Settings app, and disabling this stops Live Activities starting by themselves. But if you do this, the app that would otherwise trigger the Live Activity is restricted to a tiny icon at the top of your screen – one which I struggle to hit half the time. Smart Stack hints, on the other hand, are a touch larger and therefore much easier to press.

As well as that, the existing situation – tapping the minute icon at the top of your display – launches the full-blown Watch app. A Smart Stack hint, meanwhile, fires up a Live Activity, which often preserves important watch face information like the clock. Personally, I prefer the latter.

Making that idea a reality is something I’d love to see at WWDC. Apple has already laid the groundwork in the form of Smart Stack hints. Now it just needs to open the system up to Live Activities and tweak the feature.

And who knows, perhaps Apple will come up with something even better. For a company well known for its intuitive software, I’m sure it can rustle up something impressive. I’ll be watching with bated breath.

Apple Watches are brilliant devices, but sometimes their accessories can be a little fiddly. Straps that don’t quite suit your wrist, screens that pick up little scratches, and charging setups that feel like a nightly puzzle can all chip away at the experience, even if the watch itself is great.

The good news? You don’t need to spend big on accessories to fix the most common annoyances.

To help you get the most out of your best Apple Watch, we’ve picked a handful of genuinely affordable accessories that make your smartwatch easier to wear, tougher to live with, and simpler to keep charged.

How we picked the accessories

To compile this guide, we focused on affordable accessories that make a real day-to-day difference – better comfort, more protection, and easier charging – without feeling disposable.

Wherever possible, we used products we’ve already spent time testing, prioritising designs that are stable, travel-friendly, and straightforward.

1. Upeak Sport Strap: a spare, breathable sport strap

A spare sport strap sounds basic, but it’s one of the quickest ways to make a smartwatch feel more “daily wearable” – especially if you already train a few times a week.

When we tested budget-friendly straps like the Upeak Sport Strap, the big win was comfort: softer materials, more give, and less of that sticky feeling you can get once you’ve built up a bit of heat.

It’s also practical. A cheap, dedicated “gym strap” means you’re not constantly swapping and wiping down your nicer band, and you can rinse it after a run without worrying you’ve ruined something expensive.

Just double-check you’re buying the right connector size for your watch, and give it a quick wash now and then to keep skin irritation at bay. If you're after a variety of bands for all occasions, you can check out our best Apple Watch bands guide.

2. HAPAW Screen Protector: a tempered-glass layer for everyday scuffs

The screen is the part of your smartwatch that takes the most abuse, which makes it the main thing to protect.

When we’ve recommended Apple Watch screen protectors like the HAPAW option above, it’s largely because a simple tempered-glass layer can save you from those faint scratches that slowly causes the display to look tired.

The best part is the payoff-to-price ratio. A multi-pack usually costs less than a single replacement strap, and once it’s on, you can basically stop worrying.

Look for a protector that stays clear, doesn’t mess with touch sensitivity, and actually covers the main impact area without lifting at the edges.

3. Griffin Survivor Tactical Case: a clip-on bumper for extra protection

If your smartwatch already has a few battle scars – or you know it’s only a matter of time – a clip-on bumper case is an easy, low-cost upgrade.

When we tested rugged Apple Watch cases and protective accessories like the Survivor Tactical Case, the appeal was simple: it takes the hit so your watch doesn’t have to.

This kind of case makes the most sense for busy, hands-on days – DIY, the gym, festivals, travel, and so on.

The trade-off is a bit of extra bulk, plus the fact that dust and grit can build up underneath over time, so it’s worth popping it off for a quick clean occasionally.

4. Anker MagGo Wireless Station: A useful bedside dock for multiple devices

Charging is the one smartwatch chore you can’t ignore, and if there's any kind of pain point, it’s easy to fall out of the habit and end up running low at the worst moment.

The Anker MagGo Station 3-in-1 Stand keeps things simple by giving your watch, phone, and earbuds one place to live, so topping everything up becomes part of your routine rather than a nightly cable shuffle.

When we tested it, we found it was stable and nicely laid out for real life – you can drop devices on without having to line them up perfectly every time, making it a great fit for a bedside table or a desk, where you want charging to happen in the background.

It’s not the absolute cheapest option, but if you charge multiple devices daily, it’s the kind of accessory that quickly earns its keep.

5. Anker MagGo Station 3-in-1 Foldable Pad: a travel charger that actually earns its bag space

Travel is often a pain point for Apple Watches. The Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station 3-in-1 Foldable Pad is designed to tidy all of that up, charging your iPhone, Apple Watch, and earbuds from one compact, fold-up unit.

When we tested it, we found the clever, hinged design made it genuinely easy to pack away, and it even ships with its own power adapter and USB-C cable, so you’re not hunting for a spare plug at the last minute.

Charging speeds were strong for a foldable setup too, particularly for the Apple Watch, which is the device most people end up topping up daily on the road.

6. BIKLING Apple Watch Bike Mount – a handlebar mount that turns your watch into a mini bike computer

Cycling is one of the times a smartwatch can feel oddly awkward – your data is right there, but it’s also stuck on your wrist.

A dedicated handlebar mount like the BIKLING Apple Watch Bike Mount solves that by moving the watch onto your bars, so stats, timers, and navigation prompts (if you use them) are much easier to check mid-ride.

It’s a simple upgrade, but it can make structured rides feel less stop-start, because you’re not constantly twisting your arm to see the screen.

The watchOS 27 update is starting to appear on the horizon, but with months to go until it’s expected to be unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June this year, we still don’t know much about what’s supposedly on the way.

Despite that, though, I’m not concerned. At this stage, I’m not hoping for countless reams of new features to be added to all the best Apple Watches. In fact, there’s only one change I really want to see in watchOS 27: better battery life.

Of course, we don’t know for sure if that’s even on Apple’s roadmap at the moment, especially as the increased 24-hour battery life was such a flagship hardware feature of the Apple Watch Series 11. I sincerely hope that it is, though, because reducing the power consumption of its OS and extending the battery of all compatible watches would be such a boon to its users.

Right now, there aren’t many other things I can think of that will have as much of an impact as this would for Apple Watch users. If Apple wants to level up its watches in a substantial way, extending their battery life is one way to do it.

The one feature I really want

Looking back at watchOS 26, I struggle to pick out any new feature that I’ve found to be truly transformative since last summer. For example, Sleep Score is interesting but its real-world impact on my sleep and behavior is limited at best. Workout Buddy is far too upbeat for my taste – I got fed up and switched it off soon after testing it out.

Some features, like the new wrist flick gesture, are incredibly inconsistent and unreliable in my experience. Others, like the addition of Notes, just feel like bloat. The Apple Watch’s display is far too small for me to scroll through my notes, much less create new ones.

That’s led me to an inescapable conclusion: watchOS is mature enough now that it feels like the avenues for new innovations – especially on the software side – are narrowing. I’m sure Apple can add additional interesting features in the future, but it’s tough to dream up something truly transformative at this stage.

That’s why I don’t want to see any more fluff from Apple at WWDC. In fact, improved battery life is the only new feature I actually, truly want to be added to watchOS.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say that Apple Watch battery life is actively bad right now. It gets me through an entire day and night at a time, and I just need to juice it back up first thing in the morning. But compare that to rival products and the differences are stark: the Garmin Fenix 8, for instance, lasted for 16 days on a single charge in our testing. That’s orders of magnitude better than the Apple Watch.

Things are even worse after a few years of use. My partner has my old Apple Watch Series 5, and she’s frequently frustrated by its lack of staying power. In fact, she can’t use it anywhere near as much as she wants to because it needs such frequent recharging.

Offering meaningful change in this area will have far more of an impact than some half-baked gestures and apps that no one asked for. It’s what Apple should be focusing on for WWDC.

The age of ‘all-day battery life’

Of course, there are good reasons for some of the glaring battery life differences when comparing the Apple Watch to rival devices. Looking at the Apple Watch Ultra 3, it uses a higher-quality LTPO3 OLED screen compared to the Garmin Fenix 8’s low-refresh-rate AMOLED display, while watchOS covers many more bases and offers a wider breadth of features than Garmin’s operating system. When you have a situation like that, it’s not surprising that the Apple Watch’s battery doesn’t last as long.

What’s more, any wearable watch – the Apple Watch included – is naturally going to be limited by its size. You can’t fit a massive battery in a case that’s only 49mm across at a maximum, as it is for the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t hope for better from Apple.

Thankfully, there are indications that Apple might be heading in the right direction in time for WWDC. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has said that iOS 27, for example, will largely focus on small improvements rather than new features. One upshot of that is that iOS 27 could bring with it longer battery life as a result.

However, Gurman also notes that Apple might not make a big song and dance of this, which suggests to me that the battery gains could be fairly minor. Regardless, I’m hopeful that Apple will extend its battery focus to its operating systems, resulting in better battery life as part of watchOS 27 too.

It’s all I’m really hoping for this year when it comes to the Apple Watch. Please, Apple, concentrate on the one thing that could make an outsized difference to your smartwatch customers and extend the battery life to something much more significant. The company’s much-discussed “all-day battery life” has had its day. It’s time to work towards multi-day longevity.

Since getting an Apple Watch, I don’t know how I’ve managed everyday life without one – it’s one of the best devices I own.

I have the Apple Watch SE 2, and as well as bringing everything I love about my iPhone to my wrist, I love how creative you can get with the endless selection of watch faces and multitude of wristband options, but Apple’s own can be quite pricey. That’s why I swapped out my standard silicone Apple Watch band for a $25 dupe from the brand WITHit.

For the past month, I’ve abandoned my Apple Watch band for WITHit’s Keeperless sports band to see how a knock-off compares, and I was pleasantly surprised with it. However, in between its many positives, my experience was met with a few setbacks that, on reflection, made me see that there’s a clear reason why Apple’s own watch bands have a higher price point.

Pros

I guess the biggest positive to pinpoint here is that WITHit’s silicone watch bands are much cheaper than Apple’s. Although WITHit has its own range of higher-priced Apple Watch bands, its range of silicone and nylon bands is almost half the price of Apple’s own range, starting from as little as $15. I opted for the gray Keeperless sport band, a reasonable $25 option.

Style-wise, the Keeperless band adopts a typical sports band design that’s not too dissimilar to the ones in Apple’s own range. It’s simple and not too flashy. But despite its reasonable price tag, it doesn’t sacrifice comfort, which is a relief, especially since I use my Apple Watch during mixed-intensity workouts.

I spent some time wearing the watch through different activities, and it’s satisfactory to say the least. I was a little worried that the band wouldn’t be able to endure my activity range like my previous Apple Watch strap, but during my weight-lifting sessions, running, and HIIT workouts, my watch didn’t budge or come loose. Now that I know this, I’ve pushed myself to go even harder with my workouts, so you could say it’s boosted my knack for the gym.

Overall, WITHit’s sports band ticks most of the boxes, which didn’t leave me disappointed. However, a few minor setbacks made it clear why it doesn’t quite match the quality of Apple’s own bands.

Cons

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a comfy wristband to wear, but sometimes it can feel quite tight (I definitely wouldn’t wear it during sleep). This is more noticeable when I am stationary and not moving around.

Another thing I couldn’t get past was how difficult it was to put on. Unlike legit Apple Watch bands, this one is a lot more flimsy and requires a lot more work to get it on. From my own experience with both kinds, regular Apple Watch bands are a lot more robust and smoother, meaning that they can slide through the fastener with ease. As for the WITHit band, the rubber doesn’t glide against my skin as much, and I have to force it through the hole to tuck away the excess band.

I’ve praised WITHit’s silicone band for its sporty design, and I stand by it, but with that comes a catch. Whenever I removed the band to charge my Apple Watch, I was more often than not left with several crease marks in my skin, which could be quite itchy at times when I wasn’t wearing the watch. It’s not a good look on anyone.

With all things considered, there hasn’t been a moment during my time using my wristband dupe where I’ve felt compelled to go back to my original Apple Watch band. It’s provided a decent enough experience for me to keep it on, but while its setbacks are microscopic, they do make all the difference.

Prior to my experiment, I used to scoff at the prices Apple was asking for its watch bands, but now I can see why.

• The Repod is a 'mech suit' for your old Apple Watch
• Ultra version is titanium, with a scroll wheel, but no headphone jack
• Designed to replace your smartphone

It's safe to say that the tech world maintains a healthy obsession with the 'classic' model of iPod, created back before gadgets were a smorgasbord of subscription services and addictive social apps — I personally dusted mine off and wrote about it last year, and someone made a cheap dupe of it recently, complete with Clickwheel-style controls. Another newly-unveiled piece of tech brings the iPod into the modern day, with quite a few twists.

A company simply called WGP has begun selling on Kickstarter (via Notebookcheck) a device called the RePod Ultra. The incredibly-low initial funding goal of HK$10,000 (roughly $1,200 / £940 / AU$1,820) was surpassed almost immediately, so the device is officially funded. It's due to ship in April, though never count your Kickstarter chickens before they hatch.

The RePod Ultra is essentially a 'mech suit' for an Apple Watch Ultra body. You house the wearable in a titanium frame, turning it into a pseudo-iPod, complete with a big scrolling wheel and its own side crown. It costs $159 (around £130, AU$260) and comes in silver, black or 'natural' colors, which are described as "bold" but… well, that's now how I would describe the hues.

Not the proud owner of a dust-gathering Ultra smartwatch? The Kickstarter also offers the RePod C1, designed for Apple Watches since Series 3, or Apple Watch SE models. This costs $99 (roughly £80, AU$160) and doesn't seem to be made of metal, but plastic or silicone (the listing doesn't say). So you have options if you own others of the best Apple Watches.

iPod, therefore iAm

According to WGP's posting, the RePod turns your Apple Watch into an iPod-looking ersatz phone. It can play games, do contactless payments, navigate with Apple Maps, set alarms and reminders, check your messages and, of course, stream music. Via Bluetooth, of course; this isn't a headphone jack-toting iPod.

In a way, that makes a lot of sense. The RePod offers a half-step digital detox, for people who find their phone too addicting but still want most of its features. However WGP's listing makes a few eyebrow-raising claims.

The product hinges on your owning an Apple Watch that you don't currently use. That's quite possible with the older and cheaper models, but still – I don't know about you, but if I owned the $799 Apple Watch Ultra, it probably would be on my wrist at every moment, so it could justify that eye-watering price tag. And if I had a new one, I'm not sure I'd have just left the old one gathering dust.

I'm curious to see how well the scroll wheel can be used to manipulate Watch OS, beyond moving through the main menu. WGP promises it can help with "volume adjustment, game interaction, option selection" as well, however it also says "no tapping" – old iPod owners will remember that the swipe wheel doubled as a D-pad, and I can't tell whether the RePod Ultra does the same.

The RePod was designed to add an extra lease of life to Apple Watches you no longer use, and I'm interested to see whether it'd encourage people to start using their wearable regularly again as a kind of super-advanced iPod nano, or if it'd inspire a brief resurgence in interest and then become a paperweight.

I'd certainly say I'm skeptical of the claim on the Kickstarter that "Held in your hand, Apple Watch Ultra becomes easier to manage" – the Apple Watch definitely works well as something designed for the wrist – but if it's good, this could be a great anti-e-waste device: don't throw out an old gadget you no longer wear, turn it into something else.

And it could be especially handy if your Apple Watch is no longer usable as a watch, but still works for other functions; if the heart rate scanner is busted, or the strap connector no longer holds the strap, you could use the RePod to ensure it's still handy.

This isn't the first such gadget to offer the same conversion. The TinyPod came out about a year prior, and it does just about the same thing; it turns your Apple Watch into an iPod, with the main difference being that it's a thin plastic device instead of a large titanium one. That comes in three sizes, for different models of watch, and has a Lite alternative that misses the scroll wheel.

Smartwatches in 2026 are basically mini smartphones, and in some ways, they are even more ubiquitous, given the placement on your wrist.

The funny thing is, most people still use them like a fancy pedometer: steps, a few notifications, maybe a run every so often, and then a vague sense of guilt when the rings aren’t behaving. However, the genuinely useful fitness features aren’t the most obvious ones. They’re the quieter tools hiding in health dashboards, post-workout screens, and settings menus you probably only opened once, when you first strapped the watch on, and never again.

Set up the right handful, though, and your smartwatch stops being a passive tracker and starts nudging you towards better training decisions. To help you make the most of your smartwatch and keep up with those 2026 fitness goals, I've found eight features worth digging into.

Feature 1: Training Load

Training Load (sometimes called workload) is a simple concept: your watch looks at recent workouts and visualises how hard you’ve been going, so you can see trends you’d otherwise miss.

On Apple Watch, you can view it in the Activity app’s Workload view, and scroll through the past seven days to get a quick sense of whether you’ve been steadily building, staying level, or quietly overdoing it.

The practical win is that it discourages accidental hero weeks.

You don’t need to stare at charts or micromanage your sessions, either. Just do a quick daily glance, plus a check-in after anything particularly demanding.

Feature 2: Rate your workouts

Here’s the problem with relying purely on pace and heart rate: two workouts can look identical on paper and feel completely different.

Heat, hills, poor sleep, stress, and even what you eat can shift how demanding a session feels, even if the numbers don’t scream it.

That’s why effort rating, sometimes shown as perceived exertion, is such a useful little add-on. Apple explicitly ties this into Training Load, allowing you to log how hard a workout felt so the load picture better reflects reality over time, while Garmin also has a smiley-face rating system. You don’t need to be ultra-precise, either; the trick is consistency.

If you keep the meaning of your ratings steady, even in broad strokes like easy, moderate and hard, your training history becomes far more honest.

Feature 3: Set heart-rate or pace targets

Most people use their smartwatch like a receipt: you do the workout, then you look at the stats afterwards. Targets flip that around.

There are two target styles that matter for everyday training. Heart rate targets are brilliant for easy runs that accidentally get harder, and pace targets are great for steady sessions where you want to stay inside a comfortable range.

In Fitbit’s ecosystem, which covers both Fitbit devices and Fitbit-powered Wear OS watches, zone-based guidance and workout targets are designed to keep you in the right intensity range during the session.

The trick is finding the target in the first place, because it’s often tucked inside workout settings, custom runs, or coaching options, not the default “start run” screen. Luckily, it only takes a few minutes to find and configure.

Feature 4: Use your Readiness Score

A readiness score is basically a daily tie-breaker. Instead of guessing whether you’re up for a tough session, your watch uses recovery signals to nudge you towards the right type of workout.

In Fitbit’s ecosystem, the Daily Readiness Score is designed to reflect how prepared your body is for activity, using factors like sleep, recent activity, and heart metrics such as resting heart rate and heart rate variability.

The best way to use it is as a decision tool, not a strict rule. A low score does not have to mean “do nothing”, but it is often a good prompt to swap intervals for an easy run, a walk, or mobility work.

Feature 5: Check your Vitals

Some mornings you wake up and feel off – not ill, just sluggish or strangely flat. This is where Vitals-style dashboards are genuinely useful, because they turn a vague feeling into something you can act on.

On Apple Watch, the Vitals app builds a typical range for overnight health metrics it collects while you sleep, then flags readings as outliers when they’re meaningfully above or below your norm. Garmin watches offer a Health Status digest with five key metrics, such as pulse ox and heart rate variability, as well as a Morning Report on how you slept.

If multiple metrics fall outside your typical range, you can also get a notification the next morning, alongside context for factors that can influence the results, such as medications, elevation changes, or alcohol.

It's important to note that you do not need to obsess over the numbers. The simplest, most useful habit is to treat it as a traffic-light check on mornings you feel questionable; if everything looks typical, you can train as planned.

Feature 6: Wrist temperature trends

Wrist temperature is easy to misunderstand, so it helps to set expectations upfront: it's not a “take your temperature on demand” feature, and it is not about obsessing over one reading.

The value is in night-to-night trends, which can add a useful layer of context when you’re trying to work out if you’re under-recovered, travelling poorly, or simply heading into a rough week.

On Apple Watch, wrist temperature is measured overnight and shown as a baseline with changes from baseline, rather than a single absolute number, and it can take several nights of wear to establish that personal reference point.

Feature 7: Irregular rhythm notifications

This one sits slightly to the side of pure fitness, but it’s exactly the sort of feature people forget they have.

Irregular rhythm notifications can run in the background and look for signs of an irregular heart rhythm, while ECG is usually an on-demand test where you open an app and follow the prompts.

On Apple Watch, Apple describes irregular rhythm notifications as a feature that can occasionally check your heart rhythm and send a notification if it detects an irregular rhythm that appears consistent with atrial fibrillation. Fitbit, Google Pixel, Samsung and Garmin behave the same way.

We need to stress that this is not medical equipment, and you should contact your doctor for anything serious.

If your watch supports these features, it’s worth enabling the notifications and making sure you know where the ECG app lives.

Feature 8: Use an adaptive running coach

A lot of people would run more consistently if they didn’t have to decide what to do every single time, which is why built-in coaching features can be such a win.

On Samsung’s recent Galaxy Watch line, the company's personalised Running Coach is designed to assess your running level and build a tailored plan, with the coaching experience running through Samsung Health.

Fitbit’s ecosystem also leans heavily into guided training and readiness-style prompts, which is why it tends to be a natural fit for Wear OS watches that prioritize health coaching alongside workout tracking.

Setting up a new Apple Watch in 2026 is deceptively quick – pair it, sign in, and you’re basically ready to go.

But I’ve found the default settings are designed for “everyone”, which often means too many pings, or a screen that doesn’t stay awake long enough to read.

So whenever I start fresh, I make the same handful of tweaks straight away out of the box, in a bid to personalise my Watch and avoid frustration.

You might not want every single one, but together they make the Watch calmer, clearer, and more useful from day one – without digging into niche health features or spending an hour in menus. Read on for 7 ways to make the best smartwatches even better.

Setting 1: Notifications

The very first thing I do is tame my notifications, because an Apple Watch that mirrors every iPhone alert quickly becomes exhausting in daily use.

In the iPhone Watch app, head to Notifications and work through the list, app by app. Anything that isn’t genuinely time-sensitive gets switched off on my wrist, while any essentials get customised so they’re useful at a glance.

For me, that usually means keeping Messages, WhatsApp, Calls, and FotMob (for my football fix), and being far more selective with everything else.

I really recommend doing this on day one to make the Watch immediately feel more focused and easier to live with.

Setting 2: Wake Duration

Next, I change how long the display stays on after waking. To me, the default can feel a bit stingy when you’re actually trying to read something.

On the Watch, go to Settings → Display & Brightness → Wake Duration, then choose Wake for 70 Seconds, which gives you enough time to scan a longer notification or check a timer without the screen going dark.

If you ever find yourself re-raising your wrist just to keep the Watch awake, this setting fixes it, and it's easy to change or reverse based on your preferences.

Setting 3: Return to Clock

After that, I make sure the Watch reliably returns to the watch face, instead of hanging around in whatever app I last opened.

While this might sound like a small thing, it happens fairly regularly and seemingly at the most inconvenient times, like when your hands are wet.

The setting is called Return to Clock, which you’ll find on the Watch under Settings → General → Return to Clock.

I like a fairly quick global return time, because it keeps the Watch feeling like a watch rather than a mini-phone, but I'll make exceptions when needs be, such as during workouts.

It’s a small change, but it reduces the “why am I still in this app?” feeling.

Setting 4: Live Activities

Live Activities can be genuinely handy on Apple Watch, but I don’t love them when they take over my screen and stop the Watch feeling glanceable.

On the Watch, go to Settings → Smart Stack → Live Activities, where you can control how they appear and how persistent they are. By default, Apple notes that the Smart Stack can stay open while a Live Activity is running.

I tend to dial this back so Live Activities are available when I choose to look for them, rather than acting like a semi-permanent overlay.

Setting 5: Fall Detection

This is the one feature I set up even though I’d love never to rely on it.

On a new Apple Watch, I head straight to Settings → SOS → Fall Detection (or the iPhone Watch app under Emergency SOS) and make sure it’s configured intentionally.

You can choose between Always On and a mode that only runs during workouts, so it’s worth thinking about when you’re most likely to benefit from it.

There’s also a small but important dependency Apple calls out: Wrist Detection affects what the Watch can do after a hard fall is detected.

If Wrist Detection is turned off, the Watch won’t automatically try to call emergency services in response to a fall, so make sure to enable it if you want the emergency call feature.

Setting 6: Workout-specific tweaks

If you use your Apple Watch for fitness at all, it’s worth taking a minute to check the Workout settings before you log your first session.

The big one for me is Auto-Pause, which can be helpful in theory, but frustrating in practice if it keeps stopping and starting your workout.

If you’re running in a city, for example, you might appreciate it pausing when you’re stuck at crossings. But if you’re doing intervals, circuits, or anything where your movement is stop–start by design, it can quickly become an annoyance. So you'll want to turn off Auto-Pause for any kind of interval training.

Setting 7: Sound and Haptics

The final thing I dial in is how the Watch gets my attention, because the default 'balance' tone can be a bit much in public.

On the Watch, open Settings → Sounds & Haptics, and think about what you actually need to hear versus what you just need to feel.

I usually tone down Sound and tone up Haptics so notifications stay discreet, while keeping audible alerts for moments where a tap could slip by, like alarms.

It’s a small quality-of-life change, but it makes the Watch feel more polished immediately, especially when working in public.

The Apple Watch may not have changed all that much in the last decade and change, at least from a design and hardware point of view, but the watchOS platform that powers it has undergone several major reinventions over its life cycle, usually to better match Apple’s ever-changing software design languages on its other devices.

Whether you’re using the Apple Watch to track your calories, triage your notifications, or maybe even call or message someone while your phone is on charge, watchOS is a core tenet of many users’ lives now – but it’s not always good news.

In the last 10 years that I’ve been using an Apple Watch, I’m still surprised by how some apps simply don’t take advantage of some of watchOS's best features.

Don’t skip the Dock view

I should preface this by saying I’m not naming and shaming apps here. Some developers are flying entirely solo, others have big teams, and each has its own challenges in that regard. Still, when I first began using an otherwise excellent fitness app on my Apple Watch, I was flabbergasted when it simply displayed an app version number when opening the Dock icon, with no other way to navigate except to go back to the app list and open the full version of the app. It was the kind of frustrating pain point that leads to uninstallation.

I assumed it was a bug, and then months and months later, it persisted. It’s gone now, thankfully (although not before I’d drafted this very article), but it got me thinking about the disparity between some apps on the Apple Watch.

Many do a great job of being almost as useful on your watch as they are on your phone. Spotify, for example, does a solid job of jumping between your watch and phone, along with smart TVs, games consoles, tablets, PCs, Macs, and much more. It makes sense that the user experience is just as slick on-watch as it is anywhere else.

Still, others leave plenty to be desired. Missing Dock widgets are a nuisance, although perhaps not too unexpected since Apple likes to change how the Dock is accessed, but it’s certainly a concern just how many apps aren’t very easy to reach or use when you need them. This is key when you’re poking at your wrist because your phone is out of reach.

Out of sync

Another major issue is syncing, although I’m fairly certain this is an Apple issue. My fitness app of choice (yes, the one that just displayed a back-end app version number for months) now has a very functional UI on the Apple Watch that allows me to log reps and adjust weights without reaching for my phone.

Still, sometimes I’m sat and using my phone anyway, so it’s frustrating to see the sync between the two get a little confused. For example, I might crank a weight from 20kg to 25kg on my watch, only for it to revert back on the iPhone app, or vice versa when I switch devices the other way.

When you just want things to work with minimal fuss so you can finish your set and get home, it adds up when you’re constantly deleting weights to re-add them.

More egregious is audio downloading, which I am certain is Apple’s own doing. Whether it’s podcasts or music (both through third-party apps), I find my Apple Watch almost always needs to be reset, to be be able to download audio from apps like Pocket Casts or Spotify to play without a phone.

An excellent citizen

My favorite watchOS app, though? Strava. Credit where it’s due, the orange running app is absolutely fantastic.

It makes great use of the dock, lets you instantly switch settings while running so you don’t have to take your eye off the route for more than a second or two, and the communication between phone and watch is seamless, so you can access all your routes and metrics from either device in moments.

Simply put, it's good at the basics and it's easy to use. I’ve taken to using it much more than other apps because it’s a great citizen on the Apple Watch, especially with all the recent revamps – and I wonder how many other fitness apps would see more success if they could say the same.

Inconsistent syncing, and a lack of general consensus over what to do with the dock, are all things holding third party apps back. The Apple Watch is a device millions of us use every day, but these small issues are ones that can mount up.

Apple is keen for developers to get on board with new features every time WWDC comes around, but there are other, longstanding features of the Apple Watch I’d love to see addressed in the coming months. The most-used Apple Watch apps are the ones that get the basics right.

• New research confirms that Apple Watch's heart health features can assist with clinical diagnoses
• The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, shows that using an Apple Watch could make it four times more likely to get diagnosed with atrial fibrillation
• Here's how to set your Apple Watch up to make sure it flags up an irregular heartbeat

Regular readers will know that most smartwatches, and many of the best fitness trackers, now come with an ECG functionality that can help diagnose heart health issues. Apple is leading the way on this, with the best Apple Watches now capable of flagging not just irregular heart rate rhythms, but also signs of hypertension or high blood pressure.

Despite the fact that these features are FDA certified, Apple Watches aren't certified for use in a medical setting. They're designed to alert you to a potential problem, so that you can go to a doctor and get confirmation and an official diagnosis. This is what happened to one TechRadar writer when an Apple Watch may have saved her partner's life.

Now, a recent study has confirmed that Apple Watches can indeed assist in the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, catching otherwise symptomless conditions before they strike, and might even quadruple the number of diagnoses doctors may otherwise miss before it's too late. The end result saves medical services money and time in treatment, and may even be life-saving for patients.

The research

Researchers from Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC) studied 219 patients over the age of 65 and at "elevated stroke risk" with an Apple Watch, and 218 patients receiving standard care. In the Apple Watch group, 21 patients were diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and received care, and 57% of those were showing no outward symptoms other than what was on their watch.

Just five patients were diagnosed in the control group, all of whom were symptomatic. The watches picked up four times as many people who ended up being diagnosed with the heart condition.

Cardiologist at Amsterdam UMC, Michael Winter, argued for smartwatches to be used in medical settings, claiming the savings in medical services would "offset the initial cost of the device".

"Using smartwatches with PPG and ECG functions aids doctors in diagnosing individuals unaware of their arrhythmia, thereby expediting the diagnostic process," said Winter. "Our findings suggest a potential reduction in the risk of stroke, benefiting both patients and the healthcare system by reducing costs."

How to turn on irregular heart rate rhythm notifications

Apple has published guidance on heart rate notifications, but here's how to turn them on.

• Open the Health app on your iPhone.
• Search for Heart, then tap Irregular Rhythm Notifications.
• Follow the on-screen set-up instructions.
• Switch on notifications by switching to the Apple Watch app, then My Watch > Heart > Irregular Rhythm

• Tech firm UnaliWear is suing Apple, Google, Garmin and Samsung
• At issue is the use of fall detection tech on some of the best smartwatches
• If UnaliWear wins, there could be huge ramifications for the industry

Fall detection is a key feature of many of the best smartwatches, including the Apple Watch and models from Garmin, Samsung and Google’s Fitbit. Yet its future on your device might be in jeopardy, as one company claims that all these devices have illegally copied its technology relating to trips and falls. If it prevails, the smartwatch industry could look very different.

At issue is the aforementioned fall detection tech, which wearables company UnaliWear says infringes on its patents. UnaliWear makes wearables for older adults, with these products featuring a fall detection system called RealFall that it says can distinguish between actual falls and everyday movement.

It’s that ability to differentiate real falls from false alerts that is at the core of the dispute. UnaliWear says that the wearables it has taken issue with – those from Apple, Google, Garmin and Samsung – have infringed upon its patents in order to solve a specific problem.

Right now, the case is being investigated by the US International Trade Commission, with responses expected from the affected companies by roughly the end of January. The case is expected to take over a year to complete, but it could have massive ramifications once it concludes.

For one thing, if UnaliWear is successful, it might request a limited exclusion order. This would block the import of affected smartwatches into the US, leaving the likes of Apple and Garmin unable to ship some of the most popular smartwatches to US customers. As well as that, UnaliWear has filed cases in several US district courts – if it prevails there, it could lead to massive financial penalties being handed out.

How likely is a ban?

Ultimately, it's unlikely that we'll see the likes of the Apple Watch or the Samsung Galaxy Watch banned from import into the US.

One more likely option is that the big-name players might have to license their fall detection technology from UnaliWear. Or they could create a workaround or alternative solution that does not infringe on UnaliWear’s patents, as Apple did when its blood oxygen sensor was ruled to have overstepped on patents held by medical tech firm Masimo.

Speaking of which, the Masimo case demonstrates that this is not the first time that Apple has been sued by a smaller company over the tech it uses in its Apple Watch. In the Masimo case, certain models of the Apple Watch were restricted from import into the US, which meant Apple had to disable the feature for US customers – a significant headache for the Cupertino company.

No doubt Apple – and Samsung, Google and Garmin – will want to avoid anything as drastic this time around. If you’re interested in any of these smartwatches and want to know whether you’ll still be able to buy one in the future, keep an eye on this case.

Apple continues to refine the Apple Watch with every watchOS release, and even long-time users often overlook common features that can make daily life noticeably easier.

Whether you’re wearing the Apple Watch Series 10, the newer Apple Watch Series 11, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 or the SE 3, Apple’s software hides plenty of tools that quietly boost convenience, health tracking, and navigation.

In this guide, we highlight three features that rarely get the attention they deserve, yet can genuinely improve how you use your watch from morning to night, making the most of the gadget.

Despite being available across recent versions of watchOS, these tools tend to sit a few taps beneath the surface, so most people never discover them unless they go looking.

1. Nightstand Mode

Nightstand Mode (sometimes also known as Bedside Mode) is one of the Apple Watch’s simplest yet most easily missed features.

When your watch is placed on its side and connected to power, it switches into a low-light clock display that’s ideal for a bedside table.

The time appears in large, softly lit digits, and the screen stays dark until you nudge the watch or tap the surface it’s resting on.

Apple refined this mode in watchOS 10 and watchOS 11, improving the way it dims in darker rooms and adding tighter integration with your iPhone’s alarms, so your morning alerts remain consistent across both devices.

It’s particularly helpful if you prefer a minimal sleep setup but still want the reassurance of a visible clock. If you use an iPhone with StandBy Mode, the two displays complement each other neatly.

To turn it on, open Settings on your Apple Watch, tap General, then enable Nightstand Mode. From there, it works automatically whenever the watch is connected to power and positioned on its side.

2. Chain Together Your Workout

Apple’s workout tracking has steadily grown more flexible, and one of the most underrated additions is the ability to chain activities into a continuous session.

First introduced in watchOS 9 for triathletes and multi-sport users, the feature has expanded to support far more combinations of different workouts, such as strength and running – in case you want to follow your weightlifting session with treadmill work.

Instead of stopping and starting individual workouts, you can link multiple activities – such as a warm-up, a run, a strength session, and a cooldown – into one coherent timeline.

Setting it up is straightforward: open the Workout app, scroll to the activity you want, then choose Create Workout or Custom.

Here, you can add multiple segments in the order you prefer, selecting durations, targets, or automatic transitions.

Once saved, the workout appears in your list for quick access. It takes a little experimenting to get the flow right, but once you’ve built a custom routine, it makes mixed training feel more joined-up.

3. Offline Maps Navigation

Offline Maps arrived on the Apple Watch with watchOS 10, building on the offline mapping tools introduced for the iPhone in iOS 17.

Once enabled, it lets you navigate without mobile data or a nearby iPhone, which is ideal when travelling, exercising without your phone, or moving through patchy-signal areas.

You still get turn-by-turn directions, route previews, and the same gentle haptics that make Apple’s navigation easy to follow.

To set it up, download the relevant map area on your iPhone by opening Apple Maps, tapping your profile icon, and choosing Offline Maps. Saved regions sync automatically to the Apple Watch, provided you have enough storage. With a bit of planning ahead of time, you can save a map of a new city onto your iPhone and navigate via your smartwatch, all without using your data.

Routes planned on either device work normally when offline, with the watch guiding you through haptics and simple on-screen prompts.

With watchOS 26 improving battery management for GPS and compass features, offline maps reduce data reliance and give you a more dependable way to explore unfamiliar places safely.

New year, new you – and the same challenge of sticking with your workout goals once the January (or February) buzz wears off. The good news is that in 2026 you don't have to rely on willpower alone.

A growing body of research suggests that the best fitness apps, in conjunction with the best smartwatches like the Apple Watch, can nudge people into moving more by combining tracking, gentle prompts, and smart reward loops.

Some apps focus on turning your runs or rides into a social game, while others quietly build streaks and routines in the background as you get on with your day. Across all of them, the aim is the same: to make looking after your health feel easier, more rewarding, and just a little bit more fun, keeping you in training once the New Year sparkle has faded away.

What does the science say?

Most fitness apps are built around the same core idea: if you can see what you are doing, get gentle nudges to keep going, and feel rewarded for your effort, you are more likely to stick with it.

Research backs that up; a large 2021 meta-analysis found that people who were given activity trackers or smartphone fitness apps increased their physical activity compared with those who weren't using the technology.

Under the hood, these tools use a handful of well-tested behavior-change tricks, including self-monitoring, goal-setting, timely prompts, streaks, and social support, but they package them in very different ways.

In this guide, we'll look at how five popular apps use those ingredients to help you move more in 2026.

1. Strava – social kudos to help you run more

Strava is equal parts social networking app and training log.starts to feel like a social network rather than a lonely spreadsheet or note in your phone.

Every run, ride, or hike is logged with GPS maps, pace charts, and – crucially – a stream of kudos and comments from your friends and other app users.

The app leans hard into that community angle: you can join local clubs, chase segments on your regular routes, and jump into monthly challenges that compare your effort with people training on the same roads and trails.

That social network-style layer matters.

When social scientists followed 329 runners from five Dutch clubs on Strava over 11 months, they saw a clear pattern: runners who attracted mor The kudos gradually started running more often, and the behaviour of their most interactive “kudos-friends” rubbed off on them over time.

If you thrive on friendly competition, shared routes, and the sense that someone will notice if you skip a session, Strava’s mix of detailed tracking and low-key peer pressure can be a powerful way to stay consistent in 2026.

2. Runna – personalised coaching

Runna is what you get if you crossed a human running coach with a very organised calendar app.

You plug in your goal – from a first 5K to a marathon personal best – plus your current fitness and how many days a week you can realistically train, and it builds a personalised plan that slots into your schedule.

The app adjusts sessions when life gets in the way, adds strength and cross-training where it makes sense, and now, under Strava ownership, even links to a new Races by Runna platform that helps you discover events.

If you like ticking off clear workouts, seeing your progress unfold towards race day, and letting the app worry about the numbers, Runna’s coach-in-your-pocket approach can make it much easier to stay on track in 2026.

3. PUSH – turning strength training into numbers

PUSH is aimed at people who love the numbers behind their training as much as the feeling of a good lift. In the app, you build or choose workouts, track sets and reps, and see how your performance changes over time, rather than just scribbling numbers in a note.

The onboard AI can guide you towards sensible progressions, nudge you to add weight when lifts are consistently moving well, and rein things in when you are clearly flagging. Underneath that friendly UI is a training philosophy built around velocity-based training, where the speed of a lift is used as a stand-in for intensity and fatigue.

Studies on this approach – including research using PUSH-compatible sensors – suggest that tracking bar speed is a reliable way to judge how heavy a set really was, and when you should stop before your form falls apart.

If you are motivated by seeing trends, graphs, and numbers creep in the right direction, PUSH can make it much easier to stay engaged with your gym plan right through 2026.

4. Apple Fitness & Activity rings

Apple’s Activity rings on Apple Watch boil your day down into three simple circles – Move, Exercise, and Stand – that you are nudged to close, one by one, as you go about your life.

Add in Apple Fitness+ classes, sharing your rings with friends, and regular weekly summaries on iPhone, and you get a steady drip of reminders, streaks, and tiny wins that keep your goals in sight rather than buried in a settings menu.

Behind the scenes, Apple has been studying how people actually respond to all this, offering us a perspective from an extremely widely used app.

The Apple Heart and Movement Study – an ongoing collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital – has reported that people who regularly close their rings tend to show better patterns in cardio fitness, sleep, and other health markers than those who rarely do.

5. Peloton – group-class motivation

Peloton has shaken off its “just for spin bikes” image – the Peloton App now stands on its own as a full training platform you can use at home, in the gym, or outdoors, with or without any Peloton hardware.

You get live and on-demand classes across strength, running, walking, yoga, meditation, rowing, and more, all fronted by instructors who are as much coaches as they are entertainers.

Over the last couple of years Peloton has also leaned into smarter guidance, with structured multi-week programmes, revamped badges, and, more recently, its Peloton IQ system. For you, that means less faffing and more doing.

If you know you respond well to upbeat instructors, a visible timetable, and the gentle pressure of seeing other people in class with you, the Peloton App can turn repeated sessions into a routine.

We’re only two days into 2026, but in what’s become something of an annual tradition for Apple Fitness+, Apple is ushering in a slate of new workout programs designed to help you get in shape in the new year, while also teasing upcoming episodes of Time to Walk, Artist Spotlights, and special guests who’ll appear in select workouts.

These additions will help keep the content fresh for regular users and may encourage newcomers to try Fitness+ in the first few days or weeks of 2026.

And none of this comes with a price increase. Apple Fitness+ is sticking with its existing pricing: $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$14.99 per month, or $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$119.99 annually. It’s also included with the Apple One Premier plan, and you can get a free trial when you purchase select Apple devices, such as an iPhone or Apple Watch.

Jump into HIIT, yoga, or strength

Let’s start with the new workout programs: you can choose a workout type to adopt or return to, and stick with it for the long haul. It’s all about finding a rhythm with either HIIT, yoga, or strength – or maybe all three if you’re up for the challenge – and building a strong foundation.

Apple’s Fitness+ team will offer new-year workout programs in Strength, HIIT, and Yoga, each lasting four weeks with three workouts per week. Classes are shorter by intention, designed to make the commitment easier and make it easy to fit sessions into your schedule. Over four weeks, each program builds progressively from class to class.

The length of each class will vary by program – ‘Build a Yoga Habit’, ‘Back-to-Back Strength and HIIT’, or ‘The Strength Basics’ – but will be as short as 10 minutes. All of them launch on Fitness+ on Monday, January 5, 2026.

Looking ahead to February 8, 2026 – the date of Super Bowl LX and the Apple Music halftime show – Fitness+ will add three new workouts to Bad Bunny’s existing Artist Spotlight series.

Before that, on February 2, 2026, the next spotlight series will feature Karol G, with five workouts set to her music. She’ll join a roster of artists Fitness+ has already spotlighted, including Bad Bunny, The Killers, Taylor Swift, and Bruce Springsteen.

Time to Walk returns

Time to Walk remains one of Fitness+’s most distinctive offerings. Designed for the Apple Watch, it’s a walking workout led by a celebrity or influential figure sharing stories, music, and photos you can view right on your wrist. It’s developed a bit of a cult following, and Apple is continuing to expand it with new episodes.

Fitness+ has confirmed three upcoming Time to Walk additions for 2026, with more on the way. First up is Penn Badgley of Gossip Girl, The Young and the Restless, and You fame, followed by Mel B and Michelle Monaghan in the weeks ahead.

If you’re looking for more familiar faces, Apple’s 2026 Fitness+ lineup delivers. Allie Bennett, fitness creator and lifestyle personality, Luke and Paul Harwerth (aka TwinSauce), and Remy Park will also appear in upcoming workouts.

This isn’t the first time guest stars have joined Fitness+ Trainers, but it’s a notable expansion – and one that could signal even more creator-led workouts if the workouts resonate with subscribers.

Overall, while there are no major overhauls, it’s clear that Apple is continuing to invest in Fitness+. The added focus on structured programs and curated collections could make the service feel more cohesive and easier to stick with long-term, while also helping to attract new subscribers or re-engage those who haven’t fully leaned into Fitness+ yet.

It’ll be interesting to see how Fitness+ evolves throughout 2026 – and whether Apple’s rumored AI Health service ultimately comes to fruition.

As a somewhat larger than ideal man, I’m working to lose a bit of weight and trim down the areas of my body with excess… insulation. And as a technology journalist, I’m naturally tapping into tech to help me fight the fat.

This means popping an Apple Watch Series 11 on my wrist, courtesy of TechRadar's tame Senior Editor of Fitness Matt Evans. Given I’m an iPhone user, it made sense to go for an Apple Watch, and it remains one of the best smartwatches, packed with features and a lot of solid fitness tracking tech.

But here’s the rub: I’m a traditional watch wearer, and a collector of mechanical watches. At the same time – perhaps because of this – I’m not a huge fan of smartwatches.

I like the fitness tracking and having a device that can do a lot attached to my wrist; it still feels quite futuristic. However, I’ve spent more money than is sensible on mechanical analogue watches, so don’t want to eschew them for an Apple Watch.

And I’m weirdly particular about my watch wearing routines: my first watch on every day is my Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra, and when I go for a walk I very much opt for a field watch (so called as they were/are watches worn by the military when out in the field).

So thanks to my watch obsession but also wanting to track my fitness, I’ve ended up in a ridiculous situation where I’ll wear two watches on one wrist; I’m not a fan of wearing watches on my right-hand wrist as it just feels off and uncomfortable.

The incessant buzzing of notifications quickly drives me mad and I find on walks it becomes a distraction, acting almost like a smartphone, which is something I want to avoid when I’m out in the fresh air and looking to curtail peeping at screens. I also find the design of smartwatches to be rather bland and soulless.

As such, Apple really should accept it’ll be coming in second to its rival Samsung, and just make a smart ring to rival the Samsung Galaxy Ring.

One ring to rule my fitness tracking

An Apple smart ring would solve a lot of my issues with smartwatches. I’d be able to get a lot, if not all, the fitness tracking and wellness data one might expect from an Apple Watch, but also have something that I can wear alongside my traditional watches. The annoyance at the dinging of notifications would be solved too.

I could easily have my feet in both the worlds of mechanical horology and biometric engineering, and I see no reason why Apple couldn’t and wouldn’t make a smart ring.

Knowing how Apple approaches tech when it’s not the first to a new form factor or platform, I’d be confident that the Cupertino crew could produce a really refined smart ring, with, say, class-leading battery life or very impressive sensors.

I’m hopeful that Apple is indeed working on a smart ring, though I've not heard any solid rumors to back that up. Yet seeing how the company put off the somewhat odd and rather unnecessary iPhone Pocket, part of me is a little worried that the innovative Apple tech fans used to love has started to lose its way a bit.

Still, I’m going to cross my fingers for an Apple smart ring, as frankly I’m on the verge of sacking off the Apple Watch 11 and just relying on my own instincts and the thumping of my heart when it comes to gauging the toughness of a workout.

• Apple’s 2025 App Store Award winners are official
• There are 17 winners across Apps, Games, and Cultural Impact
• Its includes picks for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV

Two weeks after announcing the finalists for App of the Year – and just a day after Spotify Wrapped dropped – Apple has officially revealed the winners of the 2025 App Store Awards. The Cupertino-based tech giant has named 17 winners across platforms in three categories: Apps, Games, and Cultural Impact.

Many of these we’ve already previewed in our roundup of the finalists, but the winners reflect the surge and abundance of AI. In many cases, they showcase applications that appear effortless, combining seamless, unique design with genuine functionality that solves a problem – or even provides an escape at times.

Take Tiimo, the iPhone App of the Year. It’s billed as an AI planner and to-do app that helps you visualize your day and stay on track with your tasks. Details, the iPad App of the Year, aims to move beyond the classic bar-and-edit approach to video editing by letting you describe your desired outcome and having AI do the work for you.

Apple is still naming an app and game of the year for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro, as well as an Apple Arcade Game of the Year and six Cultural Impact winners.

Below we've run through the winners across all the categories and given you a quick way to download them, plus a few more standouts, from the App Store...

2025 App Store Award Winners – The Full List

• iPhone App of the Year: Tiimo
• iPhone Game of the Year: Pokémon TCG Pocket
• iPad App of the Year: Detail
• iPad Game of the Year: DREDGE
• Mac App of the Year: Essayist
• Mac Game of the Year: Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition
• Apple Vision Pro App of the Year: Explore POV
• Apple Vision Pro Game of the Year: Porta Nubi
• Apple Watch App of the Year: Strava
• Apple TV App of the Year: HBO Max
• Apple Arcade Game of the Year: WHAT THE CLASH?
• Cultural Impact Winners: Art of Fauna, Chants of Sennaar, despelote, Be My Eyes, Focus Friend, and StoryGraph

Just like with the 2024 App Store Awards, there’s a lot of AI either front and center or subtly powering the experience behind many of the apps.

One notable difference this year is that, rather than F1 TV taking home Apple TV App of the Year, the honor goes to HBO Max, which debuted a new navigation bar in 2025 – and, of course, there’s the added context that F1 will begin streaming in the U.S. on Apple TV next year.

Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is a standout for Mac Game of the Year, especially considering the lengthy development process required to bring it to the platform. CD Projekt Red took full advantage of the gaming dev tools built into macOS to ensure the game runs smoothly on any Apple-silicon Mac – though, naturally, more power still enhances the experience.

I personally wish I had Essayist, or at least a version of it, back when I was in school. It automates the sometimes painful process of generating proper citations across a wide range of formats for academic papers – powered, as you might guess, by some AI on the backend.

From the Cultural Impact Winners, Be My Eyes blends the power of everyday volunteers with AI to help people with low vision or blindness complete daily tasks, such as identifying objects or providing quick visual descriptions.

The Apple Vision Pro is still the newest device in Apple’s lineup, and Apple named Explore POV the App of the Year and Porta Nubi the Game of the Year for the platform. Explore POV lets you immerse yourself in far-off destinations, while Porta Nubi overlays your real-world environment with fantastical puzzles.

Let us know in the comments below which of the 2025 App Store Award winners you’ve already downloaded – or which ones you’re most excited to try.

• Some Apple Watch Series 10 owners are reporting a coating defect
• The issue seemingly only affects the Apple Watch Series 10 in Jet Black
• Apple Stores are apparently providing free replacements to some users

The Apple Watch Series 10 is one of the best Apple Watches, but one particular model appears to have a small cosmetic problem. If you’ve got one in the Jet Black colorway, you might want to take it off and check its underside – that’s because some people are reporting that the coating is corroding and coming off. And the good news is that Apple appears to be taking the issue seriously.

Reddit user ashadow_song wasn’t happy with the condition of their Apple Watch. After just one year of use, the black coating on the device’s underside was pock-marked with small silvery dots – areas where the colored coating had become dislodged and fallen off the watch.

Not content to sit by, ashadow_song went to an Apple Store and got a piece of good news. Upon speaking to a store employee, they were apparently told “we have seen this a lot with [the] jet black version, you will get a free replacement almost guaranteed.” The Apple worker then took the Watch in for inspection, and ashadow_song said they received a replacement confirmation email from Apple the next day.

As evidence, the poster provided a screenshot of an Apple Support ticket (below) that said, “We’ll replace your product,” adding that “Your replacement product will be dispatched to you soon.” That suggests that Apple wants to resolve this matter as quickly as possible, without risking unhappy customers.

We've contacted Apple for official comment on this issue and will update this story if we hear back.

Get it checked out

applewatch from r/AppleWatch/comments/1p9pmbr/psa_apple_will_replace_your_series_10_jet_black

Interestingly, ashadow_song said they did not claim the replacement under Apple’s AppleCare+ extended cover but instead did so under the Watch’s standard warranty. Since that lasts for one year, it implies that the issue manifests itself in under 12 months of use. That was backed up by Reddit user PrincessCaramel, who said they were experiencing the same problem after roughly one year of ownership.

That’s concerning when you consider that the Apple Watch is designed to be worn 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including during workouts and in all weather conditions. Given that, you would think that its coating would hold up better to the likes of sweat and moisture that could be causing this corrosion.

Right now, these are still only anecdotal cases and there's still no evidence that it's widespread issue. However, there are examples of threads on Apple's Community support forums of some Jet Black Series 10 owners experiencing the same thing.

Also of note is the Apple Store worker’s apparent claim to have “seen this a lot” with Jet Black Apple Watch Series 10 models. We haven’t seen reports of other Apple Watch colors or models being affected, so the problem could be limited to the Jet Black Series 10 and the composition of its coating.

Whatever the case, you might want to double-check your Apple Watch to make sure it’s not suffering from the same color degradation. If it is, head over to your nearest Apple Store to see if you get a similar response.

• Apple has been fined $634 million in a long-running Apple Watch case
• It’s the result of a legal dispute between Apple and Masimo
• The health tech firm claimed Apple has infringed its patents

Apple has been locked in a legal dispute with medical tech company Masimo for years over the latter’s claim that the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen analysis violated its patents. Now, Masimo has been awarded a mammoth $634m in the case, and there are potentially significant implications for fans of the best Apple Watches.

The case traces back to 2020, when Masimo filed a lawsuit alleging that Apple had infringed upon several of Masimo’s patents. As a result of that case, Apple was banned from shipping smartwatches with its blood oxygen monitoring feature in the US – a ban that is still in place. That means that while Apple Watch fans in the rest of the world can use the feature, it’s disabled in any Apple smartwatches that reach the hands of American customers.

Technically, the decision didn’t stop Apple from selling the Apple Watch completely – as long as the blood oxygen feature was not present, Apple could continue shipping the device. That led to Apple implementing a solution whereby the blood oxygen monitoring tech is still present in the Apple Watch but is disabled on the software level for US customers.

Thanks to a creative workaround from Apple, there is one way to get blood oxygen monitoring on your Apple Watch, but it requires enlisting the help of an iPhone. That means it’s far from the streamlined method Apple first implemented and that the company no doubt wants to return to.

In any case, that was all before the latest court decision. Now, a jury has decided that Apple infringed upon Masimo’s intellectual property, with the $643m in damages set to become one of the largest fines for a consumer technology case in the history of the Central District of California court system.

What next?

Although a judgement has been reached, the case is far from over. That’s because Apple states it disagrees with the verdict and has signaled its intention to appeal. In a statement to AppleInsider, Apple said:

“We disagree with today's decision, which we believe is contrary to the facts. Masimo is a medical device company that does not sell any products to consumers. Over the past six years they have sued Apple in multiple courts and asserted over 25 patents, the majority of which have been found to be invalid. The single patent in this case expired in 2022, and is specific to historic patient monitoring technology from decades ago. We plan to appeal.”

That means that for now, nothing much changes. US-based Apple Watch customers will still be unable to use the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen feature, while users elsewhere should remain unaffected.

Until the appeal is heard and a decision is reached there, we suspect things will continue much as they are, with neither Apple nor Masimo appearing to be willing to give in.

Hypertension, otherwise known as high blood pressure, is a serious health problem. It's one of the biggest drivers of heart disease, strokes and kidney problems, but it's a silent assassin: it often develops with very few symptoms. Enter wearables like the Apple Watch, now complete with the new hypertension-detection feature announced during the launch of this year's crop of new devices.

The tool works passively in the background of the best Apple watches (Series 9 and up), using an optical heart-rate sensor to analyse data and spot patterns that may point to raised blood pressure. It’s not a cuff-based reading or a medical diagnosis, but it can alert you to changes you might otherwise overlook and prompt you to speak with your doctor.

Once you know how Apple Watch's hypertension feature actually works, it’s easy to see how it can help. But detecting a rise in blood pressure is only the starting point. Managing hypertension relies heavily on day-to-day lifestyle choices – and several science-backed habits have been shown to meaningfully support healthier blood pressure, alongside medical guidance.

Here are five practical habits that can help your heart beat at its best, according to research, and the gadgets you can use to get those results.

1. Maintain a healthy weight

Carrying excess weight usually means that your heart has to work harder, straining to pump blood through more tissue. The Framingham Offspring Study found that 65–78% of new hypertension cases were attributable to excess body fat.

What you need to do:

The good news is you don’t need dramatic weight loss to make a difference – the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends aiming for just 5%. So, if you weigh 180 pounds, losing nine can make a measurable difference. Focus on habits you can sustain over time, like regular walking, which helps with both weight management and stress reduction – another known contributor to hypertension.

How technology can help:

The best under-desk treadmills can help by offering an indoor alternative to walking outside.

2. Cut back on salt

Reducing salt is one of the fastest ways to reduce hypertension. The AHA recommends 1,500mg of sodium per day, yet packaged foods, sauces and bread can quickly push you over. Salt causes water retention, which increases blood volume and the pressure on your blood vessel walls as a result.

What you need to do:

Focus on cutting back processed foods and use herbs, spices and citrus to flavour meals instead.

How technology can help:

Apps like MyFitnessPal and Samsung Health are useful for providing a breakdown of your food’s salt content via the barcode scan feature.

3. Keep caffeine and alcohol in check

You don’t need to cut caffeine or alcohol out completely, but too much of either is a known cause of hypertension. Caffeine triggers a short-term spike, while regular drinking can elevate blood pressure over time. A 2021 review showed that blood pressure rises in a dose-dependent way with alcohol – the more you drink, the more your numbers tend to climb.

What you need to do:

Most guidelines recommend no more than one drink per day for women and two for men. Try keeping alcohol within these limits, and switch your regular coffee to decaf in the afternoon.

How technology can help:

The best smartwatches and smart rings are great for spotting short-term heart rate bumps after a drink or strong coffee, making it easier to see how your body responds.

4. Improve your quality of sleep

Poor sleep raises stress hormones like cortisol, which can keep your blood vessels tighter than they should be and drive blood pressure up over time.

What you need to do:

Aim for a consistent 7–9 hours of quality rest to curb this trend.

How technology can help:

The best sleep trackers make it easier to monitor your patterns. Many will flag disruptions or elevated overnight heart rate, helping you identify habits – like late caffeine or screen time – that might be affecting your sleep.

5. Manage stress levels

Just like a lack of sleep, chronic stress keeps your body in a low-level “fight or flight” state, releasing cortisol and constricting blood vessels as a result.

What you need to do:

The good news is, research has shown that mindfulness-based interventions play a positive role in hypertension management – proof that stress-reducing habits can make a difference. Try 5–10 minutes of deep breathing, stretching or a short walk each day.

How technology can help:

Most wearables now include guided breathing sessions or HRV-based stress alerts, making it easier to build these habits into your routine.

If you’re an Apple Watch user, you may soon have a choice to make. Just like Garmin, Polar, Oura and others, Apple will soon be adding new, shiny AI-powered features to its Health app – and in order to access them you’ll need to pay a monthly or annual fee.

The best Apple Watches and the Apple Health app have always been free to use after your initial watch purchase, with no further cost other than paying for LTE as part of your phone’s data plan.

This won’t change, according to noted Apple watcher Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter (via MacRumors) he says the new features will be in a new paid-for tier that will be accessible via the Health app on iPad and iPhone, rather than the Watch.

The new Health+ subscription (sticking to the same naming convention as Apple’s Fitness+ service) sounds like it’ll contain an AI advisory service that offers “nutrition planning and medical suggestions”, according to Gurman, along with a revamped and redesigned Health app.

When Apple rolls this out, it will have to be very careful, as users don’t like paid subscriptions being placed on previously free products. It’s understandable for apps like Strava or AllTrails to use Freemium models, as subscriptions operate as their whole business model. The free version is there to get you hooked, alongside grabbing valuable data for future monetization, while the smaller subset of paid subscribers subsidize the development and maintenance of the app.

However, companies that sell hardware are different. Often, users feel as though they’re being nickel-and-dimed for premium subs, as even after ponying up for the product up front they have to pay in perpetuity in order to get the full experience. Even though many tech firms promise that everything that was free on the app when you bought it will remain free at the point of use, users can still feel as if they're being short-changed.

Tech products that get constantly updated, such as Apple and Garmin watches, tend to deliver new features to your watch or app as long as the technology is supported, and that value is baked into the initial price. The best Garmin watches, for example, recently got the Lifestyle Logging feature as a free update, and users of the best iPhones get software updates that often include user interface redesigns every year.

The big worry for users is that when paywalls get introduced, new features slated to arrive on your device get dropped behind the paywall instead to encourage more people to subscribe. This lowers the value prospect of the product, as you buy the device expecting new features for several years, only to end up unable to access those features without forking out for the membership fee.

This year, Garmin introduced its Garmin Connect+ subscription, boasting updated Livetrack features, an Active Intelligence service which recommends actions and offers motivation based on your wellness data, and a new Performance dashboard to better organise your stats. Garmin users were concerned and angry, taking to comments sections, Reddit threads, and TechRadar's inbox to voice their fury.

One user on our TikTok video about the subject wrote: "This is bad news. All new features from now on will be behind a paywall. And in few years, then the initial rage settles, they will move more and more features behind paywall like Strava did."

Another emailed in to say: "My concern is that new content will go with the new premium paid service and our current content will be eroded to the point where you have no choice to switch either to a new / alternative provider, or to add the subscription."

We ended up getting so much communication around this issue, we launched a live blog to cover it.

Garmin users are fiercely passionate about their watches, and love to get into the nitty-gritty of issues like data collection. Most of them saw Connect+ as a slap in the face – and if Apple isn’t careful, it may end up suffering a similar fate.

Apple Watch and iPhone users don’t tend to be as specialized as Garmin users, so an extra optional subscription fee may not draw the same sort of ire. But Apple already has a Fitness+ subscription service, and it sounds like rather than rolling the AI feature into this paywall, it’s setting up a separate Health+ service.

If Apple users begin to feel as though they’re being squeezed by this, even after already buying premium devices – after all, iPhones aren’t cheap – they’ll certainly make it known, and the backlash won’t be pretty for Apple.

We were very pleased to see an official WhatsApp app arrive for the Apple Watch earlier this week, but it's not working as intended on certain models – and the Meta team is hard at work trying to fix the problems.

When we asked Meta about the reported issues, we were told that the WhatsApp product team "is aware of this" and is currently "working quickly to get this resolved soon", so it sounds as though a solution isn't too far off.

As far as we can tell, the crashes are happening on older Apple Watch models running watchOS 10 rather than the latest software. That includes the Apple Watch 4 and Apple Watch 5 (both launched in 2019), and the first-gen Apple Watch SE (launched in 2020).

According to WhatsApp's official announcement, the app is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 4 or later, and needs watchOS 10 or later to run, so it seems it's the oldest models that meet that criteria that are having issues.

'Opens then closes immediately'

• The new WhatsApp app is crashing on some devices
• Older models running watchOS 10 seem to be affected
• Meta says the WhatsApp team is now working on a fix

There are plenty of reports on Reddit that detail the problems with WhatsApp and certain Apple Watches, and it seems that if there is an issue, the app just "opens then closes immediately" as per posts from users.

What's more, there doesn't seem to be a solution at the moment – there's no workaround you can try to get everything working properly. Uninstalling and reinstalling the WhatsApp app on the watch doesn't have any effect, for example.

As noted above, watches that aren't running the latest watchOS 11 or watchOS 26 are apparently the ones having trouble. Some other users are reporting a "buggy" experience, but managing to get the app up and running on their wrists.

When it does work as intended, the app should give you call notifications, full messages, voice messages, access to message reactions, chat history, and the ability to see images and stickers on your Apple Watch screen.

The Apple Watch is all about quick, glanceable information – your split time on your morning jog, message alerts when your friends get in touch, the latest updates from the weekend’s big games. With just a swift glance at your wrist, you’ve got all the info you need.

Live Activities make that even easier. This feature allows apps running on your iPhone to display pertinent data on your Watch face. But there’s a problem: Live Activities take over your entire Watch screen. If you want to use a different app or just want to tell the time, you’ve got to dismiss the Live Activities first. They get in the way and slow you down.

I find this particularly annoying when I’m on a morning run or walk. I like to listen to podcasts when I’m out of the house, and launching an episode from an app like Overcast brings up a Live Activity on my iPhone.

Unfortunately, it also brings up a Live Activity on my Watch. That’s a problem because rather than seeing how far through an episode I am, I would much rather have an unobstructed view of my Watch face, but this gets obscured by the podcast Live Activity. As a result, my Watch is instead taken over by something I would much prefer to control on my iPhone.

Fortunately, there’s a way to prevent Live Activities from hijacking your Watch without disabling the feature on your iPhone. It’s quick and simple to do and means you get an unobstructed view of your Watch face, even when an app is running. Better yet, there’s plenty of extra customization available should you need it. Let’s take a look at how it’s done.

How to rein in Live Activities

To stop Live Activities opening apps on your Watch and instead just show your Apple Watch’s face, follow the steps below:

1. On your Apple Watch, open the Settings app
2. Now go to General > Auto-Launch > Live Activities Settings
3. Within this menu, disable the toggle next to Auto-Launch Live Activities

And that’s it. Now when an iPhone app brings up a Live Activity, it’ll only do so on your iPhone, not on your Apple Watch. And if you change your mind, all you need to do is re-enable the toggle you switched off in step 3 above.

The best bit is there’s still a quick and easy way to access Live Activities, even after you’ve disabled them: just swipe up from the bottom of your Watch’s screen. As long as there’s a Live Activity running on your iPhone, it’ll now be visible on your Watch. To dismiss it, just swipe down or press the Digital Crown. It’s all still accessible, it just won’t take over your display by default.

Further customization

Apple doesn’t just leave things there – it gives you more controls to tweak Apple Watch Live Activities to your liking.

For instance, scroll down the Settings page and you’ll see an option to show Live Activities if your wrist is down. This is enabled by default, but can be switched off.

Scroll down further and you’ll find sections for media apps, as well as entries for individual apps that you have installed on your Watch. Tap one of these sections and you can switch off Live Activities for selected apps while allowing them for all others, giving you plenty of granular control over how Live Activities are displayed on your wrist.

A small change that makes all the difference

With a few of these settings adjusted, I feel like Live Activities are much more under control on my Apple Watch. They’re reined in and only appear when I’d like them to, allowing me to enjoy my morning podcast while still getting a clear view of my Watch face whenever I need to.

If you’ve previously despaired of Live Activities or wondered why they insist on taking over your Watch at every opportunity, changing a few settings can help put things right in just a few taps.

And you don’t even have to lose Live Activities when you follow these steps – a simple swipe up from the bottom of your Watch screen restores the Live Activity, ready for when you need it.

You might also like...

• The best Apple Watch 2025: Top smartwatches to use with iOS phones
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Last week, Google announced that new Fitbit devices will be coming next year. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. This follows a recent revamping of the Fitbit app – including an AI personal health coach for Fitbit Premium users.

I’ve been critical of Google’s handling of Fitbit in the past. Ever since Google began acquiring Fitbit in 2019, it’s been an endless churn of negative headlines – some of those by me. To start with, the European Union placed a 10-year moratorium on Google using the data it collected as a result of the Fitbit sale for advertising purposes in the European Economic Area, provoking concerns that Google would use Fitbit data for invasive advertising in other regions.

Then came the slashing of features. Many community-based features, such as Challenges on the best Fitbits, got the axe, as did offline music storage. Fitbit Connect, the original piece of software used to pair your Fitbit with your computer and upload your music library, was also discontinued. The ability to create third-party apps for Fitbit OS also vanished, with resources instead being driven towards Google’s own Wear OS platform and the Pixel Watch line.

The Fitbit Versa 4 and Fitbit Sense 2 smartwatches were released as fairly basic smartwatches with the features above gutted, and Google, in a quote to Engadget, said there would be no more after this. It makes sense, I suppose, to leave Fitbit devices as the slim trackers they once were, and keep the Pixel Watch as the range’s sole annual smartwatch entry, but Google pulling apart Fitbit’s ecosystem for scraps and data, keeping what it wants and discarding what it doesn’t, has been a real blow to many existing Fitbit users and led to a decline in Fitbit-branded devices.

However, that’s not to say the current crop of trackers aren’t good. While we didn’t get on too well with the Fitbit Charge 6, awarding it only 3.5 stars in our review, the budget Fitbit Inspire 3 remains a solid set-and-forget tracker. It’s lightweight, slim, and can be worn on a clip or slipped into a pocket as well as on your wrist. It features automatic workout detection – once set up, you just have to start running for Fitbit to record it – and packs a week’s worth of battery life.

It’s everything a Fitbit should be, including arriving with six months’ worth of Fitbit Premium. With the new AI personal health coach, the six months’ free service should provide everything you need to kickstart getting into great habits, even if you don’t continue paying for the service. Fitbit Premium has quietly turned into a 4.5-star service that’s made its way onto our best fitness app list.

With the Google Pixel Watch 4 and its many Fitbit features doing so well, it’s with trepidation, amongst the many years of negative press, that I find myself actually looking forward to a new set of Fitbits.

Follow the Apple Watch SE 3's example

The landscape has changed since Fitbit debuted its first digital pedometer at a TechCrunch event in 2009, and the fitness tracker market has become saturated. These devices are cheap to make, cheap to buy, and vary massively in quality: for every Xiaomi Smart Band 9, there are many other Amazon dupes that aren’t worth your time. The likes of Jawbone are no more. There’s room in this murky space for a trusted brand, and it’s time for Fitbit to lead the way once again.

To do this, it should look at the success Apple has had with the Apple Watch SE series. As I was testing the Apple Watch SE 3 after months of testing nothing but chunky-monkey Garmins, the Apple Watch Ultra 3, the Pixel Watch 4 and the Coros Apex 4, the Apple Watch SE 3 practically felt weightless on my hand (after all, it’s made from cheaper, lighter plastic and nylon composite rather than metal) and felt much more like a fitness tracker than a watch.

At the same time, it had everything casual fitness fans and Apple users could really want, while being priced affordably.

A Fitbit Inspire 4 or Charge 7 could really be treated like a Pixel SE. The Pixel Watch is a thick, domed device with heavier metal parts and tons of communication features, whereas the Fitbit is the slender, lightweight option that still offers access to the excellent Fitbit Premium service and its new AI coaching system. Sharing a bit of design language would help – maybe the same band colors as the Pixel Watch 4, or redesign the Fitbit’s body a bit so it more closely echoes the Pixel Watch 4’s pebble aesthetic.

It might even get a new name – many people I know still refer to fitness trackers as ‘Fitbits’ out of habit, so a single new device called the ‘Google Pixel Fitbit’ wouldn’t be too far out of pocket. This would position Fitbit as the cheaper, slimmer, fitness-oriented alternative to the bigger, do-it-all Google Pixel Watch 4.

I had forgotten how good lightweight fitness trackers could be until I tried the Apple Watch SE 3, and I think the time is ripe for Fitbit to place itself as a "Pixel Watch SE" of sorts. Here’s hoping the original fitness tracker can return to its former heights – now all we need is our community features back.

• WhatsApp has finally launched an official Apple Watch app
• It lets you read full WhatsApp messages, record voice notes and more
• The app's available to download today for the Apple Watch Series 4 onwards

Five months on from launching its first iPad app, WhatsApp has given Apple fans another treat by launching an official Apple Watch app.

While it's been possible to read WhatsApp notifications on your Apple Watch for years, the official app promises to bring several new features to your wrist.

For starters, you'll be able to read full WhatsApp messages on your Apple Watch (including those lengthy ones from your verbose friend). You'll also be able to react to messages on your Watch, including using emojis for a quick reaction.

Beyond messages, the new Apple Watch app will also give you call notifications (so you can see who's calling without looking at your phone) and the ability to record and send voice messages, if you're that way inclined.

Meta also says you'll be able to see "more of your chat history" when reading messages on your Apple Watch. In short, it'll replicate a lot of the experience from the phone app, with Meta promising that it's planning to deliver "even more useful functionality for people with Apple Watch in the future".

Which models are compatible?

The new WhatsApp app for the Apple Watch is available to download today – as long as you have an Apple Watch Series 4 or later that's also running watchOS 10 or later.

The Series 4 came out in September 2018, so if you've bought an Apple Watch in the last seven years, you should be covered. The watchOS 10 update landed in 2023 and the Series 4 is the oldest model it supports.

While we can't yet see the app at the time of writing, you'll be able to download it either on your Apple Watch (press the digital crown, then tap App Store) or on your iPhone by going to the Watch app, going to the My Watch app and scrolling to WhatsApp, before hitting install.

The news could be particularly exciting for owners of cellular Apple Watch models, given it opens up the prospect of using something close to the iPhone's WhatsApp experience while out on a run, only without your phone.

As Apple released the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and Apple Watch SE 3 in September, I felt certain I was going to upgrade my Apple Watch Ultra this year to an Ultra 3.

With two generations of processor improvements, a brighter display, and high blood pressure detection, I was ready. My current device’s response time is becoming a tad sluggish (and that’s before adding all the new AI features with watchOS 26), and the battery has dipped considerably in longevity. I was ready to buy an Ultra 3.

And then, I looked at the Apple Watch Series 11, I saw the review scores, and all of that desire to buy an Apple Watch Ultra 3 vanished.

Apple Watch Series 11’s battery life improvements are perfect for me

“While I certainly don’t need another watch that’s likely to cost $799 / £799 / AU$1,399, I do prefer Apple Watch over rivals for its adherence to the Apple ecosystem,” I said in September.

“It really does ‘just work’ for me, and while I’m not running any marathons or competing in triathlons, I do need the longer battery life afforded by the Ultra line to monitor an ongoing heart condition overnight.”

Except, uh, now I don’t. The heart condition is still there (sadly), but the Apple Watch Series 11 being bumped up to 24 hours of battery life pretty much takes the wind out of the Ultra 3’s sails for me.

In truth, 36 hours was never a huge requirement for me. I just needed to be able to work, work out, and track my heart rate overnight. Thanks to this boost, it’s just enough to get me through the day without needing to wear a feature-stuffed smartwatch which, let’s be honest, is overkill for most people.

Add in the fact that they share a processor, both have the new hypertension detection, the Series 11 looks sleeker, and it’s cheaper – it’d be a hard sell to justify going for the Ultra 3, especially as I wouldn’t consider myself an ‘Ultra’ athlete.

Am I going to run an ultramarathon, or head into the hills for a hike without taking my phone with me? It’s highly unlikely. If I’m honest, I bought the original Ultra for that improved battery life.

Prior to that, I was using my Series 7 daily and needing to charge it before bed, which just felt like a solution that would never last. Now that the Series 11 has better battery life to help with sleep tracking, I won’t have to worry about bludgeoning myself with the heavy titanium Ultra in my sleep, either.

My final concern was durability. I love my Ultra, because when I’m playing with my son I don’t feel like it’ll crack against a wall, or a climbing frame, or anything else. It’s comforting to know that Apple Watch Series 11’s display is 2x more scratch-resistant than its predecessor: I just hope the reality lives up to the claims.

After spending some time tooling around with Apple’s preorder system and adding a trade-in, I could end up getting an Apple Watch for under £180 (around $240) because the Ultra 1 seemingly holds its value.

I don't need an Ultra model after all

If all of this sounds like I’m really down on the Ultra 3, I should stress that had it not been for the 24-hour battery life boost on the Series 11, I’d be locked in to buy the Ultra 3.

The slightly larger display on the Ultra 3 is also nice, and I appreciate that it’s apparently better to view at an angle. I’m also not ignoring the fact that its battery life just climbed to a massive 42 hours, but I think one whole day is the sweet spot for me, since I can charge the Series 11 at my desk.

It’s interesting to see the Series 11 encroach on its Ultra 3 cousin just a little, in the same way the gap between MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models is blurring. For a long time, I used a MacBook Pro because I’d had such poor experiences with early MacBook Air models. Now? I’m writing this on an M3 MacBook Air connected to all sorts of peripherals and a monitor as my main work machine. That’s something that simply wasn’t possible all that long ago.

The Ultra 1 debuted in 2022, the same year as the Apple Watch Series 8 and the SE 2, alongside the iPhone 14. A lot can change in a timeframe of three years, and I’m excited to see what an Apple Watch Series 11 can do over the next three.

• The Pixel Watch 4 has been named the best smartwatch for reparability, over the Apple Watch
• iFixit did a breakdown of the Pixel Watch 4, praising it for visible screws and easy access into the watch's mechanism
• The outlet also addressed the watch's battery, naming it a 'truly replaceable smartwatch battery'

When Google unveiled the Pixel Watch 4, we were excited to see a whole host of new features, from its upgraded battery life to its new slick domed screen – but its replaceable parts topped our list, which goes forgotten for a lot of wearable tech.

The option to be able to repair your own tech is quite a common request among consumers, and has been for some time.

While most of the best phones have been amended to cater to this request, wearables are still overlooked in the reparability department, but Google is changing that with the Pixel Watch 4, a device that iFixit has crowned the most reparable smartwatch out there – even beating out the Apple Watch.

What has changed?

In its breakdown of the Pixel Watch 4, iFixit , a company that posts repair breakdowns of devices and sells toolkits to do so, drew attention to a number of new design elements making it easier for consumers to repair their own devices. This bumps its Pixel Watch 4 score to a 9/10 for reparability.

That's significant compared to the low 3s and 4s it’s given to similar devices in the past, as most smartwatches arrive as sealed units and require specialist services such as AppleCare.

First and foremost, the outlet summarizes Google’s latest smartwatch simply; "Gone is the glue, the frustration, and the heartbreak. In its place: screws, seals, and pure design joy".

What stands out to iFixit immediately is the visibility of the Pixel Watch 4’s screws, deeming it "a good sign", but Google takes it even further by giving each screw its own O-ring keeping its IP68 water resistance intact – but still allows easy access inside the watch.

According to iFixit, it managed to get inside the watch within minutes just by using three Torx Plus bits (1IP, 2IP, and 5IP), a spudger, and tweezers. This allows you to access the inside of the watch via the rear.

From there, you can even remove the main display as there’s no glue holding it in place, which iFixit describes as a "complete rethink of smartwatch design". Then there’s the matter of the battery.

Once you’ve mastered the above, this will give you access to the Pixel Watch’s battery, which iFixit managed to remove and swap out by removing its two screws and connector – a 'truly replaceable smartwatch battery'.

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For 15 years, I've waited to see the iPad reach its potential. For 15 years, I've hoped that Apple's best-selling tablet would become more than just a "big iPhone". And now, it seems like my prayers have been answered.

As soon as I installed iPadOS 26, the newest update for Apple's tablet, I knew that things had changed: my iPad was now all grown up.

In fact, the new additions to the iPad's operating system are so big that they completely change the way you interact with Apple's awkward middle child.

Now it's the iPad's time to shine

During my time in college, as a young student working at my local Apple Store, I opted for an iPad over a Mac to help me get through my studies.

At the time, over five years ago now, the iPad Pro was a powerful device with an operating system that was completely holding it back.

Not only was everything clunky and mobile-based, but there was a lack of proper file management and an inability to quickly manage windows.

Over the years, some of my iPadOS qualms have been squashed, but to this day, my iPad Pro M2, which is more powerful than the Mac I'm writing this article from, has been underclocked by Apple's obsession with making iPadOS the same as iOS.

At WWDC 2025, that all changed thanks to what Apple calls "An entirely new, powerful and intuitive windowing system."

Windows on iPad

In iPadOS 26 (yes, Apple decided to rename iPadOS 19), users can now easily switch between app windows and organize them like never before.

I've been using the software for a couple of months and can easily get six apps stacked on top of each other, similar to a Mac, which completely transforms the capabilities of an iPad.

Even better, Apple has made the new window management tool work seamlessly with Stage Manager so you can connect your iPad to an external display and reap the benefits of the new OS without being limited to mirroring what's on your tablet's display.

A menu bar, finally

If this new iPad window management were the only new addition in iPadOS 26, it would've been enough to tempt me to switch back to an iPad as my primary computing device. Amazingly, there's even more, including the arrival of a menu bar on iPad for the first time ever.

Yep, the iPad now functions more like a Mac than an iPhone, and I'm genuinely over the moon. Now iPad users will be able to quickly access functional tools by simply dragging down from the top of their iPad's display. Great job, Apple.

And even more Mac-like powers

Window management, a menu bar, and... Proper file management combined with Preview.

Apple seriously decided to completely reestablish the iPad as a machine for getting things done, and finally, the high price tag of the iPad Pro seems justified.

Time and time again, I've written about the iPad's crux being its software, but Apple seems to have listened to the millions of tablet users clamoring for efficiency and decided to give the iPad every bit of attention it deserves.

In iPadOS 26, compatible devices now have access to Preview, one of the Mac's best features, which allows you to quickly access (you guessed it) a preview of your files.

Preview is housed in a new Files app that looks more like Finder on Mac than ever before, emphasizing this next chapter in the iPad's story.

The iPad just took center stage

After getting to grips with the new features in iPadOS 26, I can't help but smile at the fact that for the first time ever, it feels like Apple listened to its loyal, patient iPad users.

iPadOS 26 will go down as a major landmark launch in the history of the iPad; it's the release where Apple decided to push the iPad to new heights.

Now, after all these years, we finally have an answer to Apple's iconic "What's a computer?" ad. Back then, the Cupertino-based company wanted you to say "An iPad", but deep down, we all knew it really wasn't. Now, however, an iPad is definitely a computer, and I can't contain my excitement.

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Apple Watch Series 11: One-minute review

The Apple Watch Series 11 looks a lot like the Apple Watch Series 10 – both have the same rounded-square design and come in 42mm and 46mm sizes, and both are just 9.7mm thick, making them the thinnest Apple Watches you can buy. You still get two speakers on the left, the Digital Crown and side button on the right, and ample water and sweat resistance.

The big highlight here is the display: an Always-On Retina LTPO3 OLED that drops down to 1Hz, peaks at 2,000 nits for visibility in direct sunlight, and is protected by Ion-X glass that’s twice as scratch-resistant as the Series 10.

On the software side, watchOS 26 refreshes the interface with Liquid Glass elements and the new Flow watch face, while an updated Photos watch face maybe steals the show. With the latest watchOS, you get Notes on your wrist, and call screening makes it easy to dodge spam. Additionally, gestures build on the familiar Double Tap with a new Wrist Flick that lets you go back a step with – you've guessed it – a flick of your wrist.

Health tracking is as comprehensive as ever, with heart-rate alerts, ECG; wrist temperature, respiratory rate and cycle tracking, and hearing health, plus two additions. Hypertension Notifications, FDA-approved in the US and rolling out to more than 150 countries, use the optical sensor and Apple’s algorithm to flag possible high blood pressure. You will, of course, want to see a doctor for a proper diagnosis if you get an alert.

Sleep Score finally turns your sleep tracking data into something easily digestible, giving you a 0–100 rating with color-coded factors, and even retroactively scoring past nights. And blood oxygen tracking is back in the US after an August 2025 update.

Performance is powered by the same chip as the Series 10. Inside the Series 11 is the S10 chip with a dual-core CPU, GPU, and 4-core Neural Engine. In testing, both Apple apps and third-party ones like Flighty, Tesla, and Carrot Weather opened quickly and ran smoothly.

The bigger story is battery life: battery capacity is up 9% on the 42mm model and 11% on the 46mm. Apple rates both models for 24 hours of typical use and up to 38 hours in Low Power Mode. In practice, I pulled my 46mm review device off the charger at 54% one night, slept with tracking enabled, and didn’t hit 1% until after 5pm the next day – so I got about 17 hours from half a charge. With light use, a full day and a half is very realistic.

A new 5G antenna for the LTE models makes using internet services faster when you're away from your iPhone. And the onboard mics continue to impress – even during a noisy, sold-out exhibition baseball game at Yankee Stadium, calls came through clearly, with the person on the other end hearing me well.

The Series 11 isn’t a radical redesign, but between the refined durability, new health features, and the much-needed battery gains, it feels like the most capable and balanced Apple Watch yet.

That said, if you’re rocking a Series 10, you likely don’t need an upgrade unless you’re eager for better battery life. Those coming from an older Apple Watch, like an SE or a Series 8 or earlier, will see a bigger difference in performance – although the new Apple Watch SE 3 is equally compelling in this respect.

Apple Watch Series 11: Specs

Apple Watch Series 11: Price and availability

• $399 / £369 / AU$679 for the 42mm
• $429 / £399 / AU$699 for the 46mm
• Cellular costs extra

The Apple Watch Series 11 42mm with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity starts at $399 / £369 / AU$679 for the entry-level aluminum finish. That's the same price as the Series 10 in the US, and a price cut if you're in the UK; however, there's a slight increase for Australia. The larger 46mm model with the same connectivity, also in aluminum, starts at $429 / £399 / AU$699 – that's the same price as last year in the US and Australia, while again UK gets a price cut.

Cellular connectivity, which now includes 5G access, will cost you a bit more. For instance, in the United States, the Series 11 is $100 more in either size, plus the cost of a monthly plan. The Apple Watch Series 11 in aluminum comes in a new Space Gray finish as well as Jet Black, Rose Gold, and Silver, and in Slate, Gold, or Natural Polished Titanium finishes.

The Apple Watch Series 11 is up for order now in the US, UK, Australia, and beyond, with an official launch date of September 19, 2025.

• Value score: 4/5

Apple Watch Series 11: Design

• Ultra-thin build with improved durability
• All your existing bands and chargers will work here
• watchOS 26 refreshes the design

Other than the new colors for the aluminum and titanium finishes, the Apple Watch Series 11 is pretty much indistinguishable from the Apple Watch Series 10. Placing my 46mm Series 11 review device next to a Series 10 I see an identical rounded-square Apple Watch, aside from the updated paint job; this year, my testing unit is in Space Gray, whereas last year’s was in Jet Black.

The overall similarities here aren’t necessarily a negative. Apple, now 11 years into the Apple Watch, seems set on this look for the core of its smartwatch lineup, and it’s refining the formula rather than reinventing it. I also really liked the changes the Series 10 ushered in over the Series 9 last year – mainly thinning out the overall build and sloping the screen down the edges – so I'm very happy that Series 11 retains those.

Both the 46mm and 42mm models are just 9.7mm thick, meaning they barely protrude from your wrist and remain the thinnest Apple Watches yet; there were times when I forgot it was even there during my seven days of testing.

Just like the Series 10, the Series 11 measures 42 x 36 x 9.7mm for the smaller 42mm size, and 46 x 39 x 9.7mm for the 46mm size. Both models weigh ever so slightly more than the previous generation, but you’d be hard pressed to feel it on your wrist in daily use.

You still have two speakers on the left-hand side, with the Digital Crown and main button on the right. It’s all very familiar to anyone who’s used an Apple Watch before, and easy enough to get the hang of if you haven't.

Furthermore, while other smartwatch makers have experimented with different types of band attachments, Apple is sticking with what it's used since the original Apple Watch. That’s great news if you already have a collection of bands, or if you’re adding new ones. I’m especially fond of the new Nike Run Sport Loops; they’re comfy and fit well.

As well as sticking with the ultra-low profile, this year’s Apple Watch also keeps the excellent display that its predecessor introduced. It's an always-on Retina LTPO3 wide-angle OLED display – that’s a lot of tech jargon, but the gist is vibrant colors, deep contrast, and the ability for the refresh rate to drop to as low as a 1Hz. This means that watch faces like Flux and Reflections still update subtly in always-on mode.

The screen also gets plenty bright – up to 2,000 nits – for use in direct sunlight or under harsh artificial lighting, and the Ion-X glass layer is now twice as scratch-resistant as before. Considering the entire front of the watch is all screen, it’s a welcome improvement in durability, and it complements the WR50 and IP7X sweat and water resistance ratings, unchanged from the Series 10.

While the internals have been re-engineered, the outer build is mostly the same, extending to the rear. Here, you’ll find the main sensor stack, which protrudes slightly. A slightly different colored line around the rim denotes the antenna stack if you opt for a cellular Apple Watch Series 11.

As a whole, the Apple Watch Series 11 design is familiar, but still feels modern alongside other flagship smartwatches. It complements a variety of styles while still offering the smooth, fluid response you’d expect, and a large enough touchscreen to make watchOS 26 easy to navigate. Those wanting something entirely different may want to look to the Apple Watch Ultra 3, or wait for a future redesign.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Apple Watch Series 11: Features

• The new Glow watch face is engaging and shows off Liquid Glass well
• watchOS 26 is filled with new features, including an useful new gesture
• Sleep Score is a long-awaited arrival that's executed perfectly

Out of the box, the Apple Watch Series 11 runs watchOS 26 – a packed update that brings a fresh look to the core interface. And yes, Liquid Glass is finally on your wrist. You’ll see this in subtle navigation elements that are now translucent, as well as in watch faces.

The Photos face now lets you place numerals for time or complications above the image, giving a better sense of depth. However, the new Flow watch face might be the purest form of Liquid Glass on the Series 11 – or any Apple Watch. Think bubble-glass numerals with a lava-lamp-like liquid flowing behind them. True to Apple Watch form, you can customize these by color and typeface.

It’s a really fun addition, and joins more than a dozen built-in faces. watchOS 26 also brings the Notes app to your wrist, which I’ve found handy for jotting down quick thoughts or referencing notes created on iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Call screening also comes to your wrist, especially helpful with a cellular plan, letting you see if it’s spam before answering.

The Series 11 also supports gestures like Double Tap, which lets you control navigation with a pinch between your forefinger and thumb – invaluable, in my opinion. The new Wrist Flick gesture, which lets you flick the watch backward to go back a step, is even handier for one-handed use.

Thanks to the sensor array and new software, the Series 11 covers all the expected health features: heart-rate tracking and alerts, ECG, wrist temperature, respiratory rate, cycle tracking, and hearing health.

A major new addition this year is Hypertension Notifications. Also available on the Series 9, Series 10, Ultra 2 and Ultra 3), this feature can alert you to possible hypertension – high blood pressure – over a rolling day. In the US, it’s FDA-approved as of September 15, 2025, and will be available in over 150 countries.

Hypertension Notifications use the optical heart-rate sensor to analyze pulse signals and morphology through Apple’s algorithm, validated by internal and external studies. If it detects signs of possible hypertension, you’ll get a notification – but of course you should still see a doctor to get checked out.

Sleep Score is another welcome new feature. The Apple Watch has long tracked sleep, but has never presented the data in a digestible way. Now, you’ll wake to a score from 0 to 100, rated from Very Low to Excellent. A color-coded ring breaks down bedtime, duration, and interruptions. It’s much more actionable, in line with devices like the Galaxy Watch, Whoop, and Oura Ring.

Best of all, Apple retroactively assigns a Sleep Score to your past tracked nights, making it easier to spot trends. Like Hypertension Notifications, it’s also available on other models that support watchOS 26.

Blood oxygen tracking also returns in the US, after its August 2025 reinstatement. The Series 11 (and other supported models) can once again take blood oxygen readings, with results viewable in the Health app.

Just like the Series 10, the Series 11 features redesigned speakers, with dozens of precision holes forming two grilles on the left side. They sound similar to the Series 10 – passable for a song or voice memo.

The real standout is the onboard microphones, which still pick up your voice clearly even in noisy environments – at a noisy Yankee Stadium, my brother on the other end of a call could hear me without issue.

• Features score: 4 / 5

Apple Watch Series 11: Performance

• Finally, a larger battery inside an Apple Watch
• The Series 11 can last for up to 24 hours and supports fast-charging
• It's the same S10 chip as the previous generation, but feels responsive

No, the processor here isn’t new, but the bigger battery is. Both the 42mm and 46mm models now pack larger batteries – about 9% bigger on the 42mm, 11% on the 46mm. Apple claims this extends the runtime from 18 hours to 24 hours with regular use, and up to 38 hours in Low Power Mode.

So how does it perform? On Sunday night, I picked it up from the charger at 54%, wore it through sleep tracking, woke up with 42% left, and it didn’t hit 1% until after 5pm following a full day of use. That’s about 17 hours from half a charge.

It’s much closer to 24 hours overall, depending on usage, and stretches further than any previous Apple Watch Series (or SE). With the Series 11, I can often push to a day and a half, or use fast charging to top up quickly.

Beyond the bigger battery, the LTPO display helps conserve energy by dynamically adjusting brightness and refresh rate. During workouts, metrics update quickly, while in always-on mode, updates slow down to save power.

The S10 chip is still plenty powerful, with its dual-core CPU, GPU, and 4-core Neural Engine. Apps – both first-party (Notes, Photos, Maps, Mail) and third-party (Flighty, Tesla, Parcel, Carrot Weather) – all opened quickly and ran smoothly.

Battery efficiency on the LTE model also benefits from the new 5G antenna, which ensures fast performance as carriers phase out 4G. Messaging, app data, and calls all felt as quick as when paired to an iPhone. You can spot the antenna band on the underside.

The biggest difference generation over generation is endurance. With the Series 10, you needed to recharge before bed or in the morning if using sleep tracking. The Series 11 stretches that to a day and a half, which makes a real difference in daily use.

It still runs watchOS 26 swiftly and keeps up with competitors, while continuing to expand health and activity tracking. And with the return of blood oxygen monitoring in the US, it feels even more complete.

Performance is excellent – not night and day better than the Series 10, but the addition of a larger battery is a game changer.

• Performance score: 4.5 / 5

Apple Watch Series 11: Should I Buy?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Apple Watch Series 11: How I Tested

I've been reviewing Apple Watches, as well as smartwatches and fitness trackers as a whole, for many years, and I bought the very first Apple Watch back in 2014. Eleven years down the road, after unboxing the Apple Watch Series 11, I began setting it up and then wore it for a week to test it, and put it through its paces for this review.

I aimed to test every facet of the Series 11, including the new features such as the promised up to 24 hours of battery life, new functionality as part of watchOS 26, and the new Sleep Score feature. I also compared it against the Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, as well as the new Apple Watch SE 3 and Apple Watch Ultra 3.

To test workouts, I completed several outdoor walks and runs as well as yoga and stretching, comparing metrics against those from other Apple Watches and the Oura Ring. Considering the wide-angle virtues of the display, I also tested the Series 11 in various viewing conditions.

Through my review period I aimed to use the Apple Watch Series 11 in the same way an average user would.

First reviewed September 2025.

Apple Watch SE 3: One-Minute Review

What if I told you Apple has managed to trickle down nearly all the major features you’d expect from an Apple Watch into an entry-level model that doesn’t break the bank and still feels right at home in the lineup?

That’s exactly what I found after testing the brand-new Apple Watch SE 3 for nearly a week.

The SE 3 doesn’t reinvent the wheel – it’s very much a classic Apple Watch. It comes in two sizes, 40mm and 44mm, and two colors. It still has the Digital Crown, uses the same charger, and sits on the wrist just like before. But it finally fixes one of the biggest complaints with the SE line by adding an Always-On display.

No, the display doesn’t slope at the edges like the newer Series models, but that’s not really a drawback here. The SE 3 still looks and feels like a classic Apple Watch, with an aluminum build, tougher Ion-X glass, and solid sizing that make it both durable and practical – especially for parents buying one for kids. The bezels are a bit thicker, and brightness tops out at 1,000 nits, which can make it harder to see in direct sunlight, but for everyday use, the screen gets the job done.

Performance is where the SE 3 really shines. With the same S10 chip that powers the Series 11 and Ultra 3, watchOS 26 feels just as smooth here as it does on those higher-end models. Apps open instantly, navigation is quick, and gestures like Double Tap and the new Wrist Flick add a nice layer of convenience. Sure, you don’t get every health feature – there’s no ECG, Blood Oxygen, or Sleep Apnea tracking – but the essentials are here: heart rate tracking with alerts, the new Sleep Score with retroactive trends, activity tracking, and temperature sensing for cycle tracking.

Compared to the SE 2, this is a big step forward. It’s faster across the board, handles daily tasks with ease, and finally supports fast charging. Battery life is still rated at 18 hours, but with Low Power Mode you can stretch it closer to 32 if needed. In my testing, it comfortably lasted a full day, even with sleep tracking. The new 5G antenna adds efficiency if you opt for the LTE model, though speeds feel about the same as before.

At $249 / £219 / AU$399 for the 40mm version, there’s never been a better Apple Watch from a pure value perspective. And if you don’t need the ultra-modern slimmed-down looks of the Series 11, the rugged features of the Ultra 3, and can live without ECG, Blood Oxygen, or Sleep Apnea tracking, then the Apple Watch SE 3 is likely the model for you.

Apple Watch SE 3: Specs

Watch our video review here:

Apple Watch SE 3: Price and Availability

• $249 / £219 / AU$399 for the 40mm
• $279 / £249 / AU$449 for the 44mm
• Cellular 5G connectivity costs extra

As the entry-level model, the Apple Watch SE 3 is the most affordable Apple Watch in the lineup. It starts at $249 / £219 / AU$399 for the 40mm version with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but jumps to $279 / £249 / AU$449 for the 44mm.

If you want cellular connectivity, the 40mm Apple Watch SE costs $299 / £289 / AU$489, or $329 / £319 / AU$539 for the 44mm. Note that activating service will be an additional monthly cost with your carrier.

Regardless of size or connectivity, you’ll be able to pick between Starlight or Midnight. The Apple Watch SE 3 is available for pre-order now and launches on September 19, 2025.

• Value score: 5/5

Apple Watch SE 3: Design

• The Apple Watch SE now has an always-on display
• It can run more complex watch faces
• It doesn't use the Series 10 / 11 body, but an older model

The Apple Watch SE 3 doesn’t stray from Apple’s proven formula and looks much like an Apple Watch Series 9 or older. It features an aluminum shell with a nylon composite back – so yes, you can put the rumor of an all-plastic build to rest once again – and comes in two sizes: 40mm or 44mm.

The bezels around the LTPO OLED display are thicker than those on the Series 10 or 11, which curve down at the edges. But considering the price, that feels like a fair compromise – especially since it’s an Always-On display. Even when it’s not in use, it dims the brightness and slows the refresh rate so you can still see the time and any complications you’ve set.

The display also protected with the latest Ion-X glass, bringing the screen's durability on par with the Series 11 and making it four times more durable than the SE 2. Considering many parents choose the SE for kids, that extra toughness is a major win.

This removes one of the biggest reasons for skipping the SE in favor of a pricier model: you no longer have to give up the Always-On display. Once you’ve used it, you really can’t go back. In a meeting or a class, you can simply glance down – or check a notification – without raising your wrist.

While it feels smaller compared to the 46mm Series 10 or 49mm Ultra 3, it still provides plenty of room for navigation. You can scroll through Photos, swipe through Maps, check an extended forecast, and even view Notes (a new perk of watchOS 26). The Flow watch face, with its bubble Liquid Glass typeface set against a lava lamp-like background, runs smoothly. The display is harder to view in direct sunlight and fairly reflective, and it tops out at 1,000 nits of brightness.

Like any other Apple Watch, the SE 3 has the Digital Crown – a key interface control – and the main button on the right-hand side. It also features a two-speaker grille, like the Series 11, and you can play music, listen to podcasts, or take calls on speakerphone. It’s not on par with AirPods Pro 3, but it’s surprisingly loud.

The band system hasn’t changed, but is a little complex. The SE 3 40mm will work with bands designed for older Apple Watches up to 41mm in size. The 44mm SE 3 will work with bands for itself, older 45mm Apple Watches, and any Apple Watch Series 10 or 11.

Those larger bands can also be used with other large watches like the Apple Watch Ultra 3 – but it doesn't work the other way around, as Ultra 3 bands can't be used for the SE 3. Phew!

Charging is unchanged, too: the SE 3 uses the rear sensor stack with the included USB-C magnetic disc charger.

If you’re upgrading from the SE 2, the case sizes are identical: 44mm by 38mm by 10.7mm, or 40mm by 34mm by 10.7mm. Color options are now just two – Starlight or Midnight – and I do wish Apple offered more variety. Of course, you can add personality through first- or third-party bands.

It might not be the most modern-looking Apple Watch, but the SE 3 still holds its own against other smartwatches. And at the same MSRP as the previous generation, with more features included, it’s likely the best value in the entire lineup.

• Design score: 4 /5

Apple Watch SE 3: Features

• Gestures come in really handy on the SE 3
• It offers most, but not all, of the health features that the Apple Watch is known for
• The new Sleep Score is a major standout

I’ve been testing the Apple Watch SE 3 alongside the Series 11 and the Ultra 3, and while that might seem like an easy way to spot differences, all three are powered by the same Apple-made S10 chip. Specifically, it’s a 64-bit dual-core processor with a GPU and a 4-core Neural Engine, and it ensures watchOS 26 runs smoothly.

This means the most affordable SE 3 is nearly as capable as the most expensive Ultra 3 or the mid-range Series 11. After a quick setup, I was greeted with Apple’s iconic “hello” in Liquid Glass and could take a tour of watchOS 26. That’s especially helpful since the SE 3 may be someone’s first Apple Watch.

Navigation is simple: your home screen is your chosen watch face, which you can long-press to edit or swap. Click the main button on the right to pull up Control Center for quick settings, or press the Digital Crown to view all your apps. Everything runs quickly here.

Two gesture controls stand out. Double Tap lets you pinch your forefinger and thumb to perform actions like answering a call, opening an app, or controlling music. Wrist Flick, new with watchOS 26, lets you flick your wrist back to return to the interface. After using it daily, I’ve wondered why it wasn’t available before.

The S10 chip also enables several health features, although compared to the Series 11 or Ultra 3, you’re missing Hypertension Notifications, Blood Oxygen tracking, ECG, and Sleep Apnea Notifications on the SE 3.

The SE 3 does offer Sleep Tracking with the new Sleep Score, which gives you a rating – Very Low, Low, OK, High, or Excellent – and a score from 0 to 100. If you’ve tracked sleep before, it retroactively assigns scores to show trends. It uses the same second-generation heart rate sensor stack as the SE 2, providing monitoring with alerts for low, high, and irregular rhythms. You also get full activity tracking and temperature sensing from a wrist sensor, which upgrades cycle tracking with retrospective ovulation estimates.

Overall, the SE 3 delivers the core health and activity tracking you’d expect from a smartwatch. In side-by-side use with the Series 11 and Ultra 3, it produced similar results for workouts, sleep, and heart rate.

Beyond the new media playback function, it also gets the voice isolation feature for calls that debuted with the Series 10. This means you can comfortably take calls in noisy environments, like at a ballpark or a botanical garden, without worrying the person on the other end won’t hear you. It does an excellent job of focusing on your voice and blocking background noise.

• Features score: 4.5/5

Apple Watch SE 3: Performance

• It offers the same performance as the Series 11 or Ultra 3
• watchOS 26 runs very well here with fluid and responsive interactions
• You get basic fast charging

The Apple Watch SE 3 performs in line with the Series 11 and Ultra 3. Swapping and customizing watch faces happens smoothly, applications open quickly, and navigation around watchOS 26 feels fluid with the Liquid Glass updates.

It’s also noticeably faster than the SE 2. Apple says it’s up to 30% faster with the GPU and has 60% more transistors in the CPU. It’s a lot of jargon, but in practice, it runs laps around the SE 2 in day-to-day use—opening apps, scrolling through photos, starting workouts, and running third-party apps.

This responsiveness makes sense considering the SE 2 was released three years ago and powered by the S8 chip. The S10 ensures watchOS 26 runs well across the board, from activity and workout tracking to health monitoring.

It also helps extend battery life, which on my SE 2 has been showing its age. Apple rates the SE 3 for up to 18 hours, the same as the SE 2, but with a newer lithium-ion battery and Low Power Mode support. If enabled, you’ll lose some functionality, including the Always-On display, but it can stretch runtime to 32 hours.

In TechRadar’s testing with the SE 2, it often exceeded the 18-hour window. With the SE 3, depending on use, it can similarly last a full day with moderate use, including sleep tracking. As with the Series 10, you’ll likely need to recharge once in the morning or evening.

The new 5G antenna on the LTE-enabled model may improve efficiency. It adds 5G alongside 4G LTE, and in my tests, it performed well for messages, calls, and emails when not connected to my iPhone, though speeds were about the same as previous Apple Watches.

Finally, fast charging has arrived on the Apple Watch SE, and it’s a welcome addition. According to Apple, with the included charger and a 20-watt power brick, you can go from 0% to 80% in about 45 minutes. In practice, it was closer to an hour when charging from completely dead, but it hit 30% in about 15 minutes, which is enough for a quick top-up before bed or in the morning.

All in all, the Apple Watch SE 3’s performance doesn’t leave you wanting more. Its speed and responsiveness are in line with the Series 11 and Ultra 3, just in a smaller build with thicker bezels.

• Performance score: 5 /5

Apple Watch SE 3: Should I Buy?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Apple Watch SE 3: How I Tested

I've been testing and reviewing smartwatches for many years and was an early adopter of the original Apple Watch, buying one on launch day in 2015. Since then, I've reviewed many smartwatches, including multiple Apple Watches and the previous SE models. My testing of the Apple Watch SE 3 began after unboxing it and setting it up with my iPhone.

I used it for nearly a week, testing all aspects of the device, including the new software features introduced in the watchOS 26 update and the upgraded hardware—most notably the S10 chip. I aimed to run down the battery under both moderate and heavy usage.

I compared it against the Apple Watch SE 2, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2, as well as the new Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3. For workout and activity tracking, I tested it not only against other Apple Watches but also against an Oura Ring, a Galaxy Watch 7, and a Pixel Watch 3.

First reviewed September 2025.

It's been a hectic release cycle for Apple's wearables, with the heart-rate monitoring AirPods Pro 3, the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3 all dropping at once. However, we're here to talk about Apple's flagship fitness powerhouse: the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

It’s finally a proper upgrade for the most rugged, go-anywhere, climb-every-mountain Apple Watch. In 2024, it got a slight spec bump and a fresh paint job, but for 2025 Apple’s really rounding out the Ultra 3 in a way that makes it a compelling upgrade for folks with the first or second generation Ultra, especially the former.

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 has been tested extensively, both at Apple Park and beyond the environs of the launch event. TechRadar’s Senior Fitness & Wearables Editor Matt Evans and US Managing Editor for News, Jacob Krol, have pulled double-duty on this review, testing it to develop a complete picture of how the Apple Watch Ultra 3 operates as a daily driver. Spoiler alert: it's great.

Apple Watch Ultra 3: Price and availability

• $799 in US
• £749 in UK
• AU$1,399

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is available for $799 / £749 / AU$1,399. This is the same price as its predecessor in most regions, although the Ultra 3 is slightly cheaper in the UK – the Apple Watch Ultra 2 cost £799 in the UK, so the Ultra 3 is better value there.

It's the most expensive Apple Watch, and 5G comes as standard, with no option to downgrade unlike other models. Whether it's good value entirely depends: if you're a casual exerciser or gym-goer looking to stretch your budget, this is more watch than you'll need and we'd advise you to get the Series 11 or SE 3.

If you're an outdoor enthusiast looking for a top-flight watch with a longer battery life, this is a terrific option.

• Value score: 4/5

Apple Watch Ultra 3: Design

• Same 49mm case as Ultra 2
• Slightly larger screen
• Recycled Natural or Black Titanium finishes

In the same way that Apple is sticking with the rounded 'squircle' look of previous iterations for its Series 11 smartwatch, it’s clear that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 rocks its tried-and-tested design here. It still offers a supersized 49-millimeter display in a thicker, more durable titanium body.

The Ultra 3 comes in Natural Titanium or Black Titanium, and I’ve (Jake) been testing the latter, which looks especially sleek. You can pair it with a custom-match Ultra Milanese Loop – a personal favorite band of mine – with one of the new 2025 options, like the Trail Loop, which now features reflective material on the edges, or with older bands that fit the 49mm / 46mm / 44mm sizes.

One change Apple made here is using a 3D printing process to build the case from recycled titanium, though you won’t notice any difference in appearance. The display, however, is seriously improved. Like the Series 11 – and the Series 10 before it – the Ultra 3 now boasts an always-on Retina OLED display with an LTPO3 panel, giving it finer control over the refresh rate for additional smoothness in motion. This shines with watch faces like the new Flow, Waypoint, or Exactograph.

It also enables wide-angle viewing, so even when glancing to the side you have a better chance of reading what’s on the display – I’ve found this especially helpful when checking notifications with my arm extended or in low brightness. Apple has also slimmed down the bezels by 24% all around. While noticeable when comparing the Ultra 3 to the Ultra 2 side by side, it’s most apparent when viewing maps – like hiking trails – or photos on the 49mm display.

The Ultra 3’s display can flex its brightness from as high as 3,000 nits in peak sunlight to as low as 1 nit in darkness. Much of the interface uses the Liquid Glass design language introduced in watchOS 26; and even though it looks snappy, it’s also plenty fast for handling actions thanks to the S10 chip inside.

It still charges with the same magnetic puck included in the box, but now supports faster charging.

• Design score: 5/5

Apple Watch Ultra 3: Features

• Emergency SOS instructions intuitive
• Satellite connectivity genuinely useful
• I'm loving the new Sleep Score software update

Satellite connectivity for communication makes a lot of sense on a device that you’re likely to be wearing into areas without cell service, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is the first Apple Watch to support satellite connectivity.

The headline feature Apple announced at its September launch event was Emergency SOS via Satellite, and while I hope you never need it, we have used the demo version available on the watch. Much like the iPhone’s satellite connectivity, it walks you through the process of sending an alert: identifying the issue, guiding you on how to point your wrist for a satellite connection, packaging the info, sending it into orbit, and beaming a response back down.

In the demo, you trigger SOS on the Ultra 3 by dialing 911, 999 or your country's emergency code. Once it realized there was no grid connection, it began sending an emergency text via satellite. The watch guided us through a questionnaire – we selected “lost or trapped,” confirmed it was just us, and noted no active injuries. This is especially handy if you’re lost on a trail. As a final step, you can also notify emergency contacts.

The watch then instructed us to move our wrist left until it locked onto a satellite. At that point, it packaged the watch’s location, questionnaire details, and the linked medical ID. A relay center receives this data and can send messages back down.

This was, of course, a demo, but it shows how impressively the system works. Notably, it can sometimes transmit data without you moving your wrist, which could be helpful if it’s triggered as a backup during crash or fall detection.

Emergency SOS via Satellite is available for free for two years in the United States – though Apple has a history of extending that – and in the UK and Australia, it’s also free, along with the additional Find My features, which also operate via satellite. I was able to test Find My myself, but in the US, Find My and Messages require an active cellular plan.

With Find My, you can send a basic message (with a character limit) via satellite and even update your Find My location. You’ll go through the same process of moving your Ultra 3 into the right path of a satellite as it passes overhead. With Find My, you’ll know the location was updated this way via a satellite icon on the map next to the person.

Satellite connectivity is a genuinely useful addition to the Ultra 3, and I’m keen to test the Messages and Find My functions more. Beyond this, the Ultra 3 also gets a number of new features as part of watchOS 26, including the Liquid Glass interface, new apps like Notes, and a new Wrist Flick gesture.

Just like the Series 11 and SE 3 – as well as some older models that can run watchOS 26 – the Ultra 3 also gets the new Sleep Score. This builds upon the watch’s ability to track sleep and detail time spent in each stage but now quantifies it with a score from 0 to 100. I’m really enjoying this feature so far, and it feels like it’s about time it arrived here.

The Ultra 3 also adds Hypertension Notifications, meaning that on a rolling 30-day basis, the watch can alert you to potential hypertension (high blood pressure) and recommends you see a doctor for a full diagnosis. This feature is FDA-approved for use in the US.

While the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is technically getting an upgrade to the S10 chip, it’s mostly a repackaged version of the S9 chip found in the Ultra 2. The good news is that the Ultra 3 still feels just as responsive as the other new Apple Watches and competing smartwatches on the market. I think you’d be hard-pressed to slow it down.

This is paired with a new 5G antenna and redesigned antenna band visible around the outer lip of the watch. Apple says it’s more efficient than the previous onboard antenna, and can use two bands at once when needed to improve reception.

Apple also redesigned the internals of the Ultra 3, and thanks to that, there’s a bigger battery inside. Apple rates the Ultra 3 for up to 42 hours with normal use.

• Features score: 4/5

Apple Watch Ultra 3: Performance

• Battery life better than described
• Very accurate heart rate
• New Sleep Score is nice to have

Matt here! The Apple Watch Ultra 3 performs as well as the Apple Watch Ultra 2 did during extended testing: it’s simply good to use on a day-to-day basis. The screen is easily brightened, and at max intensity it makes other watches with otherwise-bright AMOLED screens seem dull. Sorry, Garmin Venu 4, you just don’t quite cut it here.

Speaking of, now I’ve had the opportunity to test the Apple Watch Ultra 3’s fitness credentials, I’m happy to say they pass muster. I tested it against an industry-standard heart rate monitor, the Polar H10, during a 20-minute stationary cycle and a 45-minute run, also comparing the GPS readings from the latter against a Garmin watch.

The Ultra 3 is successful in all respects, especially during heart rate monitoring. During both tests, the Ultra 3’s heart rate readings cleaved very closely to the Polar H10, with only 1bpm difference in the ‘average heart rate’ metric and very similar-looking graphs. I’ve not yet tested it underwater, but given that we had a diver conduct a test with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and rated it fine for recreational dives, I’d be very surprised if anything changed here.

The Sleep Score being added to Apple Watches was long overdue, and it’s nice to see more contextual information available on the Apple Health app. The feature is really supported by the Ultra 3’s longer battery life, which during testing, allowed me to leap out of bed and into the day without needing to charge the watch at all. Apple’s battery life claims of 42 hours are accurate even with normal use, including a 45-minute run. With careful use and low-power mode, it’ll easily last several days.

I’ve not had to test the emergency satellite communication for real, but the demo features as described above work a treat. Really, it’s been a great experience, as you’d expect: I’ve loaded the watch up with my favorite third-party apps (Strava, Audible, Spotify, AllTrails, all the usual suspects) and it’s just a really solid daily driver with accurate metrics and a longer-than-ever battery life. If you’re looking to really push the watch’s capabilities, the extreme sports functionalities are there if you need them.

• Performance score: 5/5

Apple Watch Ultra 3: Scorecard

Apple Watch Ultra 3: Should I buy?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

Apple Watch Ultra 3: How we tested

Both Jacob and Matt, who share credit on this review, tested the Apple Watch Ultra 3 during and after its launch period. We wore it constantly, draining the battery down and charging it back up, and Matt performed fitness tests against a Polar H10 heart rate monitor and other smartwatches. We loaded the watches with third-party apps, tested its demo satellite navigation feature, and wore it to bed to determine Sleep Scores.

First reviewed: September 2025

• Apple’s watchOS 26 update is available to install today
• It brings a new feature that can detect hypertension
• This alerts you if your watch thinks you have chronic high blood pressure

Apple’s watchOS 26 update launches today, and it’s jam-packed with new features, from a fresh Liquid Glass design and AI-powered Workout Buddy to Live Translation and Smart Stack hints. One feature, though, could make a huge difference to your ongoing health.

Hypertension alerts keep a vigilant watch for signs of chronic high blood pressure, letting you know as soon as any deviations from the norm are detected, so that you can take action by visiting a doctor. It does this by using data from the Apple Watch’s optical heart sensor, reviewing data over a 30-day period to look out for consistent signs of high blood pressure.

That’s a big deal because hypertension is a serious – and leading – risk factor for health problems like heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease, and these affect 1.3 billion people worldwide. Part of the problem is that hypertension often presents no symptoms, which means it can easily be missed until something drastic happens.

That’s why watchOS 26’s hypertension alerts have the potential to make such a big difference. If they prove to be accurate, they could get people the help they need – and perhaps even save lives. In fact, Apple believes up to one million people could receive the alerts in the feature’s first year. It recently received FDA approval, and Apple says it will be available in over 150 countries.

Compatible Apple Watch models

You probably want to know which Apple Watch models are compatible with hypertension alerts. The long and short of it is that you’ll need a relatively recent Apple Watch to take advantage.

Specifically, you’ll need to have watchOS 26 installed on your device. As well as that, Apple says the alerts require an Apple Watch Series 9 or later, or an Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later. The feature does not appear to work with any Apple Watch SE models.

If you have a compatible device, you’ll be able to get started as soon as you have downloaded and installed watchOS 26. You don’t need to set the feature up, as it works passively and automatically in the background. With any luck, you’ll never need its assistance – but it’s good to know it’s there if you do.

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• You can now create custom Apple Watch workouts from your iPhone
• That makes the process much easier and more convenient
• The change comes with the iOS 26 and watchOS 26 updates

Sick of trying to create custom fitness workouts on your Apple Watch screen? We’ve got some good news, as Apple has brought a welcome change to watchOS 26 and iOS 26 that could help you create your own workouts without having to fiddle around with a tiny wrist-worn display.

That’s because iOS 26 allows you to draw up custom workouts on your iPhone rather than having to persist in doing it directly on your Apple Watch. That puts everything in a much more comfortable user interface, particularly for more detailed plans and sessions.

To get started, you’ll need to open Apple’s Fitness app on your iPhone. Tap the Workout tab at the bottom, then tap the timer icon underneath a workout type (such as Outdoor Walk or Traditional Strength Training). You should now see three tabs reading All, Goals, and Custom. Tap Custom, then tap the + button and start adding details and intervals to your workout.

Quick and easy

This change will be a positive one for anyone who’s tried to add a multi-step workout directly on their Apple Watch. Instead of having to tap through multiple options and layers on a small screen, you can now add a custom workout in just a few taps in a much more approachable interface.

Adding a repeating step is now incredibly quick and easy to implement, for instance, and there’s very little back and forth between different screens and options.

Once you’ve saved your custom workout, it’s synced to your Apple Watch, so you can start it on your wrist whenever you’re ready. If you decide to start a custom workout from your iPhone, you’ll see your progress in each interval, however you’re choosing to measure it. And if you want to edit it, you can do that on both your iPhone and your Apple Watch.

The watchOS 26 update brings a range of other fitness-oriented features, including a new Workout app layout, an artificial intelligence-powered Workout Buddy voice assistant, better integration with music and podcasts, and more.

While those additions have grabbed more of the headlines, the tweak to custom workouts could be a sleeper hit for a lot of Apple Watch users.

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This week, Apple announced the new iPhone 17 lineup at its ‘Awe Dropping’ event, but its new range of Apple Watches – which includes the new Apple Watch Series 11 – got a lot of attention too. Since the event, Apple has revealed that watchOS 26 will be coming September 15, and the wait will soon be over.

Apple’s latest OS update will be rolling out to hardware across the Apple ecosystem. It’s a bit of a task to keep up with all the new features, but there are a handful of functions that we’re excited to see come to watchOS 26 and switch up the Apple Watch experience.

1. Advanced health features

With watchOS 26, Apple is bringing a plethora of new advanced fitness tracking features, the main star being Workout Buddy, which is essentially an AI personal trainer on your wrist.

During your workout, Workout Buddy will analyze your fitness data and history such as heart rate, pace, distance, Activity rings, and more to deliver personalized and spoken motivation. You should note that Workout Buddy is powered by Apple Intelligence, and will therefore require an iPhone that’s compatible with Apple Intelligence, so that’s the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, or later.

Aside from Apple’s new personal trainer, the company announced its new Sleep Score feature and Hypertension alerts function at its hardware event extending Apple Watch’s fitness tracking capabilities. To use Sleep Score you’ll need an Apple Watch Series 6 or above, the Apple Watch SE 2, or any Apple Watch Ultra. To use Hypertension alerts, you'll need an Apple Watch Series 9 or later, or an Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later.

2. New watch faces

A new software revamp calls for a fresh design upgrade, and Apple’s new Liquid Glass look is taking over its range of wearables. As well as its new glossy finish, there are four new faces coming to Apple Watch.

Exactograph is a modern revamp of a traditional watch face that separates the hours, minutes, and seconds. Apple is also introducing Flow, a watch face that uses Liquid Glass to ‘refract swirls of color’ and responds to the movement of your wrist.

3. Wrist flick

The double tap gesture has been part of Apple Watch since 2023, and it’s about to get a new friend. Wrist flick is a new, quick way for you to dismiss notifications, silence alarms, and stop timers when your other hand is busy.

4. Hold Assist and Call Screening

Much like iOS 26, Hold Assist and Call Screening is also coming to watchOS 26.

Hold Assist takes the daunting task of waiting on hold, and instead waits for you. It then notifies you when a live agent is available and prompts you to return to the call, while Call Screening aims to manage incoming calls from unknown numbers, displaying a name and possible reason for their calling.

5. Live translation

At its huge hardware event, Apple unveiled Live Translation for the AirPods Pro 3, and it’s reassuring to know that Apple Watch won’t be left out of this neat function.

Live Translation is coming to Messages for Apple Watch as well as iPhone, which automatically translates incoming texts into your preferred language allowing you to smoothly communicate regardless of language barriers.

This is another feature that requires an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone, so it’s best to keep that in mind.

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Apple unveiled three new Apple Watches, along with four new iPhones and the next generation of AirPods Pro, at its September 9 Awe Dropping event, with the new wearables heralding a complete refresh of Apple’s smartwatch lineup.

While the Apple Watch Series 11 should last a full day and the Apple Watch Ultra 3 gets satellite connectivity, the Apple Watch SE 3 (third-generation) might just have become the best Apple Watch for most folks, especially if you want an Apple Watch for the basics and then some, but moreover, one that doesn’t break the bank.

The Apple Watch SE 3 hasn't changed much in terms of looks compared to the Apple Watch SE 2; in fact, it’s basically identical. It comes in either a 40-millimeter or 44-millimeter size in Starlight or Midnight. It still has a recycled aluminum hull with a composite back and a full sensor stack on the rear.

It does address one of the big factors you had to consider when deciding whether to get an SE or a main-series Watch, though. The third-generation SE now boasts an always-on display, meaning the screen won’t turn off when your wrist is lowered or it’s not in use. You’ll now be able to glance down to see your watch face and easily check the time, or even the complications you have set. That’s a really nice upgrade, and one I had fun trying in my brief hands-on time with the entry-level Apple Watch.

Beyond the always-on display, most of the other changes live under the hood, and that’s a common trend with the entire new Apple Watch lineup. The Watch SE 3 is powered by the same S10 processor as the Series 11 and Ultra 3, which was debuted in last year's Series 10, and I found it to be very snappy with pretty much any task. Apps opened quickly, the keyboard was responsive, and watchOS 26 felt quite fluid. The previous LTE modem has been swapped for the 5G one, just like in the Series 11 and Ultra 3.

The S10 chip also allows for some Siri requests be processed right on the device, which should speed up response times, and it also enables two gestures: Double Tap and Wrist Flick. It’s really close to feature parity with the more expensive watches, and that extends to fast charging too.

You’ll also get a boatload of health features on the Apple Watch SE 3, including heart rate tracking, wrist temperature readings, thanks to a skin temperature sensor, sleep apnea detection, retrospective ovulation estimates, and sleep tracking with the new Sleep Score functionality. The only health feature the SE misses out on compared to the Series 11 and Ultra 3 is hypertension monitoring.

Apple has trickled down most of its major Watch features and even the nice-to-have ones to the third-generation SE, and that's great to see for an entry-level smartwatch for the masses. No, it doesn’t get the ultra-sleek design of the Series 11 with a screen that slopes down the edges, or the adventure-ready properties of the Ultra 3, but there’s a case to be made that the SE does an excellent job of balancing the features most folks would want with affordability.

Sweetening the deal further is that Apple hasn't raised the price for the SE third-generation, starting at just $249 / £219 / AU$399 for the 40mm version. That makes it a compelling buy even for those with the second-gen SE: if you're in the UK, it's actually £30 cheaper than the SE 2 was at launch.

We’ll have more thoughts once we can fully test it, but let us know in the comments below what you think about the Apple Watch SE 3.

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I wear either an Apple Watch Series 10 or Ultra 2 daily, and I’ve come to terms – especially while running the watchOS 26 beta over the past few months – with having to place it on the charger at some point during the day (or every other day for Ultra 2). Charging has always been an issue, albeit a smaller one, thanks to the addition of fast charging.

So, while I knew Apple was likely to announce that the Apple Watch Series 11 was getting new health features and better performance, I audibly gasped when Apple claimed the battery life was stretching to 24 hours.

It’s not something I was able to test during my brief hands-on session after I raced out of the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park at the conclusion of its Awe Dropping event and headed for the test area, but if the battery life lives up to Apple’s promise, it would solve one of the biggest qualms with the smartwatch.

Up to 24 hours of battery life

The Series 11 is rated for up to 24 hours of battery life from either the 42mm or 46mm size. While the dimensions are the same as the Series 10 – it’s still 9.6 millimeters thick – Apple has re-engineered the battery, paired it with a more efficient 5G modem on cellular models, and made some performance boosts with watchOS 26.

The re-engineering has resulted in slightly larger batteries – about 9% bigger on the 42mm and 11% larger on the 46mm – and this all comes together to make the runtime significantly longer.

If you enable Low Power Mode, which turns off some functionality, including the always-on display, the Series 11 can last for up to 38 hours. Fast charging is supported, courtesy of the cable and charging puck in the box, and can get you from 0% to 80% in just 30 minutes – I use this regularly on the Series 10.

A more durable display

While this is essentially the same display as on the Apple Watch Series 10, that screen was a big upgrade over its predecessors, and the clarity, richness, and vibrancy of the Series 11 display – 42mm or 46mm – are impressive.

It’s still an LTPO3 screen, specifically an always-on Retina OLED that slopes down the edges with a variable refresh rate (as low as 1Hz). It looked great in the brightly lit demo room, and can get as bright as 2,000 nits. I’m excited to go on a hike or maybe a stroll on the beach with the new Workout Buddy when I can test the Series 11 for longer.

The only display change is an Ion-X front glass that offers twice the scratch resistance. Needless to say I didn’t get to try this – I don't think the Apple reps would have been too impressed – but considering the front is nearly all glass, this should aid durability.

Powering the Apple Watch Series 11 is the S10 chip with a 64-bit dual-core processor, the same one found in the Series 10. Apple's watchOS 26 – which brings with it Liquid Glass, the Notes app, Workout Buddy, and new gestures – ran really smoothly during my demo, and I don’t expect performance will be an issue. You also get 64GB of storage, and there’s a new Flow watch face that takes the best of Liquid Glass and turns it into numbers – I have a feeling this will be a hit.

Two new health features

The Series 11 arrives with blood oxygen monitoring (which is now back on Apple Watches in the United States, at least for the time being) alongside activity tracking, a skin temperature sensor, heart rate, and ECG (electrocardiogram), plus sleep tracking with sleep apnea detection.

Apple is also adding two new health features, though you may not need to upgrade to get them. Arriving on the Apple Watch Series 11 (and other Apple Watches running watchOS 26) is a new Sleep Score. As someone who also wears an Oura Ring and has tested the Galaxy Watch and Pixel Watch, this is a welcome addition.

Beyond just knowing hours asleep and time spent in various stages like REM or deep sleep, you’ll now get a rating – e.g., 73 or 100 – and a classification for how well you slept. It’s a helpful addition, and makes sleep tracking more actionable.

Here’s the neat part: it can look back at your previous sleep-tracking data and assign a sleep score retroactively. This way, you can immediately start picking out trends. I’m keen to give this a go, but you don’t need a Series 11 for this.

The other big new health development is that Series 11 can alert you to possible hypertension (high blood pressure) over a rolling 30-day period. It uses a custom-made algorithm developed by Apple’s health team and the optical heart rate sensor to analyze pulse signals and morphology. If it detects a pattern over 30 days, you’ll get a notification recommending that you see a doctor for “possible hypertension.”

Apple expects to notify over a million people of a possible issue in the first year – but to be clear, it’s not surfacing blood pressure results or measuring individual points. Apple says this feature will be available in the US (subject to expected FDA clearance) and over 150 other countries on the Series 11, as well as the Series 9, Series 10, Ultra 2, and Ultra 3, this month.

5G connectivity arrives

Last but not least, cellular models of the Apple Watch Series 11 are moving beyond 4G LTE to 5G. This is a more efficient modem that will provide better coverage in supported markets and should speed things up when you’re using the Apple Watch without an iPhone. It also still supports 4G LTE connections as well as L1 GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou, and second-gen Ultra Wideband connectivity.

All in all, the Apple Watch Series 11 isn’t a huge next-generation leap, but it certainly moves the ball forward, and could represent the most significant battery life increase for a non-Ultra Apple Watch. And the fact that it lasts for 24 hours – although we’ll need to confirm that in testing – might make it worth upgrading for that reason alone.

The Apple Watch Series 11 also keeps the same starting price as the Series 10. The 42mm Series 11 with Wi-Fi starts at $399 / £369 / AU$679, while the 46mm begins at $429 / £399 / AU$699. Both sizes are aluminum and come in Jet Black, Rose Gold, Silver, and a new Space Gray finish. Cellular connectivity costs about $100 more for both sizes.

Let us know what you think of the Apple Watch Series 11 in the comments below.

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Between satellite connectivity, the longest battery life of any Apple Watch, a bigger and better display, and new health features like hypertension detection and Sleep Score, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is a substantial upgrade – and it looks like an even bigger departure from its predecessor when you remember that in 2024, the main innovation was a new color option.

I got to try the Apple Watch Ultra 3 in both Natural Titanium and Titanium Black finishes shortly after Apple’s Awe dropping event concluded on September 9. Let’s dive into its full specs, and the three big changes Apple's made to the Ultra series this year.

1. 42 hours of battery life

While the Apple Watch Series 11 is kicking into high gear with 24 hours of battery life, compared to its predecessor's 18 hours, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 blows it out of the water. Thanks to some clever re-engineering of the battery on the inside, and a power-efficient combination of the updated LTPO3 display and a 5G modem, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 lasts for up to 42 hours.

And yes, that’s with the always-on display mode active.

The 42-hour runtime is six hours longer than the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and equates to almost two full days of use, and more with the Low Power mode active. You can also fast-charge the Apple Watch Ultra 3 using the included charging cable, and Apple says you can get 12 hours of use with just 15 minutes of charge time.

I’m keen to put that to the test as soon as I get the chance to run this watch down to zero. You also still have Low Power mode, which turns off some features and gives you upwards of 72 hours of use.

2. Satellite Connectivity arrives on your wrist

Just like the iPhone has offered since the iPhone 14, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 brings Satellite Connectivity to your wrist, and its arrival makes perfect sense. Since the Ultra series is the go-anywhere, rugged, long-lasting Apple Watch, it’s fitting that if you’re hiking and lose cellular service, you can connect to a satellite floating hundreds of miles above the Earth to update your location using Apple's Find My service, or to send a message.

The interface for this is sleek and simple, enabled by using a redesigned antenna array – coupled with the new 5G modem – that sits under the lip of the 49mm display. It’ll also power Emergency SOS via Satellite, which will come in handy if you’re in an emergency situation – though we hope you don’t ever have to use it. You can use Emergency SOS via Satellite even without a data plan.

Given that many Ultra users might opt to wear it for hikes or more extreme activities, this could prove critical when it matters most.

Apple uses relay centers to connect you with the appropriate emergency services. You’ll answer a few questions to identify your issue, and the watch will send your info and location up to a satellite. On-screen directions will guide you to move your wrist for the best connection or wait for a satellite to pass.

Additionally, Emergency SOS via Satellite can be used as a backup if the Apple Watch Ultra 3 detects a fall or a car crash and you don’t have service. To use Messages via Satellite, you will need an active cellular plan on the Ultra 3, but Emergency SOS and Find My updates are free for two years.

3. The display is larger and more efficient

While the Apple Watch Ultra 3 still packs a 49-millimeter display like its predecessor – the largest for an Apple Watch, though the 46mm Series 11 might have you thinking otherwise – the bezels have shrunk all around to extend the visible display space. This is noticeable with some of the watch faces, including the new Ultra 3 ones, but also when you’re reading text or scrolling through an email.

Moreover, it’s now an LTPO3 display, which not only makes it more efficient but also lets the refresh rate speed up when needed. When the display is on but not in active use on your wrist, the second hand will move – a nice addition, seeing as the Series 10 and Series 11 watches also have this functionality. The screen has a minimum 1Hz refresh rate and it's got a 3,000 nit maximum brightness.

I’m keen to see how this display performs in daily use, and in more extreme situations like hikes and night-time activities; still, it looked vibrant and crisp in Apple’s well-lit hands-on space.

Those are the three biggest arrivals unique to the Apple Watch Ultra 3. Like the Apple Watch Series 11, the Ultra 3 will also be able to alert you to possible hypertension, or high blood pressure, on a rolling 30-day basis. To be clear, it’s not actively taking blood pressure readings on your wrist; rather, it’s using an algorithm and the optical heart rate sensor on the back to identify potential signs of hypertension. You’ll get a notification on your wrist if that’s detected, recommending that you see a medical professional.

This feature is awaiting FDA clearance for the US, but Apple says the feature will arrive in 150 countries – including the US and EU – by the end of September.

Sleep Score is another feature that I’m particularly excited about, and it should make sleep tracking more actionable. Instead of just seeing your total time asleep and time spent in various stages, you’ll be given a score from 0 to 100 and a classification. It will also work historically to assign a score. This is arriving to any Apple Watch that will run watchOS 26, so it’s not exclusive to the Ultra 3 or Series 11.

Apple has made some genuinely big changes here, and I’m pretty bullish on the performance, even though I've only had a quick hands-on with the third-generation Apple Watch Ultra.

The extended battery life, more advanced display, and satellite connectivity should be big functional improvements, and the good news is that they don’t come with a price increase – and there's actually a £50 price drop compared to the Ultra 2's start price if you're in the UK. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 starts at $799 / £749 / AU$1,399 and is up for preorder now, with an official launch set for September 19, 2025.

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Apple has unveiled the hotly anticipated AirPods Pro 3 – among the many other things it announced at its iPhone 17 livestream – and the biggest change compared to the best AirPods available so far is the addition of heart-rate sensors.

This wasn't a surprise – it had been heavily rumored, and Apple recently added the same kind of tech to its Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 – but Apple went further than I expected it to.

It revealed that AirPods Pro 3 can use the motion sensors they have built in, along with the heart-rate tracking, to heavily encroach on the territory of the best Apple Watches.

You can do fully-tracked workouts in 50 different kinds of exercise with them on, where they'll track your motion in conjunction with your heart rate to estimate calories burned, and they even work with Apple Fitness+ and third-party apps to display your stats on-screen as you work out.

At first I thought: Isn't this going to be a huge problem for the Apple Watch SE 3? And then I thought: Wait, no, could this be amazing for the Apple Watch business?

Why it could be bad for the Apple Watch

For a long time, a key reason to get into the entry-level Apple Watch is as a gentle fitness device; something to help you build on light exercise goals, that's able to to grow with you as you try more challenging exercises.

You can see your heart rate improve over time, you can use workout apps with it – a light way to help achieve health goals.

Given how often people use a pair of the best earbuds while exercising, wouldn't it be even better if the light-touch device that tracked all that stuff I mentioned was your earbuds? Then you only have to pay for one device, and you don't need to wear anything additional.

AirPods Pro 3 and the Apple Watch SE 3 are the exact same price, so they're in hot competition for this spot – and so my first thought was that Apple's audio division could be eating its wearables division.

Why it could be great for the Apple Watch

However, my second thought was that the Apple Watch has perhaps moved past being a device where fitness is the key factor to you get into it. These days, Apple's focus (aka why new people should buy the Watch) is more about your general health, rather than purely as a fitness aid. The new Apple Watch SE 3, for example, has sleep apnea warnings, fall detection, irregular heart beat warnings, car crash detection, deeper sleep tracking and more – plus the potential for more advanced fitness tracking.

And that's just the most basic Apple Watch – obviously the Ultra is in another world entirely.

So the AirPods Pro 3 might help boost the Apple Watch by acting as a gateway buy for people to start tracking their fitness more, which will get them thinking about those other health elements that they'd also like to know about, and thus could lead to a massive boost in Apple Watch sales (maybe).

The more I think about it, the more I suspect the latter is the case – that AirPods Pro 3 will pave the way for more people to think about the benefits Apple Watch offers.

But there's still a little part of me that can't help but think a surprising number of people might get everything they need out of the new AirPods, and Apple will miss out on selling them two devices. Which is, ultimately, good news for people looking to spend less money, currently.

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