Every year, it seems like Apple is becoming more and more of a health company. I felt that at the Apple Keynote in California last week, where executives revealed a new lineup of devices and operating system updates. And I experienced it on an even deeper level during the past week of road-testing the new Apple Watch Apple Watch Series 10 (starting at $399, available September 20) and Ultra 2 ($799, available September 22). (You can pre-order both watches now.)
After almost 10 years of wearing an Apple Watch every day, here are my honest thoughts about the health features for Series 10, Ultra 2, plus the new watchOS 11 (operating system).
Jump to:
- On Apple Watch’s 10th anniversary, many well-being features have been added to the Series 10.
- Beyond its new Ultra-esq capabilities, Series 10 has a bigger watch face.
- The battery is way better.
- The Apple Watch Series 10 is also featherlight.
- The cute bells and whistles are there, too.
- Let’s discuss the new Ultra 2...
- The new Apple Watch operating system update will benefit all Apple Watch users who have a Series 6 or later model.
- Apple Watch measures sleep breathing disturbances overnight, notifying users who may be at risk for sleep apnea.
On Apple Watch’s 10th anniversary, many well-being features have been added to the Series 10.
When Apple Watch debuted in 2015, I'd just given birth to my third child. So by now, in 2024, I consider myself a super-user. Over the last 10 years, Apple's upgrades have rocketed the watch from a basic fitness tracker with sweet productivity features to a powerful health tool that not only helps people cement positive behavioral habits, but also flags medical conditions before they become life-threatening.
My biggest takeaway after testing the Series 10 for a week: This version delivers most of Ultra's bells and whistles. It's also lighter weight, has a bigger face, and a longer battery life.
Also new for the Series 10, it measures water temperature and depth, and is water-resistant up to 50m (compared to Ultra and Ultra 2's 100m), making it ideal for snorkeling, swimming, surfing and more. I took it for a dip in a cold plunge in NYC, and the temp accuracy—my ice bath, which I sat in for three very long minutes, clocked in at a frigid 43 degrees—was spot on.
Beyond its new Ultra-esq capabilities, Series 10 has a bigger watch face.
If you're like me, you love checking your workout stats mid-sweat session, but you're also using Apple Watch to reply to texts and preview emails. (I don't recommend mixing work and workouts, but life.) Now, that's even easier.
Series 10 has the largest display of any Apple Watch to date, even bigger than the first Ultra. With up to 30 percent more screen area than Series 4, 5, and 6, and up to a whopping 75 percent more than Series 3, this is a game-changer for productivity and accessibility.
The face is also crazy-crisp: Series 10 features Apple's first wide-angle OLED display, which is 40 percent brighter when viewed at an angle, making it easier to see without raising your wrist. It's a trip comparing it to my dusty Series 0.
The battery is way better.
While Ultra has always had enough battery power to go several days between charges as long you're in low-power mode, the standard series model couldn't last longer than a day between power-ups. And because I put my watch and begin using it pretty much as soon I wake up at 5:17 a.m. (#OwnYourMorning), until now I couldn't wear it overnight without charging up before bed.
Now, Series 10 only requires 30 minutes of charging to get up to 80 percent battery power, plus you'll score 8 hours of normal use in a 15 minute charge. The result: I'm wearing it overnight, so I can take advantage of the new sleep features. (Pro tip! The silicone bands are the comfiest ones to sleep in.)
The Apple Watch Series 10 is also featherlight.
Like, it's so lightweight that there were days during my secret road-testing week that I did a panicked wrist check to make sure it was on my wrist. (It was always there! The band ensures it stays secure.)
Some more details: The new Apple Watch Series 10 legit looks sleeker and softer, with rounded corners, and it's 1mm thinner than before. That sounds like a tiny whatever difference...until it's on your wrist: You really can feel the 10 percent. And if you level up to the titanium case—a material that was previously only available with Ultra—it weighs 20 percent less.
The cute bells and whistles are there, too.
The Series 10 comes in new materials: jet black polished aluminum (very rad), and a jewelry-like polished natural, gold, and slate titanium (which is super durable, scratch-resistant and lightweight).
Hermes Torsade Single Tour Band
Milanese Loop Bands
Titanium Natural Band
I've been known to wear my Apple Watch to fancy events like panels, fashion shows and weddings...with a sport band attached. (Much to our WH Executive Fashion Director's dismay, lol.) New watch face options and wrist brands mean your Series 10 (and Ultra!) feel appropriate no matter where you go. I'm eyeing the new Hermes bands, and the Milanese loops and the new Link bracelet are super chic, too.
Let’s discuss the new Ultra 2...
My first impression? It feels a lot like my OG Ultra, which came out two years ago, and the upgrades are minimal from last year's Ultra 2 release. The watch has the same battery life as the previous model, which scores you 36 hours at normal use or 72 hours in low power mode.
The big update here is the new black titanium finish. There are also some new H20 features for water sport activities and recreational scuba diving. (Alas, my testing window didn't allow an opp to explore those features.) Combined with Apple's new Tides app, which offers details about swells, wind, and other conditions at locations across the world, it's a badass, water-loving beauty.
The new Apple Watch operating system update will benefit all Apple Watch users who have a Series 6 or later model.
Let's switch gears to the new operating system, which every Apple Watch user can now download.
"We're all about designing products that make a difference in people's lives," Apple CEO Tim Cook told me when I interviewed him at the Apple Keynote, where the brand revealed all of these new devices and updates from its corporate HQ in Cupertino, California.
Cook had just surprise greeted some customers who's lives were positively impacted—and in some cases, saved—by an Apple Watch. He continued, in our convo: "And honestly, there's no better way to do that than by saving peoples lives. Or, on the other end of that spectrum, get them in an environment that motivates them to move more."
The hardware updates to Series 10 are Exciting with a capital E, but I was blown away by the new watchOS 11 features. (Repeat! It's available now, so make sure your current watch downloads the update.) It would be easy for Apple to gate-keep these features, forcing customers to purchase a Series 10 or Ultra 2 to access them, but in a bold—and dare I say inclusive and altruistic move—everyone wins with watchOS 11.
Here are the biggie operating system updates to know about...
Apple Watch measures sleep breathing disturbances overnight, notifying users who may be at risk for sleep apnea.
Sleep deprivation occurs in roughly one-third of American adults. And sleep apnea, characterized by frequent pauses in breathing while asleep, affects roughly 1 billion adults, with potentially millions more undiagnosed, according to the World Health Organization. (A doctor once told me that for people with with the condition, it's "like trying to run a marathon every night in your sleep.") Folks with sleep apnea are at risk for multiple medical issues, such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Unlike the other updates, this watchOS 11 feature is only compatible with Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Ultras.
The method behind the magic: Your watch accelerometer, combined with machine learning, detects sleep breathing disruptions via your wrist, which can be used in algorithm to identify signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea, pinpointing people who may be at risk for the condition. (I know, mind-blown/very cool.) FYI, it's normal to bank a wonky night of sleep here and there: certain medications, alcohol, hot flashes, your sleeping position, and allergies can all contribute.
The feature collects a 30-night data set before alerting you of a potential problem. If more than half of the nights are classified as elevated, you receive a notification alerting you about moderate to severe sleep apnea. And while the detailed info in your Sleep app about time in bed, sleep stages and breathing disturbances is yours alone, you have data to share with your doctor if you choose to.
Meet “Vitals,” an app that monitors your well-being in the background.
Another watchOS 11 update: Vitals tracks key health metrics while you sleep, then compares them to your own personal baseline to ID outliers and share insights. You can access the top line info at a glance by tapping into the new app. Just know that it takes seven nights to kick in.
With Vitals, you’ll be notified when two or more of those health metrics are out of your typical range. Notifications will include a tailored message for your specific situation with a list of potential causes to give you better context. To provide science-based insights, the notification algorithm was informed by (1) a large-scale data from the Apple Heart & Movement Study, and (2) clinical experts.
“Training load” helps you understand when to take it down a notch at the gym versus when to push it harder in workouts.
This feature measures how the intensity and duration of workouts are impacting a user’s body over time. And while elite athletes and coaches rely on that kind of intel to tweak training and optimize performance, it also benefits us mere mortals simply working toward our best (physical, mental, emotional) selves.
Apple Watch assigns cardio workouts an effort rating—easy, moderate, hard or all out on a scale of one to 10—generated based off a combo of data such as your age, height, weight, VO2Max, plus calorimetry data, such as heart rate. But! You can manually amend the effort score manually if it feels like your experience is different from what is suggested.
I hiked with my Ultra 2 to the top of a 12,200 foot peak in southwest Colorado, for about 2,000 feet of elevation gain over a couple of miles. It was challenging, especially because I was arriving from sea level without much time to acclimate to altitude. When I finished the trek, my Ultra 2 suggested the effort was a moderate 5 on a scale of one to 10. Uh, nope. I quickly amended the effort score to 8 (one shy of the all-out zone), and appreciated that Apple believes I know my body best.
For non-cardio activities, like yoga or strength training, Apple Watch nudges users to manually input an effort score. For example: My weekend yoga class—an energizing Vinyasa flow—felt like a moderate five to me, while a 45-minute mid-week strength session with heavy weights was a hard seven.
Apple Watch combines that effort score with the workout's duration to help you understand if your training load is ramping up, staying the same, or easing off. You decide what to do with that intel. Folks training for a fitness event like a triathlon, Hyrox or a running race will dig this, of course. But even for people like me, who are simply training for life, this is such great intel.
Want to really geek out on the formula Apple uses in the backend? Here's the fine print, directly from the source: "Your effort score is multiplied by the duration of your workout. Those values are averaged over 7 days and 28 days, with more recent values getting a heavier weighting. The 7-day weighted average is divided by the 28-day weighted average for a percentage that shows you how much your training load is going up or down. Your 28-day training load is then compared to the average of all the workouts you have completed in the last seven days and is classified as Well Below, Below, Steady, Above, or Well Above."
If this sounds a lot like how folks use fitness devices like a Whoop, Oura, Fitbit, Garmin and the like, well, I agree. What intrigues me is how much time it's taken to arrive here: 10 years. It's almost like we've all been in Apple Watch training wheels, acclimating to the increasing visibility into health, sleep and fitness data, and now watchOS 11 trusts that we can handle the level-up.
I've tested lots of trackers over the years, and have long felt that Whoop is best for workout insights, while Oura ring is the MVP of sleep data. I used to think of my Apple Watch as "pretty good" at everything fitness and health related—yet always my trusty go-to because of all the extra productivity features. But with these new hardware and software features, I think it's possible it could even de-throne those speciality devices.
One last note here: New Apple Watch customers get three free months of Apple Fitness+ , with their purchase. (It's $9.99 a month after that.) This app featuring a variety of workouts led by good-vibes trainers is WH-approved, and an awesome way to kickstart your fitness journey.
You can now manually pause and customize your Activity rings.
We all have that friend who is committed to closing their three rings every single no matter what, so as not to break lengthy closed-ring–streaks. If that's motivating for you, awesome. But speaking from experience, psychologically, it's a slippery slope between motivation, momentum, and mayhem if you're super-focused on the data.
Now, Apple gives users the option to pause their rings or customize their activity goals for specific days, so they don't break a streak. (AKA: you get sick, you're injured, it's simply a rest day for you.)
Pregnant Apple Watch users get extra support.
This is so cool! Building on the Cycle Tracking capabilities, the watch will track your growing baby's current gestational age, and allow you to log physical and mental pregnancy symptoms. You'll be prompted to customize your heart rate threshold notification in the Health app, because heart rate tends to be higher on average during pregnancy.
WH has written about women who avoided serious pregnancy complications thanks to their Apple Watch and other tracking tools, so these level-ups are a welcome tool for expecting parents.
The final verdict: Do you need a new Apple Watch Series 10 or Ultra 2?
The watchOS 11 update is going to deliver a major level-up for your health and well-being to your current Apple Watch (as long as you have a Series 6 or later, and for sleep apnea/sleep breathing disturbances a Series 9 or later). So this decision is really about if you've been contemplating a zippier, lighter weight watch with a bigger, brighter face and fancier finishes.
Those are tempting considerations, to be sure, but I think the watchOS 11 update is the biggest story here. The Series 10 is incredibly lightweight, with a larger face, has increased battery power, and is packed with health and fitness features that weren't previously available in the standard model, and which could meaningfully impact your training and overall well-being.
For Ultra 2, the upgrades are minor in the scheme of things. A bit lighter, that brighter, crisper face, and some cool new features for water-lovers. But in my decade-long view, it's the same awesome Ultra.
Liz Plosser is the editor-in-chief of Women's Health. She's been passionately reporting and editing health, fitness, nutrition, sexual health, and mental health content for her entire career. She has a 360-degree outlook on the wellness world, having worked across platforms at print magazines (Self, Cosmopolitan), with video (CosmoBody), overseeing content and strategy for brands (Canyon Rach, SoulCycle) and as SVP of Content in the digital space (Well+Good).
