In the intimately ten year since Applefirst unveiled the Apple Watch , it ’s become clean that the intersection excels at being a wellness and seaworthiness accessary . Apple has added raw health detector over the geezerhood and is rumor to be working on more , and every watchOS release seemingly impart new health features on the software side .
And yet , a decennary in , it ’s worth considering that peradventure the Apple Watch ca n’t bear the full load of Apple ’s health aspiration . It may be time for other accessories – some already in existence , others yet to be devise – to join the Apple Watch in a larger family of wellness - pertain Apple products .
All in the wrist
Let ’s start with the obvious : the Apple Watch , as capable as it is , must live on your wrist . It ’s impound to an field just a little bigger than a postage stamp , and from the peel on the back of your wrist ( and the motion of your arm ) it must learneverythingit motive to know about your wellness movement .
It can measure your body temperature , heart rate , your descent oxygen ( unless it ca n’t forlegal reason ) , but the company has been thus far stymy with attempt to get it to mensurate your blood sugar and profligate insistency . It ’s really a miracle the thing does anything utile at all , given the circumscribed blank space usable in a single localization .
Its location on the wrist limit the Apple Watch ’s capability .
Its placement on the wrist limits the Apple Watch’s capabilities.
Petter Ahrnstedt
Apple ’s ambitions for the Apple Watch bear on unabated . This fall , watchOS 11will put in the Vitals app , which hoard wellness information recorded overnight to give you a snap of what you ’re doing in the morning .
Yes , just as with the watch ’s sleep - trailing feature , Apple really wants you to wear your watch all nighttime to get a better coup d’oeil of your health . Charge it … when you ’re in the cascade , I guess ? At least , until there ’s a shower - related health feature .
Its placement on the wrist limits the Apple Watch’s capabilities.
The requirement to wear your watch all Nox to get actionable health data is , quite frankly , a mickle - breaker for me – and I suspect I ’m not alone . I like to wear out my watch in setting when it ’s appropriate to wear down a watch . At night , I put the watch in my charger and use NightStand mode as my alarm clock . That ’s it .
If Apple is dedicated to wellness and fitness as differentiators – and it is – the Apple Watch is going to need some help . Apple needs to make other wellness devices and admit them to fertilize data back to the watch ( or iPhone ) in order for it to reach its goals .
Look and listen
The first step is to make Apple ’s other exist wearable products more health - tailor . For a few year now , we ’ve seen reports that Apple is considering some intriguing additions to the AirPods line that would make them much more than headphones . Of course , the power to habituate them as hear aids seems like a lifelike , specially since late regulative change will make that much easier for Apple in the U.S.
But there ’s also the fact that AirPods live on a different part of your body than the Apple Watch : In your pinna channel . As many parents already know , the ear is a fantastic place to measure body temperature , and it may be a superior spot to measure other vitals as well .
That ’s why it seems only logical that Apple expands AirPods to total health sensor , feed them back to the Watch and iPhone . perchance a more accurate temperature reading would allow Apple to tote up more capabilities to its body temperature functionality than the current canonical cycle tracking feature article .
A smartring like Oura could be a key tool in gathering the data Apple needs to provide useful health features.
Ring of truth
But there are new categories to explore , as well . A few companies , most notably Oura and recently Samsung , have experimented with impudent rings . If you do n’t know , they ’re metallic element rings – indistinguishable from unconstipated ones – that are loaded with wellness sensing element , with seven-day battery aliveness .
A smartring like Oura could be a fundamental shaft in forgather the data Apple require to provide useful health features .
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
A ringing does n’t have an OLED screen or any user interface , but it also does n’t get in your way like an Apple Watch does – either while catch some Z’s or while navigate just when to charge up it in Holy Order to keep it going for another twenty-four hours . A ring can measure out your meat rate , blood atomic number 8 , and ( via an accelerometer ) your sleep position just as well as an Apple Watch – and it ’s more likely to be wear all the meter , day and night .
Apple has built an full base around its health datum . With eternal rest tracking and the Vitals app , it ’s entrust to measuring wellness datum around the clock . I have intercourse my Apple Watch , but it ’s starting to experience like this is justtoo muchfor a unmarried twist . ( I ’d also do it to see the company make a more basic physical fitness band , for those whodon’twant to wear a full Apple Watch . )
It ’s meter for Apple to expand its wellness computer hardware , and adding sensors to the AirPods and offering a ring seem like good starts . When Apple introduce the watch a decade ago , it was n’t certain what the product would be good for – but over the years , it ’s become open that wellness and physical fitness are answer . Now it ’s meter to take the next step and follow those answers to a new set of Apple hardware products .
Apple Watch Series 9 (41mm)
Apple Watch Ultra 2
We ’re expecting to seeApple Watch Series 10 , Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3rd generation , runningwatchOS 11 , launch in September 2024 at the company’sGlowtime event(seehow to view the September event ) . If you ’re in the grocery for a new Apple Watch , see ourApple Watch buying guidebook , round - up of thebest Apple Watch deals , and advice on whether you shouldbuy Apple Watch now or wait . You might also be interested in what othernew Apple productsare come this year , and when is thenext Apple event .
