{"id":44697,"date":"2025-04-23T20:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T20:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/44697\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T20:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T20:02:08","slug":"apple-watch-is-still-the-best-fitness-tracker-10-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/44697\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Watch Is Still the Best Fitness Tracker, 10 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"

While most fitness trackers lay out your training data in a way that invites comparison between workouts, regardless of how far apart those sessions occurred, Apple Watch\u2019s user interface prioritizes consistency. \u201cBehavior change does not necessarily mean constantly getting better,\u201d says Blahnik. \u201cIt could be about becoming super consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The accompanying Fitness app lays out all your sweat sessions in a traditional calendar format. While simple, this is actually one of the most effective ways to keep your workout motivation<\/a> alive, according to a peer-reviewed meta-analysis<\/a> published in the journal BMC Public Health.<\/p>\n

Apple Watch takes the star chart approach a step further, rewarding those who check the box, but even more so those who smash it. \u201cOne of the most profound ways to encourage behavior change is, don’t just let me know when I’ve completed my goal, give me a super-big high five when I’ve exceeded it, so I can take that energy into the next day,\u201d says Blahnik.<\/p>\n

It meets you where you are<\/strong><\/p>\n

Simple, habit-forming features that reduce time spent sitting and improve workout consistency are great, but they\u2019re not exactly the kinds of things that draw serious athletes to a fitness tracker. But a decade\u2019s worth of updates and improvements have endowed Apple Watch with a dizzying array of metrics to satisfy even the most data-driven athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor every person who loves the sparkly rings, someone else might say, \u2018I\u2019d really love to know my ground contact time and my vertical oscillation when I run.\u2019 And so our teams work really hard to release features that are great for the person just starting out, but also for that elite athlete that wants to dig deeper,\u201d says Blahnik.<\/p>\n

Apple Watch Ultra 2<\/a> can automatically detect if your outdoor run is taking place on a track and then measure your performance based on the specific lane you\u2019re in. Triathletes will see the watch\u2019s interface display sport-specific metrics in real time as they move from swim to bike to run. Hikers can set waypoints and retrace their steps if they get lost. Gym goers can monitor their training load to maximize recovery and avoid overtraining. And this is barely scratching the sapphire crystal surface.<\/p>\n

Crucially, though, the watch never feels cluttered with features, data, or charts, as many others do. \u201cWe always say that, even when we’re developing those more experienced consumer features, they shouldn’t overwhelm someone who is more of a beginner,\u201d says Blahnik. They should be easy to find and easy to use if you love them, but they shouldn’t burden people who don’t want to use them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It keeps you connected<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apple Watch offers Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, dual-frequency GPS, and even cellular connectivity. That right there is already more than can be said for any other fitness tracker, but what I\u2019m talking about is how it connects us to other people.<\/p>\n

With activity sharing, Apple Watch eschews the social network model favored by many competitors to focus instead on connecting you directly with the people you actually care about. I can\u2019t count the number of times I\u2019ve been swayed to hit the gym because of a notification saying that one of my close friends just completed a workout. And the option to set up a weeklong head-to-head challenge is great fun. I especially love how these kinds of interactions require virtually no extra effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s built in such a simple way. If you invite someone, and you both say, \u2018Yes, let’s share activity,\u2019 it works with you, and you don’t have to do much,\u201d says Blahnik. \u201cWhen you do a workout, I get notified. I can send you a message. When I get a badge, you get notified. You can send me a message. It’s designed to be really lightweight, but really connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there are the myriad ways outside of activity sharing that Apple Watch makes connection easier\u2014like its ability to reply to a text, take a call, or send a voice note right from your wrist during a workout. And this is to say nothing of what this product can do beyond fitness, which is, of course, a lot. \u201cIt’s really lovely that the same watch you can use to pay for your coffee and do your first marathon can also take an ECG,\u201d says Blahnik. \u201cWhatever you might enjoy using it for, it can still be there as a guardian for your health.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While most fitness trackers lay out your training data in a way that invites comparison between workouts, regardless…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3160],"tags":[1662,1685,53,4714,16,15,4715,2488],"class_list":{"0":"post-44697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gadgets","8":"tag-apple","9":"tag-gadgets","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-textbelowcentergridwidth","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-web","15":"tag-wellness"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114389066997514255","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}