{"id":46949,"date":"2025-04-24T15:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T15:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/46949\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T15:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T15:37:08","slug":"the-apple-watch-just-turned-10-heres-how-far-its-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/46949\/","title":{"rendered":"The Apple Watch Just Turned 10. Here’s How Far It’s Come"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year, Apple launches one standout health feature, from measuring VO2 Max on the Series 3 to the ECG sensor<\/a> on the Series 4, all the way to sleep apnea notifications<\/a> on the Series 10. \u201cIf you zoom out way into the future, and you look back and ask what Apple\u2019s biggest contribution was, it will be in the health area,\u201d Cook said in an interview with WIRED<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

This is a bold thing to say, especially given that the Series 10 and Watch Ultra 2 don\u2019t even have blood oxygen measuring<\/a>, due to a patent dispute with the medtech company Masimo. For a while, Apple has been doing research into features that would transform the Apple Watch for people with chronic conditions, like adding noninvasive blood glucose monitoring<\/a> for diabetics, or adding blood pressure measuring for people with hypertension. Alas, despite promising advances<\/a>, these features have yet to materialize.<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s latest project, an AI-assisted comprehensive health service<\/a>, is far behind other health manufacturers such as Oura, Whoop, or even Garmin<\/a>. Imagine, for example, being able to take a picture<\/a> of your meal with the Watch Ultra and uploading it to the (still rudimentary) Health app, the way you already can with the Meals feature on an Oura Ring 4<\/a>. You have to imagine it for now, of course, because the Apple Watch doesn’t currently have a camera, and Apple\u2019s Visual Intelligence is still limited to the iPhone 16. But it seems within reach.<\/p>\n

Still, the Watch\u2019s wearability and seeming ubiquity does mean that it has a track record of saving peoples\u2019 lives<\/a>, whether that\u2019s by notifying users of an irregular heart rhythm via the ECG feature or calling the emergency services if it recognizes the user has fallen or been in a serious crash. I also have a personal anecdote to report\u2014before the blood oxygen feature was removed, I had pneumonia. How did I know? My blood oxygen level, as measured by the watch, was at 84 percent. I went to urgent care and got antibiotics, stat.<\/p>\n

While Apple has not historically always been first to market with a new health feature, it\u2019s a fast follower, and the features nearly always work. \u201cApple owners are very patient when it comes to Apple,\u201d Naranjo says. \u201cThey\u2019ve come to believe that Apple doesn\u2019t rush to market with something that isn\u2019t almost perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why You Wear It<\/p>\n

That point seems to bear out with the research. In 2022, nearly 80 percent<\/a> of Apple iPhone owners also owned an Apple Watch, and it accounted for 56 percent of smartwatch sales<\/a> in the North American market. Most importantly, research suggests most people who own an Apple Watch are pretty satisfied<\/a> with their device.<\/p>\n

As most of them are likely Apple users already, it helps that the Watch\u2014like all Apple devices\u2014integrates seamlessly with Apple\u2019s ecosystem. It\u2019s intuitive, easy to use, and has an interface that is pleasing to experience\u2014both for the first time, and 10 years on. I still twirl and push every day the tiny digital crown every day, and find it a great way for navigating the device’s smaller menus without obscuring text with your fingers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every year, Apple launches one standout health feature, from measuring VO2 Max on the Series 3 to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3160],"tags":[25771,1662,1630,1685,105,246,53,16,15,13059],"class_list":{"0":"post-46949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gadgets","8":"tag-accessories-and-peripherals","9":"tag-apple","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-gadgets","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-shopping","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wearables"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114393687348389178","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46949","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=46949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}