Measure Your Heart Rate

Open the Heart Rate app or tap its complication on a watch face. After a few seconds of measuring, your current rate appears (Figure 63). It will continue to update as long as the app is active. Scroll down to view your resting heart rate, walking average, and averages from recent workouts you’ve completed. Tap Current to view a graph of the readings from throughout the day.

The watch also checks your heart rate at regular intervals throughout the day. If the rate is elevated after you appear to have been inactive for 10 minutes, or if it’s very low for 10 minutes, you’ll receive a notification. In the Heart settings in the Watch app on the iPhone, you can set the High Heart Rate and Low Heart Rate targets if the defaults (120 BPM and 40 BPM, respectively) don’t match your normal heart rate range.

Track Heart Rate Data

The watch uses its heart-rate sensor to help determine when you’re being active, but where can you see the data? Go here:

1. Open the Health app on the iPhone, and tap Browse at the bottom of the screen.

2. Tap Heart.

3. Tap Heart Rate under Today to see what’s been recorded so far. On this screen you can also view hourly, weekly, monthly, and yearly results.

Take an ECG Reading

The Apple Watch Series 4 and later models, but not the SE, include the capability to measure your heart’s electrical output. This electrocardiogram (ECG) can help identify atrial fibrillation (AFib), or irregular heart rhythm.

To take an ECG reading, do the following:

1. Open the ECG app on the watch.

2. Rest your arms on a table or against your body, and hold your finger on the Digital Crown for 30 seconds (Figure 64).

   

3. When the test is completed, the watch reports Sinus Rhythm (which is normal), Atrial Fibrillation, a low or high heart rate, or an inconclusive result. Scroll down and optionally tap the Add Symptoms button and choose any that you’re experiencing; those will be included with the report that gets saved to the Health app on the iPhone.

If you do have atrial fibrillation (AFib), the watch can track when your heart is beating at an irregular rhythm over time. It looks at seven days of readings to provide a percentage estimate of AFib events each week. In the Health app on the phone, go to Browse > Heart > AFib History to set it up. If the percentage increases, see your doctor for followup.

Start a Workout

When it’s time to start exercising, do the following:

1. Open the Workout app on your watch, or use Siri and say, “Open the Workout app.” On the Apple Watch Ultra, you can configure the Action button to launch the Workout app; see The Action Button.

2. Scroll to a type of workout, such as Outdoor Walk (Figure 66) (see the sidebar Indoor vs. Outdoor Workouts). If you don’t see the one you want, scroll to the end of the list and tap Add Workout, then choose from the full list (fencing, anyone?). It then appears in your list of recent workouts for next time. You can also Create a Custom Workout.

   

3. If you’re ready to get moving, tap the workout’s name to start the workout.

   To first set or change the type of goal, tap the options button on the workout you want and choose from one of the following options to start the workout: Open (no goal), Time, Distance, Calories, or Time (Figure 67). Tap the one you want to start the workout.

   

4. After a 3-second countdown, the app begins recording time, heart rate, pace, and distance.

   While you exercise, the Workout app remains active by default (overriding the watch’s Activate on Wrist Raise setting) when you view the screen (Figure 68). Are you close to your goal? Turn the Digital Crown or swipe up to display your activity rings. You can customize what shows here; see Customize the Workout Display.

   

   To pause a workout, press the side button and the Digital Crown at the same time; on the Apple Watch Ultra, press the Action button and the side button at the same time. Or swipe right and tap the Pause button (though swiping doesn’t work during swimming workouts). To make the Workout app pause automatically when you stop during a run, open the Watch app on the iPhone, go to Workout > Auto-Pause and turn on Auto Pause.

   As you’re working out, tap the screen twice to mark a segment. Some segments are automatically noted, such as when you reach each mile or kilometer during a walk or run.

5. If you’re doing more than one workout in the same session, such as a run followed by an outdoor cycle session, swipe right and tap the New button. Choose the other type of workout and start it.

6. At the end of your workout, swipe right and tap End (Figure 69). (On this screen you can also pause/unpause the workout or lock the watch if accidental taps while exercising are interfering.) If you started another workout in the middle of the original one, tapping End finishes all active workouts.

   

7. Before you collapse in a heap, scroll down to review the workout summary. For multiple workouts, tap each one for the data. Most important, tap the Done button to save the results to the Fitness app on the iPhone. You can see them at the bottom of any day’s activity details.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to export your workout data or route map in a format like GPXso that it can be viewed, analyzed, and shared in other workout systems, such as Strava or MapMyRun.

Automatic Workout Detection

In watchOS 5 and later, the watch can sense when you’ve begun some workouts, even if you didn’t start tracking it in the Workout app. Go to Settings > Workout and turn on Start Workout Reminder. Based on your movements, the watch will ask if you’ve started a run or walk (indoor or outdoor), an elliptical workout, rowing, cycling, or swimming (in a pool or open water).

Long on my list of desired features, the watch can also guess when you’ve completed a workout. Turn on End Workout Reminder in the same settings screen, and you’ll be asked if you’re finished based on the change in your activity. (Before this feature, I would frequently walk to a coffee shop, sit down, start working, and only after 30 minutes or so would I realize the watch thought I was still exercising, throwing off my average heart rate and workout timing data.)

For runners or outdoor cyclists, a third option is available: Auto Pause temporarily suspends a workout when you stop moving, and starts it up again once you get underway.

Create a Custom Workout

The list of available workouts is impressive, but not everyone exercises the same. You can create a custom workout based on one of the existing ones.

For example, if you want to add a cooldown period at the end of an outdoor walk, here’s how you’d do it:

1. Open the Workout app on your watch.

2. Scroll to the workout, in this case Outdoor Walk, and tap the options button.

3. Scroll down to the bottom of the options and tap the Create Workout button.

4. Tap the Custom option.

5. Set intervals on the next screen (Figure 70). In our example, tap the Add button and set a Work step that is defined by distance, time, or left open; that defines the main workout, and is required. To add the cooldown period for our example, tap Cooldown, which by default is set to Skip.

   

6. Choose a goal type, such as Time. You could also choose to be alerted at a specific point; for example, if your heart rate hits 126 beats per minute.

7. Scroll down and tap Time to set how much elapsed time has passed before the cooldown session begins.

8. Tap the Custom Title field and name the new workout.

9. Tap Create Workout. It appears in the options for the workout (alongside Open, Time, Distance, and Calories) and is colored purple.

Now, during that workout, the display includes a new “CD” timer. When you reach that cooldown point of your exercise, double-tap the screen to jump to the next interval, which in this case is Cooldown. The CD timer counts down and alerts you when the interval is finished.

Water Workouts

The Apple Watch (Series 2 and later) is water-resistant to 50 meters, making it safe to wear while swimming or bathing. The Apple Watch Ultra is resistant to 100 meters, which is good for diving or other activities in which the watch might be subjected to high water pressure. New in watchOS 9, kickboards are now automatically detected.

The Ultra includes the Depth app to track how deep you’re underwater when diving. You can launch the app on its own or set the Ultra to automatically launch it when the watch is submerged below 1 meter. Go to Settings > General > Auto-Launch and under When Submerged, enable the Auto-Launch App.

Starting a swim workout or the Depth app automatically enables Water Lock; press and hold the Digital Crown after your workout to turn it off and eject any water from the case.

Connect to an Exercise Machine

Some manufacturers have started to incorporate Apple’s GymKit developer frameworks to make it easy to connect an Apple Watch to treadmills, stationary bikes, and other exercise equipment. The readings from the machine are stored directly in your workout.

On the watch, go to Settings > Workout and enable Detect Gym Equipment (or do the same in the Watch app on the iPhone). Holding the watch near compatible machines connects and starts the workout. If this option is off, you can still hold the watch near the machine and open the Workout app to start a workout.

Customize the Workout Display

The active Workout screen depicts several metrics, such as time elapsed, calories burned, and heart rate, as well as groups of other information such as heart rate zones and elevation. Turning the Digital Crown displays different groups to help you focus as you exercise. You can choose which data appear by editing a workout’s views:

1. Open the Workout app on your watch.

2. Scroll to a workout and tap the options button.

3. Tap the edit button for a workout tile (such as Open).

4. Tap Workout Views.

5. Tap Edit Views.

6. To edit the contents of the Metrics or Metrics 2 groups, tap the edit button (Figure 71).

   Tap an item, such as Average Pace, and choose an alternative, which can be another metric of the same type (such as showing Current Pace) or a different one, such as Elevation.

   Tap the back button to return to the previous screen and then tap Done.

   

7. To choose which groups appear, scroll through the selections and tap the Include button for the ones you want to use (Figure 72).

   

8. If you want the groups to show up in a different order, tap the Reorder button at the bottom of the list, then drag the group names to position them. Tap Done.

9. Tap < to return to the workout’s main screen.

Work Out with Apple Fitness+

Of all the activities available in the Workout app on my watch, the most used by far is Outdoor Walk. It’s better than nothing, but I often find it difficult to work up the motivation for more strenuous exercise, especially if it involves going to a gym, bundling up in poor weather for a run or bike ride, or…let’s be honest, getting out of the house at all. Apple’s Fitness+ service is here to get us off our behinds without having to go too far from our couches.

Fitness+ (which is an optional paid service) features guided workout videos that range from relaxing yoga to high intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions. When you start a workout, your watch connects to an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV to track and display your biometric data and progress.

To run a Fitness+ workout, do the following:

1. On your compatible device, such as an iPhone, open the Fitness app and tap the Fitness+ icon.

2. Choose a workout. They’re organized by type (such as Cycling, Treadmill, Core, and so on) and include workouts of varying durations.

3. Tap the Let’s Go (or Let’s Begin) button. (The button varies depending on the workout.)

4. To start the workout, tap the Play button on your watch or on the device.

5. As you follow the workout, the metrics from your watch and your activity rings appear onscreen (Figure 73).

   

6. When the workout ends, tap Done.

Even with an enthusiastic professional guiding the (pre-recorded) workout, exercise can be lonely. Using Apple’s SharePlay technology, you can share a workout (or meditation) with friends and family. Here’s how to rope—I mean, invite—someone else into working out with you:

1. On your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, connect with the other person (or people) in a FaceTime call.

2. Switch to the Fitness app; the FaceTime video of the other person remains onscreen.

3. Choose the Fitness+ workout you both will do.

4. Tap Let’s Begin (or Let’s Go, or whichever action verb that particular workout uses).

5. On the other person’s device, they will see a Join Shareplay banner; ask them to tap Open.

6. Press the Play button to start the workout for you both.

7. When the workout ends, tap Done.

8. Exit the Fitness app and end the FaceTime call when you’re finished.

Review Your Workout

A side effect of doing a workout, other than the health benefits, is the amount of data the watch collects while you’re exercising. Aside from giving you a personal boost, the information can help you tailor future workouts.

Open the Fitness app on the iPhone and tap a recent workout to view more details about it. You’ll see the same information the watch provides when you end a workout, such as time and distance, as well as a list of splits, a map, and a chart of heart rate activity. Tap Show More on any of these to view more granular data (Figure 74).

Unfortunately, the only way to share this data is as a small image that looks like it’s designed for social media.

Use the Stopwatch App

The directions for using the Stopwatch app vary slightly based on which view is active; these assume Analog view; the other views have prominent labeled buttons:

• Start: Tap the green Start button, which becomes a red Stop button after the stopwatch has begun.

• Lap: Tap the white Lap button to track a second lap time; tap it again for additional splits.

• Stop: Tap the red Stop button.

• View: Any time during the timing session before you clear the times, you can use other views: tap < and then choose the Analog, Digital, Graph, or Hybrid readout. In the Analog view, turn the Digital Crown to see more detail at once; turn again to return to the single analog stopwatch view.

• Clear/Reset: Once you’ve stopped recording, to clear the results, press the Lap button again (or tap Reset in the other views).

Reflect

A Reflect prompt gives you something specific to focus on, such as isolating your thoughts or letting go of any in-the-moment urges, followed by a lava lamp inspired animation plays for the duration of the reflection period (Figure 83).

The duration is set for 1 minute, but you can change that: in the Mindfulness main screen, tap the button next to Reflect, tap Duration, and choose a time up to 5 minutes.

To end the reflection early, swipe right and tap End.

Breathe

As a breathing exercise, the app tells you to be still and prompts you when to inhale and exhale (Figure 84) (both on screen and with a series of haptic taps).

The duration is set for 1 minute, but as with the Reflect app, you can change it: in the Mindfulness main screen, tap the Details button next to Breathe, tap Duration, and choose a time up to 5 minutes.

To change the number of breaths per minute, open the Watch app on the iPhone and tap Mindfulness > Breath Rate. Or, on the watch, go to Settings > Mindfulness > Breath Rate.

Fitness+ Audio Meditations

If you subscribe to Apple’s Fitness+ service and want to start a meditation, do the following:

1. In the Mindfulness app, tap Fitness+ Audio Meditations.

2. Tap one of the guided meditations, which vary in duration.

3. If you’ve not already connected a Bluetooth audio destination, such as a pair of AirPods, choose one in the screen that follows. Then tap Cancel and tap the Fitness+ Audio Meditations button again to start the meditation.

   Like other Fitness+ exercises, Meditate tracks the time elapsed and your pulse rate (Figure 85).

   

4. Swipe right to display controls to end or pause the meditation. When finished, tap Done at the bottom of the summary screen.

New meditations are added to the watch’s storage when the watch is connected to power and close to your iPhone. If you don’t want them occupying the storage, go to Settings > Mindfulness and turn off Add New Meditations to Watch.

On the other hand, if you do want to store favorite meditations, you can add them to a Mindfulness library by doing the following:

1. In the Mindfulness app, tap Fitness+ Audio Meditations.

2. Scroll to locate a meditation you want to save, and then tap the I button.

Schedule Mindfulness Reminders

By default, Mindfulness reminders are scheduled for Start of Day and End of Day. Those times seem to be based on when the watch (via its sensors) detect that you’re up and around in the morning, and when you’re close to bedtime at night; if you use the Sleep app, the Mindfulness reminder appears during the wind-down time.

You can also add your own repeating reminders, such as when you need to cool down after finishing work for the day. Here’s how:

1. On the watch, go to Settings > Mindfulness and tap Add Reminder.

2. Tap the Change Time button, which displays the current time.

3. Set the time for the reminder and tap the button.

4. Tap the Repeat button and choose which days of the week to display the reminder. Tap the Back button to return to the previous screen.

5. Tap Add to create the reminder.

Sleep and Wake Manually

Open Control Center and tap the Focus button, and then tap the Sleep mode button. The watch, iPhone, and other devices running iOS 15 or later, or computers running macOS Monterey or later, switch into Sleep mode.

If you need to access your watch while it’s in Sleep mode, tap the screen to activate it, and then press and hold the Digital Crown until the screen unlocks. The watch is still in Sleep mode, so when you’re finished it reverts back to the low power display and locks the screen.

If you wake up before your regular schedule completes, tap the Sleep mode button in Control Center to stop the mode. If you forget, the watch notices you’re no longer nearly motionless in bed and asks if you want to turn off your alarm (Figure 86).

Set Sleep Goals and Options

I’m definitely a sleep-less-during-the-week-and-compensate-on-the-weekends type of person. I don’t want to wake up early on Saturdays unless I absolutely need to. If you’re like me, create a separate sleep schedule:

1. On the watch, open the Sleep app.

2. Tap Full Schedule.

3. Scroll down and tap Add Schedule.

4. Tap the button under Active On, which reads the current unscheduled days (such as “Weekends” if Saturday and Sunday are open). Tap the days you want to include in this schedule and then return to the previous screen.

5. Tap the Wake Up field and set the time you’d like to start your day (Figure 87). Tap the check button.

   

6. To be roused with an alarm, turn the Alarm switch on. Optionally tap Sounds & Haptics and choose a song or chime to coax you into wakefulness. (Kudos to the musicians at Apple, because the sounds are wonderfully well done.) You’ll hear the sound and feel corresponding taps on your wrist; if Silent mode is on, you’ll feel only the taps, which build in intensity.

7. The Bedtime target is based on the goal you set for number of hours per night, but you can tap it and set a different time that applies to just this schedule.

8. Tap Add to apply the schedule.

Two options apply to all schedules, and they can be found at the bottom of the Full Schedule screen:

• Sleep Goal. Tap this button and enter the number of hours you’d like to get. The app uses this to calculate recommended bedtimes and to also keep track of how often you’re meeting the goal.

• Wind Down. Tap this button and set a duration, such as 15 or 30 minutes. At that point, you’ll be notified that it’s time to start thinking about snoozing (Figure 88). It also activates the Sleep focus mode.

Change Only the Next Sleep Goal

Some nights don’t go to plan, and you’re up later than the Sleep app is scheduled for. If you’re using your iPhone or watch during that time, it can be a hassle to unlock the sleep screens each time. In that case, change only the next goal, without affecting your normal schedule, by doing the following:

1. Open the Sleep app and tap the schedule listed under Next.

2. Make adjustments to the Bedtime and Wake Up times.

3. Check that the Alarm setting is on or off depending on your intention; if it’s a particularly late night, for example, I’ll turn it off so I can sleep in, but it will still be set to ring the following day.

4. Tap the back button to return to the main Sleep options.

View Sleep Data

In the Sleep app on the watch, scroll down to view an abbreviated look at the last two weeks’ sleep data. For more data, open the Health app on the iPhone and go to Summary > Sleep (or Browse > Sleep if you don’t see it in the Summary screen) (Figure 89).

The data collected under watchOS 9 indicates when you’re spending time in REM, core, and deep sleep stages. In the Health app, view charts representing the last day, week, month, and six month periods.

The Health app can also track your average breathing rate while you’re asleep, as well as your wrist temperature on Series 8 and Ultra models. In the Sleep summary, look for the Respiratory Rate: Sleep report, and the Average Wrist Temperature data under the Comparisons tab. If you’re seeing erratic readings, you may want to consult a physician or sleep specialist.