I’ve some excellent news for Apple Watch customers. Should you’re utilizing an older Apple Watch, just like the Sequence 9, Apple’s tossing you a few options that we beforehand thought had been going to be unique to the brand new Sequence 11. At its “Awe Dropping” occasion yesterday, the corporate launched three new Apple Watches with new options associated to well being monitoring, however there is a good probability you are going to get them on a tool you have already got.
That is as a result of Apple did not point out on stage that these new options are literally software program updates coming to watchOS 26 and iOS 26, and a few of them do not want new {hardware}. This implies you may not must improve your Apple Watch to get new high-blood stress notifications or an Apple-generated Sleep Rating.
Hypertension notifications come to Apple Watch Sequence 9 and better
Credit score: Apple
Apple has a brand new blood stress monitoring system that sends a notification to the person when a sample of excessive persistent blood stress is detected. Apple isn’t utilizing a cuff-based blood stress monitor right here. As an alternative, it’s utilizing the optical coronary heart charge sensor to research how a person’s blood vessels reply to the beats of the guts. It makes use of data-analysis over a interval of 30 days to find out if there’s a constant sample that factors to potential hypertension, then notifies you if that’s the case.
As a result of this function is predicated on the optical coronary heart charge sensor, it’s seems it isn’t restricted to the Sequence 11 and Apple Watch Extremely 3. In truth, it’s supported by Apple Watch Sequence 9, Sequence 10, and Extremely 2 as properly (however not the Apple Watch SE 3). The function will probably be stay for the customers after the watchOS 26 replace, and after regulatory approval. Apple says that it ought to be rolled out to 150 nations by October.
Sleep rating comes to each Apple Watch since Sequence 6
Credit score: Apple
The Apple Watch’s new Sleep Rating metric is, once more, a data-analysis function. It combines sleep information like sleep length, sleep stage length, frequency of wakefulness, and extra to give you one rating that informs you simply how good your general high quality of sleep was. It makes use of information from a number of sensors like coronary heart charge, wrist temperature, blood oxygen, and respiratory charge to charge the general high quality of your sleep.
This quantity can then assist you resolve if you wish to deal with a extra intensive exercise, otherwise you need to take issues simple and switch in earlier that day.
What do you assume to date?
And because it seems, it’s going to be rolled out to all Apple Watches that help sleep monitoring. That’s each Apple Watch Extremely, Sequence 6 and above, and even the Apple Watch SE 2.
Equally, a couple of different software program based mostly options highlighted within the keynote aren’t unique to Sequence 11. The brand new wrist-flick function in watchOS 26 will probably be supported on Sequence 9 and better, and the Apple Watch Extremely 2.
Outdoors of the realm of Apple Watches, this additionally goes for the AirPods Professional 3 as properly. The Stay Translation function that Apple launched with the AirPods Professional 3 will really work with AirPods 4 and AirPods Professional 2 as properly, so long as it’s paired with an iPhone 15 Professional or increased (basically, your cellphone must help Apple Intelligence). This implies you need to use the older AirPods to translate speech from a number of supported languages, with out springing for a brand new $250 AirPods Professional.
