WatchOS 11: The Ultra Review
5 Features to Check Out
WatchOS 11 came out over a month ago, but due to one of the features in the update taking longer than I expected to test, my review couldn’t come out until now. Even though it is much later than I wanted it to be, here are the five features of WatchOS 11 I think you should check out if you haven’t already!
Top 5 Features
1. Vitals
WatchOS 11 brings the new Vitals app, which is a fantastic app. The Vitals app does exactly what it sounds like. If you wear your Apple Watch to bed, it will record the metrics listed below:
Heart Rate (All Models)
Respiratory Rate (All Models)
Wrist Temperature (Series 8 and Later)
Blood Oxygen (Series 6 and Later*)
Sleep Duration (All Models)
Not only does Apple Watch record these vitals, but it compares them to your baseline and tells you which vitals are off as well as a reason as to why they may be off (such as illness, adjustment in medications, consumption of caffeine, or elevation change). When my family was in Arizona over fall break, we were at a much higher elevation than where we live in Indiana, which can cause heart rate to be higher. The Vitals app notified me on one of the first nights we were there that my heart rate was higher and that it could have been because of the elevation. The Vitals app is great for gaining an understanding of your overall health from a number of metrics, and it is by far my favorite new feature in WatchOS 11.
2. Training Load
Training Load analyzes the duration and effort put into your daily workouts to calculate how intensely you are challenging your body during workouts and whether that intensity surpasses, falls below, or aligns with your baseline. You can also filter between different workouts such as running, walking, or biking to see what the Training Load metric looks like for those specific workouts. Training Load is an excellent tool that helps you identify when it would be beneficial to take a rest day and when you can push yourself a bit harder. Training Load is a fantastic feature, but it also takes approximately 30 days to establish the baseline, which is why this review was published more than a month after the update.
3. Updated Smart Stack
With WatchOS 10, Apple promised that the Smart Stack would suggest widgets based off your personal context, but there wasn’t much evidence of this in WatchOS 10. With WatchOS 11, though, the Smart Stack is significantly better! As I’ve been testing WatchOS 11 over the past month, I have seen many examples of this. Here are some of my favorite examples:
Shazam: When Apple Watch hears music, it will suggest a button to identify what song is playing, which is extremely useful!
Weather: If it is about to rain or is super windy, the Smart Stack will display an appropriate weather widget.
Activity: At the end of the day, the Smart Stack shows me a widget displaying how many steps/miles I have walked that day.
Even better than these suggestions, the Smart Stack now displays live activities when they appear on your iPhone. For example, if I have a sports scores widget on my iPhone Lock Screen, this will also appear in my Smart Stack on my Apple Watch. Overall, it is nice to see the Smart Stack actually being smart now!
4. Pause and Customize Rings
The ability to pause and customize activity rings has been one of the most requested features over the past few years. Being able to pause activity rings is going to be great for when you are traveling or sick. Customizing rings is also great because it allows each day of the week to have a different goal (ie. Monday is 350 calories, while Thursday is 500 calories). This has been a game-changer for me because I burn fewer calories on school days compared to work days.
5. Check In
Check In was introduced to the iPhone last year with iOS 17, but it comes to the watch this year with WatchOS 11. When you send a Check In to someone, it automatically informs them of your arrival at your designated location. If you fail to reach your destination within the estimated time frame and fail to respond when prompted, the person you sent the Check In to will also be notified. Additionally, they will receive valuable information, including the route you traveled, the location of your last iPhone unlock, the removal of your Apple Watch, and the battery percentages of both your iPhone and Apple Watch. Previously, you could only send a Check In through messages, but with WatchOS 11, you can send one after starting a workout. This is super useful if you are going on a late-night run, for example, and want your family members to know that you are okay. Check In was already a fantastic feature on the iPhone, and I’m so glad that Apple brought it to the Apple Watch with WatchOS 11!
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