watchOS 4 introduces an expanded Heart Rate app that's able to track your current heart rate, your resting heart rate, average heart rate while walking, and your recovery rate after exercising, providing more information about your overall health. It's also able to send alerts if it detects a heart rate above 120 when you're not exercising.
These features are available on the new Apple Watch Series 3 models and the Apple Watch Series 2 and Series 1 models that were introduced in 2016, but some of the features are not available original Apple Watch models sold in 2015.
As Twitter users discovered after downloading watchOS 4 earlier this week, the original Apple Watch is only able to display current heart rate with a much simpler interface for the heart rate app, with no sign of resting heart rate or average walking heart rate. The app does offer the heart rate graph with a tap on the display, though.
It's not entirely clear why the original Apple Watch doesn't offer the full range of heart rate features, but it may be due to hardware limitations. The first Apple Watch offers an original S1 processor, which has since been significantly upgraded in Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 updates, and its battery life is not as robust.
Apple discontinued the original Apple Watch in 2016 when the Series 2 was introduced, replacing it with the Series 1 Apple Watch. The Series 1 model is similar to the original Apple Watch, but features an upgraded S1P processor. The Series 2 Apple Watch uses an S2 processor, and the Series 3 Apple Watch uses an S3 processor.
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec).
The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps.
More features and changes will follow in future ...
Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet.
The update will likely be released by the end of next week.
Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year.
The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings.
iOS 26.4 will...
Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more.
With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump.
First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year.
Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by Juli Clover
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass.
The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
Ugh Apple, seriously? I’m an owner of the stainless steel 1st gen Apple Watch and I’m not looking for an upgrade yet since it’s in a pretty good condition. Why should my watch not get the watchOS 4 features if my watch’s hardware is practically identical to Apple Watch Series 1 except for the faster processor. Ridiculous!
I would rather have Apple remove other useless features like ToyStory Watch faces and let me use a feature that I was actually looking forward to.
Ugh Apple, seriously? I’m an owner of the stainless steel 1st gen Apple Watch and I’m not looking for an upgrade yet since it’s in a pretty good condition. Why should my watch not get the watchOS 4 features if my watch’s hardware is practically identical to Apple Watch Series 1 except for the faster processor. Ridiculous!
I would rather have Apple remove other useless features like ToyStory Watch faces and let me use a feature that I was actually looking forward to.
A faster more efficient processor makes a huge difference. I wouldn’t call that “practically the same”.
It’s not where I’m getting at. It’s a very capable device which is why it annoys me that it gets undercut. There is no reason for them to do that except for forcing the customer to upgrade.
Wouldn't leaving it off of watchOS 4 entirely be an even better way to "force the customer to upgrade"?
Yeah, so click that UI element right there and you’ll get the expanded graph. I have an OG Watch and it shows the graph. The only thing missing is the resting heart rate.
Same thing here. I also have the original Apple Watch and it seems to show the graph. See below....
