The retina display is now always-on, so you don't need a flick of the wrist to activate the screen and see your notifications. I’m not surprised that it took so long for a Calculator app to arrive on the watch, given that the iPad still doesn’t have a native version, but I might never use my iPhone’s calculator again. I’m still in the early stages of using the Apple Watch’s Cycle Tracking app, so I haven’t tested out its predictions or notifications, but I appreciate the level of detail I’m able to enter when it comes to period flow, symptoms and spotting.

We tested a few different activities over the course of our review, and generally we found everything to work as advertised. This suggests that Apple has optimized the Watch 5 better for exercise and GPS use – and being able to glance at a workout on the go was certainly handy. If Apple could extend the battery life beyond the 18 hours it’s advertising to something approaching 2-3 days, that could easily allow for sleep tracking and help to provide a more holistic view of your health. So if you're looking for Apple's top-end smartwatch, this isn't it anymore - to see how it compares to the new model, check out our Apple Watch 6 vs Apple Watch 5 article.If you want as much information as possible about your health and sporting performance, then the Apple Watch 6 is right for you. This means that app developers don’t have to create iOS apps first and then make watch extensions, which should make watch apps more useful and specific.

Even with the always-on screen, Apple have cleverly kept the battery life at up to 18 hours, enough to safely see you through the day. You can also add details about ovulation test results, cervical mucus quality and basal body temperature in the iPhone Health app, and allow Cycle Tracking to predict your fertile window if you want to use the app to plan or prevent pregnancy. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.Apple should have taken this a little further though – the display dims when not in use, but not enough. With two years difference, the question beckons - given the incremental improvements, which Apple Watch is right for me? Rival smartwatches from Samsung, Fitbit and Garmin offer multi-day battery life, but those watches also aren’t as fully featured as the Series 5. The Noise app helps users understand the ambient sound levels in environments such as concerts and sporting events that could negatively impact hearing, and Activity Trends on iPhone provides a long-term view of their activity patterns to help them understand their progress.

The difference is even more stark with brighter watch faces like Meridian, which has an almost entirely white background that dims to black when you lower your wrist. Oh – except the screen now never switches off, dimming to an ambient, always-on display when you’re not raising it to look straight at it. The ability to measure Blood Oxygen is no longer available on Apple Watch units sold by Apple in the United States on or after 18 January 2024. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

De-selecting these cookies may result in you seeing advertising that is not as relevant to you, not being able to link effectively to Facebook, Twitter or other social networks, and/or not being allowed to share content on social media. On top of that, NFC is included in both models if you want to pay for your purchases without a credit card using Apple Wallet.

We mentioned music just now, and that’s another key area where the Watch 5 has been improved – you can download tunes and podcasts to your device and listen to them without a phone.Purchased for my 12 year old for Christmas, I didn’t want to spend a lot for his first smart watch but wanted an Apple one as were an Apple family. The ECG app can indicate whether your heart rhythm shows signs of atrial fibrillation — a serious form of irregular heart rhythm — or sinus rhythm, which means your heart is beating in a normal pattern. We’d have liked to see Apple improve all the relevant apps on the Watch to work with the ambient mode – and enable developers to integrate this functionality into their apps too. Most people won't need the LTE version if they're always carrying their iPhone with them, but the larger 44mm size usually nets you better battery life, and offers larger touch points on the slightly bigger screen.