Apple Watch warns you if your cardio fitness is low

December 15, 2020

Apple is expanding the range of cardiorespiratory fitness that can be measured on the Apple Watch with a new update to iOS 14.3 and watchOS 7.2.

The company first mentioned this feature in September when it unveiled the sixth generation of its Apple Watch Series 6 smartwatch.

The Health app rates users as high-fitness, above-average fitness, below-average fitness, or low-fitness.

Low levels trigger a notification, and the watch tracks cardiorespiratory fitness with a scale called VO2 max, which determines the maximum amount of oxygen your body can consume during movement or exercise.

Apple Watch tracks average and high levels of the average amount of oxygen that the body consumes during a workout, and this update extends the range the watch measures.

The update now allows users to see their levels while walking outdoors, running or hiking - rates that many runners and other athletes are monitoring to improve performance.

And Apple says: Apple Watch uses multiple sensors, such as the optical heart sensor, accelerometer and global positioning system, to estimate low levels of VO2 max.

WatchOS 7 allows the smartwatch to take heart fitness measurements as users walk all day, whether or not they are tracking a workout.

With this innovation, Apple Watch is better able to measure VO2 max for users with low cardiac fitness, without the need to exercise.

VO2 max is usually calculated using special equipment in the laboratory while someone exercises on a treadmill or other exercise equipment.

Apple Watch (Apple Watch) now brings an estimate of lower cardiac fitness levels to the user's wrist, so that he has insight into how long-term health can improve through daily activity, ”said (Jeff Williams) Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.

And studies that compared Garmin and Polar smartwatches with typical lab tests found that the watches tend to be 5 percent lower.

According to the American Heart Association, there is a link between poor heart fitness and an increased risk of health problems, such as heart disease and high blood pressure, and Apple does not report how good its smartwatch is compared to traditional methods of measuring VO2 max.