The watchOS 11 beta slowed me down, in a good way

One thing has always irked me about the Apple Watch. Rain or shine, in sickness and in health, this led me to close the rings. It didn’t matter if I had Covid-19, shin splints, or was in a dark place mentally. It encouraged me to be a “better” version of myself, as long as better didn’t involve taking a day off. But with watchOS 11 — the public beta of which arrives today — it feels like my Apple Watch is finally giving me a break.

This is largely due to a trio of new features: the new Vitals app, the Training Load feature, and the ability to pause your activity rings. I waxed lyrical about the latter right after WWDC, but after spending some time with the developer beta, I’m convinced these are the smartest fitness updates Apple has released in years.

The Vitals app and the Training Load feature are technically two separate things, but in practice they go hand in hand. The Vitals app contextualizes a set of metrics: heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse temperature, blood oxygen and sleep duration. These are all recovery metrics, most commonly packaged in other apps as a readiness score, except Apple’s version doesn’t offer a single score. Instead, it shows whether your metrics are “typical” or “atypical.” If two or more metrics are out of range, you will receive a notification and some possibilities for why certain metrics are out of whack.

The Training Load feature is also simple. It compares and visualizes your exercise load for seven days versus 28 days. Based on this, you can see if you are well below, below, stable, above, or well above your normal activity levels. It breaks this down not just by overall activity, but also by individual activity types (i.e. running, pilates, cycling, etc.). After a workout, you can also assess the level of perceived exertion. For popular workouts like running, it will automatically set your effort level. (You can edit it manually if you disagree, which I have done occasionally, although it is largely accurate.)

These two features were nice to have last month, although like most watchOS 11 updates, they’re a bit passive. For example, I didn’t receive a single vital signs notification because, well, all of my vital metrics remained within normal range. Yes, by being consistent! That’s not a bad thing – you don’t to want to receive frequent notifications. It’s more than having a quick “is everything great?” It’s useful when you’re unsure whether to push or take a rest day.

This is also the benefit of load training, especially for those who are new to exercise or training. I have enough experience to know that my current training load is a bit skewed because I took an entire week off during the holidays. (Right around the time I downloaded the beta.) Still, It is a helpful visual reminder for me when I’m well above the 28 day baseline that I can take a break for a day. A day of rest won’t slow me down.

Apple isn’t doing anything here that we haven’t seen from Garmin, Polar, Oura, Fitbit, Whoop, or any other health and fitness tracker in the last five years. Instead, Apple’s version makes these concepts easily digestible for beginners. There is also less data overload for exhausted athletes. Combined with the ability to pause taps or customize your goals based on the day of the week, you have a much more flexible fitness tracking experience on the world’s most popular smartwatch. That’s a big deal.

Ultimately, these features make the Apple Watch fitness tracking platform more personalized, which seems to be the overall theme of watchOS 11. Instead of a blanket approach of always doing more, you can make alternative choices based on your needs. real everyday circumstances. . I’m still testing several other watchOS 11 features, but as far as the fitness tracking updates go, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how it’s encouraged me to be kinder to myself.

My main complaint is that Apple still doesn’t tell you to take a rest day. You should infer phrases like “recover as needed if you start to feel burnt out” or “you have been at or well above the range for 14 days.” I also lost a few nights’ worth of vital data because I had to charge my watch overnight — a reminder that battery life and charging times remain the Achilles heel of smartwatches. But overall, this is still much more sustainable in the long run for most people than the previous blanket approach of “always doing more.” Maybe in watchOS 12, my Apple Watch will finally intimidate me into putting my feet up on the couch. But for now, small steps are still steps in the right direction.