Apple just unveiled a trio of new smartwatches, and with them a host of new health tracking features headlined by hypertension tracking and improvements to the sleep tracking available on Apple Watches.
However, you don’t need to get the Apple Watch Series 11 or Apple Watch Ultra 3 to get the new features, because they are being rolled back to several older Apple Watches.
So if you own an Apple Watch already, or are considering picking up an older models in the sales then it’s worth checking to see if they’ll get the new features when watchOS 26 is released on September 15.
Which older Apple Watches are getting hypertension tracking?
First up, let’s look at hypertension tracking, which I think is the most innovative new feature on the Apple Watch Series 11. These notifications will alert users to possible signs of chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension, the leading preventable cause of heart attacks and strokes.
Apple is still waiting for FDA clearance and other regulators for the feature, but it’s expected to be available in more than 150 countries this month, including the U.S. and throughout the EU.
The features uses the optical heart rate sensor on the watch, and will also be available on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Series 10, as well as the Apple Watch Ultra 2.
Which older Apple Watches are getting sleep score?
Apple’s new sleep score gives you a rating out of 100 for your night’s rest, based around three main factors — duration, bedtime consistency and how often your sleep was interrupted during the night.
The sleep score can be added to your watch face through a complication, or viewed in your Smart Stack as well as in the Health app, and it will be available on many older Apple Watches along with the new Series 11, Ultra 3, and Apple Watch SE 3 devices.
Sleep score will be available on all the following Apple Watch models:
- Apple Watch SE (Gen 2)
- Apple Watch Series 6
- Apple Watch Series 7
- Apple Watch Series 8
- Apple Watch Series 9
- Apple Watch Series 10
- Apple Watch Ultra
- Apple Watch Ultra 2
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