Apple’s watchOS 11 update has a few big changes, including a new Vitals app. I’ve been using it for a few weeks, and it’s everything I hoped it would be.
A little over two months ago, Apple held its WWDC 2024 conference and unveiled a lot of new software features. There was plenty to sink your teeth into, but my favorite announcement of the show was watchOS 11.
Why? Because watchOS 11 adds features I’ve been hoping to see on the Apple Watch for ages — such as the ability to pause activity rings and showing you more robust training/exercise data. It also adds the new Vitals app. I’ve been using Vitals on my Apple Watch Ultra 2 for a couple of weeks now, and it’s everything I had hoped the app would be.What Vitals is and how it works
That’s some high praise right off the bat, but let’s take a step back really quickly: What is the Vitals app? It’s a new app you get on your Apple Watch after downloading watchOS 11. It has a pretty ambiguous icon, but once you see the app with three blue dots and one pink dot (pictured above), you’ll know you’ve found it.
Vitals doesn’t necessarily give you any new health data. Instead, it takes information your Apple Watch is already recording while you sleep and presents it in a new light. The app looks for five metrics: heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, blood oxygen, and sleep duration. Wear your Apple Watch to bed, and when you wake up in the morning, the Vitals app shows you how it recorded all of those metrics overnight.
And that’s it! Open the Vitals app each morning, see where you’re at, and go about your day.
