You don’t need the latest Watch to check your heart rate, as all watches contain a heart rate sensor. You can use this to measure your heart rate in real time, but also during exercise. But there is more, the Watch regularly checks your heart rate and will warn you when it is too high or too low.
The heartbeat application
Every Apple Watch has the heart rate application. Press the Digital Crown, go to the app overview and tap the app with the heart. You will immediately see a graph with your heart rate over the past few hours. Below that you will find your current, and therefore in real time, heart rate. When you start the app for the first time, you will immediately be asked whether you want to receive notifications.
Scroll down to view your averages at rest or while walking/exercising. Do you have an Apple Watch Series 12, Ultra 4 or newer? Then they use the new health system and the heart rate is measured every 5 seconds instead of every 5 minutes. This will give you an overview of your heart rate over the past 2 minutes.
Heart rate variability (HRV)
Heart rate variability (HRV) is the variation in time between heartbeats. High variability is a sign of a healthy autonomic nervous system, meaning your body can switch quickly between action and relaxation. Older Apple Watch models only checked HRV a few times a day, usually during rest or sleep. With the new sensors and chip in the Apple Watch Series 12, Ultra 4 and newer, the watch can now measure HRV up to 24 times a day, providing a more complete and reliable data picture without disruptions due to outliers.
To make all this extra data useful, watchOS splits HRV measurements into two specific categories: Recovery HRV and normal Heart Rate Variability.
HRV during recovery focuses primarily on the short term and analyzes how your body responds to acute stimuli such as a heavy training session, a busy working day, a poor night’s sleep or even the onset of a flu-like feeling. By picking up these rapid fluctuations during the day, the system can provide immediate advice about your recovery and load on that specific day.
The general HRV, on the other hand, looks at the longer term. This metric filters out the daily peaks and valleys to show a clear trendline of your overall cardiovascular fitness and stress resilience over weeks or months. While HRV during recovery helps you decide whether or not you should go running today, Heart Rate Variability provides insight into how your overall lifestyle, fitness level and health develop in the long term.
Measure heart rate more accurately
With an Apple Watch series 4 or newer it is possible to measure your heart rate more accurately. Place your finger on the Digital Crown while measuring and you will notice that your heart rate is updated much more often and the measurement is more accurate. The pulsation is now measured every second, instead of five seconds when you only use the optical heart rate sensor.
Quickly access via a complication or smart stack
If you want quick access to the Heart Rate app, you can also access it via the widget in the smart stack. This way you can see at a glance what your heart rate is, and you can read here how you can add widgets to the smart stack.
Another useful tool is the heart rate complication. This is available in different versions. For example, you can add a simple one to your watch face that only shows the heart icon. As soon as you tap it, the app will open. You also have the choice to add a more extensive one that shows statistics and recent measurements.
Do you have an Apple Watch Series 12, Ultra 4 or newer? Then you can read your heart rate live from the complication. This shows the most recent measurement, so you are always aware of your heart rate. In this article we explain how to add an app as a complication to your watch face.
View heart rate data via Health
Of course, it is also possible to view all measured heart rates in the Health application on your iPhone. You do this via Health â–¸ ‘Data’ tab â–¸ Heart.
Check heart rate with third party apps
In addition to the standard application, you can also check your heart rate via third-party apps, HeartWatch is a good example of this. Not only does it keep track of your heart rate for the entire day, the app can also warn you about strange behavior and show detailed statistics. HeartWatch also has a complication that shows the last measured values. You can measure your heart rate, start workouts and analyze your sleep via the HeartWatch app.
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