Finally, Readiness score comes to Apple Watch Apple explains how it works
and why now was the right time to launch it

Date:
Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Description:
Apple's Director of Fitness Tech tells us everything about the Apple Watch's new Readiness score

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter When Apple officially unveiled the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Ultra 4, it claimed that its latest generation of smartwatches offered the most accurate heart rate sensing on a wearable, thanks to its redesigned Health Sensing System. Accuracy improvements aside, the new systems advances have made it possible for Apple to introduce new Watch features like its Readiness score.

This metric looks at a myriad of watch data to determine whether youre in optimal shape to tackle a physically or mentally demanding day. Thats accompanied by a simple prompt to put that score into context. However, this isnt a new development for other wearable owners: if you use an Oura Ring , a Garmin watch, a Whoop or even a Google Fitbit Air , receiving a readiness score of some description wont be new to you. So why did Apple feel now was the time to join the Readiness party? Its down to the evolution and the advancements we've made in the hardware technology, which has really brought about this to be the right time, says Craig Bolton, Director of Fitness Technologies. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

We've built many health and fitness features, and quite a few of them are related to Readiness. The Health Sensing System unlocks the ability for continuous heart rate variability and all-day heart rate measurements and that's really important and critical when we think about trying to bring a really accurate and concise and simple feature to users. How Readiness scores work (Image credit: Apple) Readiness scores can be viewed from the dedicated Readiness Watch app, Watch complication and the redesigned Health app. It looks at your sleep score, vitals data including temperature and blood
oxygen, as well as your most recent workout data and training load. You may like It's about time Apple got a Readiness score to compete with Fitbit and Garmin 5 new Apple Watch features that are more than just health-tracking tools The best Apple Watch 2026: Which wearable is right for you?

Apple confirmed to us that workout data can be taken from third party apps as well as Apples own apps. To start seeing scores, you need to record seven nights worth of sleep data to establish a baseline.

Unlike Oura, Google and Garmin , Apple has opted to score users Readiness on
a scale of 1-10 as opposed to 1-100. Apple has its reasons for choosing a different scoring scale and it underpins how it thinks about delivering new fitness features. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

All of our features in general and particularly in the health and fitness space, we want them to be simple and intuitive, explains Bolton. We thought providing a score alongside a simple category saying youre ready or to pace yourself gives that instant glanceable view. If you're waking up in the morning or throughout the day and you want to have a quick check-in, that can give you that little insight that you need.

One of the principles that was really important to us was if you want to go deeper, there is more depth there. So you can instantly see what's driving that score up or down, tap into it to your heart's content, and dig into the various apps and features that are driving scores. Why HRV is key to getting you ready (Image credit: Apple) Readiness scores are strongly tied to Apples ability to continuously monitor heart rate at a much higher sampling
frequency than previous watches, thanks to the new Health Sensing System. The Apple Watch Series 11 can continuously monitor heart rate every five minutes. The Series 12 and Ultra 4 can do that every five seconds. Apple says its this massive improvement in the fidelity of heart rate monitoring that explains
why only the Ultra 4 and the Series 12 can dish out Readiness scores. What to read next Wearables are making us anxious Heres what we can do about it The best smartwatch 2026 The best running watch for 2026: Watches for every level of runner

Theres another heart-related metric thats vital and thats heart rate variability. This is the measurement of the intervals between heart beats.
Its a measurement that again has featured on wearables for some time and has been used to better understand stress, recovery and the effect of diet and exercise on your body.

For Series 12 and the Ultra 4, Apple is introducing two HRV measurements: overall HRV and recovery HRV. Its the latter thats most relevant for your Readiness scores and can additionally be viewed inside of Apples heart app on the Watch.

It's a critical element to this, says Bolton. [Recovery HRV] feeds into Readiness, but its also part of our Vitals experience as well. So youre going to be able to independently look at HRV recovery through the course of the night and throughout the day and thats providing added insight and education about what that could mean for you.

For us, the real value here is we're taking that and we're partnering it with these other existing features like sleep and other vitals and also your activity, to give this really distilled and synthesised version of all your metrics and what they might mean for you. Rooted in research (Image credit: Apple) It will come as no great surprise that Apple hasnt just plucked its Readiness score out of thin air. Its a metric thats been developed through various studies conducted by Apple. That includes Apples Heart Rate and Movement study, which was first announced in 2019. Data was used from the study to tune the experience of Readiness scores. Apples Heart Rate Accuracy study , which summarises the accuracy of its new Health Sensing System also played its part too. There were also additional studies conducted surveying people to understand their fatigue levels and how people felt versus what their metrics said.

We also did some testing and studies to make sure that the Readiness feature was behaving the way it should for users, says Bolton. The reality is sometimes in the morning you will wake up and this may confirm exactly what your body's already telling you. In some other instances it may actually surface something that you didn't notice about before. But in terms of the underlying data, the features that provide it have been studied and there's a lot of rigour independently on each of them. Readiness is not just about the AM Before Apple, Readiness scores were something you mainly glanced at in the morning. On the Watch Ultra 4 and the Series 12, Apple sees Readiness as an all-day affair. That means what happens during the day will have an impact on your Readiness score, whether thats completing a tough workout or something has changed in your vitals data.

So something that our new health sensing system unlocks is this continuous heart rate monitoring throughout the course of the day, says Bolton. This could potentially lead to us or the feature recognising that you've got an elevated heart rate throughout the course of the day and that will change
your Readiness. So as you're going throughout the day there's this value that it brings as well.

While previous takes on readiness scores have felt more fitness-centric in terms of who will find this metric most valuable, Apple believes this is something all Watch wearers can get value from glancing at.

You might have someone whos managing a busy week with kids, work and trying
to get adequate sleep, squeezing a workout in here and there," says Bolton. For that person, sometimes it's just going to reaffirm or confirm to them something that they already know or they're already feeling in their body
that today's a good day or you're not feeling things aren't great today.

For that same person, it may actually surface something that they're not already noticing. So they've been under some stress at work. This might give that sort of little red flag to say, hey, it might be time to recover or take it easy because of some of these metrics we're seeing.

You don't have to be an elite athlete to get value out of this, and anyone who's wearing the watch and sleeping with it at night can get this incredible insight each day to help them get through it. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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