Apple laid out its far-reaching goals for the health and wellness tech built into iPhone and Apple Watch in a report issued Wednesday. It details how Apple intends to develop technology to support personal health, medical research, and patient care.
“We believe passionately that technology can play a role in improving health outcomes,” said Apple’s chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, in a statement.
In recent years Apple Watch has shown itself to be a lifesaver, either by calling for help when a person’s incapacitated or by offering health readings that lead a person to see a doctor.
In the latter category it just happened again. A woman in Maine didn’t believe what the wearable was telling her at first. But going to the ER led to open-heart surgery that saved her from a probable fatal stroke.
Ahead of Prime Day, Amazon has discounted the Apple Watch Series 7 to just $284 — a massive $115 off its retail price. This is the lowest price we have tracked the wearable go down to.
The discount is available on the watch’s 41mm and 45mm variants.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: This could be the year Apple Watch goes large … and rugged … and maybe long. Like, long enough to track the kind of intense, multi-hour workouts that “extreme sports athletes” engage in.
So the question is, what will this beefier (and pricier) Apple Watch look like? We can’t help letting our imaginations run a little wild.
Also on The CultCast:
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The rugged Apple Watch designed for hardcore athletes will come with the smartwatch’s biggest screen yet, according to a new report.
Slated to launch this fall alongside Apple Watch Series 8, the sports-oriented smartwatch will come with a beefier battery to make it through longer workouts. A more shatter-resistant screen and a brawny metal case will round out the package — along with a hefty price bump.
The upcoming Apple Watch Series 8 could feature a body temperature sensor that will allow the wearable to detect when you are running a fever.
Both the regular Apple Watch Series 8 and the rumored rugged variant aimed at hardcore athletes should feature the new sensor.
Evoking nostalgia for 1960s and 1970s motorsports with their distinctive perforations, leather rally watch bands pair beautifully with rugged chronograph watches and smartwatches alike.
BluShark’s trio of leather rally Apple Watch bands, for example, make quite the racy statement.
Your car may not be all that fast, but if you want to feel like Steve McQueen getting behind the wheel, check out BluShark’s leather rally Apple Watch band collection in the Cult of Mac Store.
Personal electrocardiogram (ECG) technology maker AliveCor sued Apple last year, claiming the tech giant infringed on patents when developing the heart-health functionality for Apple Watch. AliveCor called for a ban on U.S. imports of the wearable, as well.
Now a judge from the International Trade Commission has supported the claims in an initial ruling.
After strong currents swept an Australian kayaker more than two miles out to sea, he summoned help with the Emergency SOS feature of Apple Watch. That triggered his rescue by helicopter.
The Apple Watch Series 8 expected this fall won’t have better performance than its recent predecessors, according to a reliable tipster.
It will get other enhancements, though.
Rumors of an Apple Watch Explorer Edition started last year, when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple was working on ruggedized smartwatch designed specifically for athletes. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, from TF International Securities, added fuel to the fire last December, claiming that an “extreme sports version” could debut in 2022.
This month at WWDC, Apple’s focus on new fitness features for watchOS 9 lent further credence to these rumors. As a fitness-fanatic myself, all this hype has got me pretty excited. It inspired me to create these Photoshop mockups, exclusively for Cult of Mac, to explore exactly what the Explorer Edition might look like.
Thanks to a new app called WatchTube, you can now play YouTube videos directly on your Apple Watch. A 2-inch OLED screen may not be your idea of a night at the cinema, but it’s not impossible to imagine the app being useful.
The more gadgets we buy, the more separate chargers we end up with. If you’re sick of plugging in your stuff all over the place, try a multi-device charger like the SwitchEasy MagPower 4-in-1 Charging Stand.
The compact stand’s ingenious design lets you easily charge four devices at once. You can power up your iPhone or other smartphone, Apple Watch, AirPods and another device all at the same time. Three out of those four gadgets power up wirelessly, too, so you can cut some cords.
And through tonight, you can get 20% off the stand in the Cult of Mac Store. That’s a savings of $17 off the regular price.
Apple Watch Series 3 is still in Apple’s product lineup but you should avoid it. It’s so near the end of its product life that it’s not a good value even at $199.
There’s another Apple wearable that costs just a bit more and isn’t about to ride off into the sunset.
Bored of looking at the same old Apple Watch on your wrist? Give yours a makeover by adding a brand-new band or bumper case. There are a wide range of awesome Apple Watch accessories available at surprisingly affordable prices.
We’ve rounded up some of the best that are currently priced at $40 or less to help you out. Check out all 15 right here!
One of Apple’s biggest events is right around the corner. This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote promises to deliver our first look at the company’s next-generation software updates for iPhone, iPad, Mac and more. And it’s all happening on June 6.
Just like past WWDC keynotes, this year’s will be streaming online, so you’ll be able to watch it in its entirety as it all unfolds. Here’s how.
Update: The WWDC22 keynote is behind us, but if you want to get caught up you can watch the whole presentation on YouTube. Or check Cult of Mac‘s in-depth coverage.
Global sales of smartwatches grew 13% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to last year, with Apple Watch gobbling the largest slice of the pie by far, new research indicates.
Apple’s wearable led in 2021, but new numbers show its lead continues to grow.
Everyone knows Apple Watch is an excellent health and fitness companion. But did you know it’s also handy for taking selfies? That’s thanks to Apple Watch’s best kept secret: the Camera Remote app.
This indispensable watch app will raise your selfie game, enabling you to take more flattering shots, with better compositions, more interesting poses and much, much more.
I use it all the time to take photos for Cult of Mac, and I’ve learned a few tricks along the way. So here’s my definitive guide to taking better selfies with Apple Watch.
Best Buy’s Memorial Day sale is live, and you can save hundreds of dollars on the Apple Watch Series 7, iPad Air 4 and M1 MacBook Air.
The retailer is selling the iPad Air 4 with a whopping $150 discount, MacBook Air with a $100 discount, and up to $70 off on select Apple Watch models.
Apple’s upcoming iPhone 14 Pro models could feature always-on displays because of the handsets’ ProMotion technology, which allows for variable refresh rates, a well-known analyst said Tuesday.
Essentially, an inactive iPhone 14 Pro handset may be able to drop all the down to a 1Hz refresh rate, similar to recent Apple Watch models.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: That big, flat Apple Watch redesign we expected in 2021 might arrive this year to soothe our lingering disappointment. The latest renders by Ian Zelbo, spurred by a tweet from leaker ShrimpApplePro, make Apple Watch Series 8 look quite appealing.
Also on The CultCast:
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.
This week’s show is sponsored by Jamf Now and Squarespace. See below for special offers.
Withings, maker of health devices and smartwatches, launched its new ScanWatch Horizon wearable on Tuesday. It looks like a classic dive watch but packs modern health and activity tracking, 30-day battery life and Apple Health integration.
It’s not cheap, but there are reasons for that.
Remember last year when rumors flew that Apple Watch 7 would feature a flat display and squared edges? Not true, of course. But a new leak suggests those traits might define the upcoming Apple Watch 8.
Or maybe the characteristics apply to the rumored “rugged” Apple Watch that could be coming soon. Either way, there’s reason to believe those changes have been in the pipeline.
After ongoing rumors and leaks, Google finally confirmed Wednesday at its I/O 2022 developer conference that the Pixel Watch exists. And the round-cased smart watch will be released in fall 2022 alongside the Pixel 7 smartphone.
The Pixel Watch will duke it out with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Watch, which it resembles. But it will also look to knock market leader Apple Watch off its pedestal.
Aura Devices updated its health-metrics-focused smart band for Apple Watch Wednesday by slimming it down and adding a fitness-oriented subscription service.
The second-generation Aura Strap 2 records metrics like body fat percentage, muscle density and water levels.