Apple is a methodical company by nature, capturing loyal fans of its ecosystem. Features, functions, and designs aren’t released until the company is confident not only that it can do it right, but also that it’s the right time. When it comes to Apple Watch, the design has been largely the same through the years, with minor tweaks and refinements. But new features have been added from one generation of OS to the next. A new feature with the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 is one that owners have been waiting for. But it’s also one that other smartwatch and fitness wearable brands like Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, Oura, Garmin, and others, have offered for some time.

Readiness Score, currently only available on these two new smartwatches via the new S11 chip and Health Sensing System, analyzes your vitals, activity, sleep, heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV), stress, temperature, and more, to determine how well your body has recovered. It’s a welcome feature that I have been enjoying using to help me plan my days.

Better late than never

Readiness Score works a bit differently

It takes seven days to calibrate and determine a baseline for a Readiness score, during which you need to consistently track sleep. Once you get your score, it displays in both the Fitness and Health apps, as well as the app on the Watch itself. You’ll see it in the form of a number, which is qualified by a label like Pace Yourself, Ready, Go For It, or Recover. There’s also insight into why you received this assessment. The idea is to help you determine how hard you should push that day. Maybe your body is telling you that you’re ready for an intense workout, or perhaps it’s saying to take it easy.

Most other devices, like the Oura Ring 5, deliver a readiness score on a scale of 1-100. Apple, always one to do things its own way, uses a scale of 1-10. The first day I received the score, it was 7, advising that I was Ready. While I did not have a great night’s sleep, as indicated in the description, all other vitals were in good shape. Oddly on another day when I did have a good night’s sleep and other metrics were typical, my score was still 7.

With other wearables, the score arrives in the morning and stays the same. With Apple Watch Series 12, it can adjust throughout the day. Maybe you’re feeling sluggish in the morning, but your body recovers well by evening, indicating you can go for that run after all. In my case, I was down to a 6 by the evening that first time, while the second time, I remained at a steady 7 all day.

Why Readiness Score is important

It’s part of proactive health

Smartwatches, fitness trackers and bands, and smart rings all gather so much data about you. But what’s the point if you don’t know how to interpret it? Apple previously launched Vitals that aggregates heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, temperature, and recovery HRV data to show you in graph form on a single screen if anything is out of range and what. This was a first step towards Readiness Score, which then takes this information combined with other data, like your activity and overall sleep quality, and recommends how to approach your day. It may also inform Training Load, which calibrates over time to compare effort during workouts and advise if you’re working above, well above, steady, below, or well below your usual 28-day baseline.

You might dismiss these figures as arbitrary numbers, but they can be useful. I’ll admit that I have pushed myself harder when I notice my training load is below my usual. Conversely, if I wake up dreading doing a workout and see that my Readiness Score is not great (previously tracked by other devices), it’s a guilt-free reason to take a rest day.

How other devices work

Readiness comes in many forms

As noted, while Apple is only just getting into Readiness Score, a version of this feature has been available for many other wearables for some time. Samsung has offered its Energy Score since the Galaxy Watch 7. Google’s Daily Readiness Score has been available for its Pixel watches since the original model, though it’s behind the Google Health Premium (formerly Fitbit Premium) paywall, a benefit that comes with Google AI Pro as well. Fitbit devices offer it, too. Oura has a tab for Readiness in its app as well.

Garmin was among the first with Body Battery, introduced way back in 2018, which measures your energy reserves. That was followed up by Training Readiness in 2022, which updates throughout the day like with Apple Watch, advising if your body is ready for an intense workout or not. So, Apple is not innovating with this feature. But it is a big plus for the Apple Watch that has been long overdue.

Listen to your body

Readiness Score is your Watch’s way of relaying a message from your body about how you should proceed with the day. While you might feel like it’s important to keep up with your workout routine and you don’t want to miss a day, you’re better off resting and recovering if your score is low. Conversely, if you feel sluggish, but the Readiness Score is high, maybe you’ll benefit from pushing yourself, and feel reinvigorated after.

One of the cool hidden Apple Watch features to try is updating the watch face with one that has useful complications, and now you can include Readiness Score as one of them to get an instant look first thing in the morning. The feature is old hat when you look at competitors that have offered it for years. But finally adding Readiness to Apple Watch makes the smartwatch even better than before.

Brand

Apple

Heart Rate Monitor

Yes

Color Screen

Yes

Notification Support

Yes

Battery Life

Up to 24 hours

Operating System

watchOS

Apple Watch Series 12 boasts the new S11 chip and Health Sensing System, enabling tons of new features, including Readiness Score. It’s a feature that has admittedly been in many other wearables for some time. But Apple Watch owners can now join the party and reap all the benefits of the score that helps you assess your body and plan your day.