The Apple Watch has a problem no software update can fix. It’s still the most accurate wearable I’ve tested, but needing to recharge it daily means it often gets stuck on a charger overnight, which is when some of the most valuable health metrics are collected.
As wearables increasingly compete on long-term health insights instead of workout stats alone, battery life is Apple’s biggest weakness. Smart rings like the Oura Ring and screenless bands like the Whoop and Fitbit Air have carved out a niche by doing the opposite of the Apple Watch: disappearing. They stay on your body for a week or more at a time, collecting health trends that a smartwatch misses while it’s sitting on a charger.
I’ve tested dozens of wearables, and recommend the Apple Watch over other smartwatches because it consistently comes out on top in my heart rate testing. But despite years of trying, I’ve never managed to wear one to bed consistently.
Apple’s smartwatch only takes about an hour to charge, but between late-night deadlines, kids and an unpredictable schedule, I’ve never developed a reliable charging routine ahead of overnight wear. Sooner or later, I either forget to charge it or forget to put it back on before bed. I’m not alone. I’ve spoken with researchers, athletes and friends who chose another wearable simply because they could wear it around the clock.
Apple is leaving an opportunity on the table. Not because the Apple Watch isn’t good enough, but because it’s asking too much of those who wear it. A low-maintenance wearable like a smart ring that complements the Apple Watch could be the missing piece.
Battery life is hard to solve
Accuracy isn’t just about having better sensors. It’s a balancing act between sensor quality, software algorithms and sampling frequency (how often the device measures your vitals). The Apple Watch excels at all three. Its optical sensors, algorithms and near-continuous heart rate sampling during workouts consistently outperform other wearables in my testing. They’re also why the battery drains so quickly.
By contrast, smart rings are a completely different design and have their own compromises. Their smaller batteries mean they take less frequent samples, which is fine overnight when your vitals aren’t changing much, but less ideal for capturing sudden spikes during interval training.
In my testing of the Oura Ring 5, its measurement of my peak heart rate during a 3-mile run was 8 beats per minute lower than a chest strap (the gold standard), though average heart rate was nearly identical. The Apple Watch, by comparison, tracked almost identically with the chest strap even during those peaks.
Apple struggles to keep the hardware on your wrist
Apple’s sensors and software can already surface many of the same long-term health insights as a smart ring. The Vitals app flags signs of illness when one or more health signals are out of range, and tracks menstrual cycles and recovery metrics. The problem is that those insights depend on consistent overnight wear. That means you have to remember to charge it before bed, and not accidentally forget it on the charger (it’s me!).
Apple’s retrospective ovulation estimates, for example, require at least five consecutive nights of sleep tracking to establish a temperature baseline, and roughly two full menstrual cycles of nightly wear to unlock ovulation estimates. And upgrading to a newer model or resetting your watch means starting the whole process over.
Compare that with the Oura Ring 5, which lasts a week or more on your finger uninterrupted before needing a charge. Even if I happen to forget to wear it on the night it’s charging, I don’t have to reset my baseline. It just picks up where I left off. That means I can see my ovulation data as it happens and not retroactively like the Apple Watch. As a woman trying to better understand my cycle, that continuity has made it much easier to connect the dots between my hormones, sleep, recovery and workouts.
