When Apple unveils its new suite of software at WWDC, it acts as a starting pistol for the big guessing game: what will the next iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch look like? Well, for Apple’s wearable at least, we just got another clue.
While playing around with the developer betas of iOS 11 and watchOS 4, we spotted that Apple has added a measurement for VO2 Max in the Health app, and the description explains that this info will be captured from the Apple Watch.
Read this: Everything that’s new in watchOS 4
VO2 Max measures cardiovascular fitness by observing the maximum of oxygen that you can consume during exercise. It’s a more accurate way of gauging your fitness level, but so far only Fitbit, Garmin and Jabra have started offering it in their devices. You can get a more comprehensive break down of what it means in our guide to VO2 Max.
In order to get an accurate VO2 max score you usually need to complete a few workouts, and as of writing we’ve only had watchOS 4 running for a matter of hours so we can’t yet speak to accuracy. Also, as this is an early beta we won’t be giving it a verdict until we know for sure those promised new heart rate algorithms are up and running, and that things are a bit more stable.
It looks like anyone running watchOS 4 will get the feature when the update arrives later this year, but it also hints that the Series 3 could come packed with better sensors for fitness. This is no surprise: Apple doubled down on fitness when the Series 2 launched and we only expect it to keep pushing ahead with more features and sensors that turn the Watch into a more robust health companion. No doubt Apple will make a big point of VO2 Max when it reveals Series 3, likely around September.
SOURCE:https://www.wareable.com/apple/apple-watch-series-3-vo2-max-5433
