The Apple Watch Ultra 3 Is a Big Step in the Right Direction

In the wake of new slim iPhones and AirPods that do live translation, it's easy to forget the other third of Apple's personal devices. Cupertino sent out new smartwatches, including an update on the Apple Watch Ultra. I've been an Apple Watch wearer for years, most recently wearing the Series 10. I was never tempted to upgrade to the premium option, but the new Apple Watch Ultra 3 changed my mind.

It turns out I didn't quite know what I was missing. The Ultra 3 is the biggest, brightest, and longest-lasting Apple Watch yet. And compared to the Series 11 and new SE, it offers serious feature improvements over its predecessor. After wearing one for the last couple of weeks, here is everything I loved (and felt ambivalent towards) about the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

The Best Apple Watch... Ever?

I can say that pretty objectively. This is the highest-performing, best-looking Apple Watch that's ever come out, even if that's only because it's the newest model. It doubles down on what made the last Ultra great. There's still incredibly detailed accelerometer gyroscope readings for golf; 100 meter water resistance for swimming, scuba, and sailing; and in-depth health and location readings for runners. There's still a programable orange Action button (a feature the other watches lack) you can set to do any quick action of choice. It's has the largest, brightest display on an Apple Watch yet. And even with its always on display, it can go nearly two days without a charge.

To really be impressed, though, I recommend turning always-on off and seeing how many days it will last. You'll be shocked at how much of a battery hog that always on display winds up being. With it turned on, I found the battery life to be comparable to my Series 10 watch. With the feature off, I lost the feeling of always having a cool real-watch face, but the battery life jumps to two days or more. I finally understood just what Ultra is supposed to mean.

In terms of new features hardware and hardware-adjacent features (we'll talk Health and OS in a second), there is one big one. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 has added two-way satellite capabilities, one of the main services Apple needs to eat into Garmin's hold on the adventure category. Now if your hiking, overlanding, sailing, or just on a drive out West, you're never more than a text message away from your contacts list. You can, of course, silence it for only emergency situations. That's where satellite capability really shows its worth. If you don't have cell service and need to communicate with someone back at camp, you have full text and call. If you need to reach emergency services, you have SOS. If the watch detects a hard fall and/or lack of movement or other indicators of an emergency, it can call emergency services for you. If you just want the family back home to track your trip, you can use Find My via satellite to send sporadic location updates. On the adventure front, the Ultra 3 is still catching up to the weeks-long battery life that brands like Garmin have. Satellite communication integrated into the Apple ecosystem is a huge first step. And since Apple is better at keeping old models alive with software updates, it might not be too long before it builds a serious adventure watch challenge.

Health and WatchOS26

Now, let's talk the Health app. For WatchOS26, Apple has revamped how it's doing sleep tracking. Finally, we are getting a nightly Sleep Score every morning. Getting in line with Samsung, Google, Oura, and many other sleep trackers, the Apple Watch will finally mash all your sleep data together into one number from 1 of 100.

One of the other highlights is improved cardiovascular monitoring, including hypertension alerts. After 30 days of continued use, it will be able to detect hypertension (chronic high blood pressure) and give you some recommended next steps. Sounds boring, but it's frequently undiagnosed and one of the main causes of serious issues—heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease—that can be significantly culled with lifestyle changes. It'll come to Apple Watch Series 9 and later when running watchOS26.

The Workout app also got a revamp. It's now easier to customize workout types. For example, you can differentiate pace runs, race runs, or other activities more easily on the Watch or in the iPhone Health app. Then, it's paired with Apple working hard to upgrade the the GPS with dual-frequency location tracking. That promises more precise segmenting of distance sports, and it pairs with third-party apps like Strava. Dual-frequency GPS also helps for tighter waypoint setting when off-grid on hikes, overland trips, and whatnot. There are similar quality of life upgrades for cycling, swimming, and diving. All these features are another shot across Garmin's bow. We haven't reached full war, but the Apple armada is building.

In general, I've found the changes to the interface, workout tracking, and sleep tracking, to be huge upgrade and steps in the right direction. The watchOS26 an easier to adapt to than iOS26. It's also worth noting all these updates will make their way to other watches, even your last-gen models. My only hangup is that the Ultra is a bit bulky for sleeping in. I still prefer smart rings for sleep tracking, but with more sleep upgrades being added I might be tempted to change that.

Final Verdict: Is It Worth The Premium?

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 isn't the most exciting new device I've tried out this year. That title goes to my Ninja ice cream maker. But on a pure specs level, it is the best Apple Watch to ever release. It offers satellite communicating, and that is a massive step for what Apple is building with the Ultra line. Then, there's watchOS26 and its suite of health-tracking improvements. Most of those OS improvements are going to come to the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and that watch will start going on discount pretty soon. It's good that Apple isn't leaving old watches to die, but it means the $800 brand new Ultra 3 is mostly reserved for diehards.

My advice: unless you're the type of guy who goes for a weekly hike, or a daily swim—or on the opposite end of the spectrum, an absolute nerd about tech—I think the slimmer Apple Watch 11 is a good buy. But if you're a cyclist, runner, or adventure type that's excited about where Cupertino is taking this lineup, it's a release that's really going to excite you.