Apple Watch Series 6 review: faster, cheaper, still the best you needs to know

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Slick with great health and fitness tracking but sleep and blood oxygen monitor aren’t yet useful\

The new top-end Apple Watch Series 6 is slightly faster, brighter and cheaper with a replacement sensor – and does only enough to remain the king of smartwatches.

Available in two sizes, 40 or 44mm, and during a sort of case materials and hues , it starts at £379 in aluminium. Our test watch is in 44mm graphite chrome steel costing £699. It requires an iPhone and can't be used with Android.

The Series 6 follows the superb Series 5 from 2019, which introduced an always-on display cementing the Apple Watch at the highest of a pile and making it a really difficult act to follow.

The new watch is actually the Series 5 with a replacement blood oxygen saturation sensor on the rear – more thereon later. It also features a faster chip and a screen that's 2.5x brighter when within the “always-on” ambient mode, which is especially noticeable outdoors. It comes in some new colours, including a blue or red aluminium. Our test watch, the aforementioned graphite-coloured chrome steel , features a gorgeous, dark lustrous quality thereto .

Comfortable to wear, it's an outsized range of strap options with new styles including the Solo Loop and Solo Braided Loop, which are sized bands without a buckle or clasp that stretch to tug on over your hand.

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Specifications

• Case size: 40 or 44mm

• Case thickness: 10.4mm

• Weight: 30.5 to 39.7g or 36.5 to 47.1g counting on material

• Processor: S6

• RAM: 1GB

• Storage: 32GB

• Operating system: WatchOS 7

• Water resistance: 50 metres (5ATM)

• Sensors: gyro, HR sensor, ECG, blood oxygen, light, microphone, speaker, NFC, GPS/GNSS, compass, altimeter

• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5, wifi n, NFC, Ultra wideband, optional 4G requiring eSIM and compatible plan

• Performance and battery

The Series 6 has Apple’s latest S6 chip, which is fast, fluid and beats even the simplest performance from rival smartwatch makers.

It is up to twenty faster on paper but doesn’t feel much snappier than the S5 contribute the Series 5 and therefore the new Watch SE. it's considerably faster than the chip utilized in the Series 3, though, which remains on sale.

Battery life is solid if not class leading. With the always-on display active and sleep tracking on overnight, the Series 6 lasts quite 36 hours between charges, including with two manual ECG recordings, two manual blood oxygen recordings, lots and much of notifications and a 25-minute run.

Sleep tracking overnight consumed between 10% and 12% of battery life, while a 25-minute outdoor run consumed about 4-5% of battery life. The Series 6 charges from flat to 100% in as little as 83 minutes and hits 80% in just 56 minutes employing a 2A USB power adapter, which is far faster than the Series 5.

Sustainability

Apple doesn't provide an expected lifespan for the battery within the Series 6. Similar batteries typically last a minimum of 500 full charge cycles while maintaining a minimum of 80% capacity. The battery are often replaced for £82.44 while the watch are often repaired for between £286.44 and £476.44 counting on the model. The repair specialists iFixit awarded the Series 6 a repairability score of 6 out of 10.

The Series 6 uses 100% recycled aluminium in its case and 99% recycled tungsten in various different components. It doesn't ship with an influence adapter within the box, instead employing a standard USB-A cable on its wireless charging puck. Apple is additionally using renewable energy for final assembly of the watch and breaks down the Series 6’s environmental impact in its report.

Apple also offers trade-in and free recycling schemes, including for non-Apple products.

WatchOS 7

The Series 6 ships with the newest version of Apple’s WatchOS 7, which also runs on the Series 3, 4, 5 and Watch SE.

WatchOS 7 introduced seven new watch faces, plus the power to share configurations of the built-in watch faces with other users, though I still can’t find any combination of watch face i actually love.

The new software also added full, on-device voice dictation, in order that your speech is converted to text faster, with greater privacy and without requiring an online connection. This includes message replies, when lecture Siri, and other bits. Setting a timer using Siri is now practically instant, putting Samsung’s Bixby and Google’s Assistant on their smartwatches to shame. It still can’t set multiple timers, though, which is annoying when cooking.

Notification handling, including calls, texts and replies to messages is sweet . The tight integration between the Apple Watch and phone is best than the other smartwatch with an iPhone. that has Apple Pay and Siri. There are an inexpensive number of excellent third-party apps, too, including Google Maps, Strava and Spotify, but no dedicated WhatsApp app, so you'll only reply to notifications not start new conversations from your wrist.

Connecting the watch to the web – and thus using apps to their full capacity – is completed either by the watch being within Bluetooth range of the iPhone, being on wifi or having a 4G eSIM within the device. Once you're connected by one among those three, then everything works, including notifications from your phone.

Most of the watch’s functions, like health and fitness tracking, also work completely offline. So if you're out for a run without your phone, it tracks where you're and may offer you the stats you would like . But you won’t be ready to get messages or see where you're on Apple Maps, unless you've got a 4G plan for your watch. For runners who use Spotify – there's a drag . The watch can download songs from Apple Music to its 32GB of total space so you'll hear music offline but not so for Spotify.

Health monitoring

A photograph showing the blood oxygen saturation measurements readings from the new Apple Watch. It requires you to be still together with your arm flat on a table for 15 seconds for reliable readings.

The blood oxygen saturation measurements require you to be still together with your arm flat on a table for 15 seconds for reliable readings. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

On top of the guts rate and electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor from the Series 5, the Series 6 features a new sensor on the rear that measures the oxygen saturation of your blood, referred to as SpO2. to live it you've got to manually activate it on the Series 6 and stay still together with your wrist on a table for 15 seconds. It worked reliably on behalf of me and consistently gave me readings within the expected healthy 95%-100% range, although I cannot vouch for its accuracy compared to proper, medial SpO2 monitors that clip to the top of your finger.

In theory, the watch shows how oxygenated your blood is and by inference, how well your lungs are working, or how well your body is adjusting to high altitude, which is where SpO2 sensors are typically utilize in a wellness setting. quite few high-end running or triathlon watches feature the sensor for that purpose.

SpO2 also can be used combined with other sensors while sleeping to detect breathing disturbances like sleep apnoea, which rivals like With things are currently clinically validating. While the Series 6 does measure your SpO2 periodically through the night it simply records readings without combining with sleep data.

A photograph showing the sleep tracking feature on the Apple Watch. The sleep tracking feature only records the time you were asleep.

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The sleep tracking feature only records the time you were asleep. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The new sleep tracking is disappointing, however. it's basic and restrictive compared with rivals from Fitbit, Samsung and Withings. The Apple Watch tracks how long you're asleep but doesn’t provide estimates of your sleep pattern (light, deep, and REM sleep) or offer smart-alarm functions which will wake you within the morning in an optimum sleep phase – only an easy set-time alarm. It also forces you to use Apple’s sleep schedule function, which sets a bedtime and wakeup time and activates don't disturb (DND). Trouble is, if you’re having a lie-in the schedule turns off DND at your allotted time and you immediately get woken by alerts vibrating your wrist.

The software update also added a really useful hand washing feature, which uses on-device AI to detect once you are washing your hands using your motions and therefore the sounds of water and soap timing you 20 seconds and logging it within the Health app. It also can remind you to scrub your hands once you get home.

The rest of Apple’s comprehensive health and fitness-tracking features from previous generation Apple Watches return. The Series 6 will track many various sports and has long enough battery life to ascertain most through a marathon. Note you'll play music from Apple Music straight from the watch without your phone but not Spotify.

A photograph showing the Apple Watch Series 6 and iPhone in sync. fixing the watch takes about 10 minutes, including pairing with an iPhone and syncing data and settings.

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fixing the Series 6 takes about 10 minutes, including pairing with an iPhone and syncing data and settings. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Price

The Apple Watch Series 6 comes in two sizes, various different materials and models with the choice of 4G that needs an eSIM and compatible phone plan add-on.

The aluminium or Nike versions in 40mm size costs £379 or £479 with 4G. The 44mm costs £409 or £509 with 4G.

All other Series 6 models have 4G as standard. The chrome steel model costs £649 (40mm) or £699 (44mm), while the titanium starts at £749 and therefore the Hermes starts at £1,199.

For comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 3 starts at £399, the Fossil Gen 5 smartwatch starts at £279, the Fitbit Sense costs £299.99, the Withings ScanWatch costs £249.95 and therefore the Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Solar costs £739.99.

The Apple Watch Series 6 is that the best smartwatch on the marketplace for an iPhone.

It has better integration with the iPhone and is fast, fluid and responsive during a way that a lot of rivals simply aren’t. it's extremely comfortable to wear and receives meaningful software and have updates, and can do for an extended period of your time . Third-party app support is pretty healthy.

It is best-in-class for general heath-tracking functionality, makes most of it easy to use and understand. Sleep tracking, though, is just too basic compared with the competition and, frankly, I’m unsure it's well worth the battery and charging hassle in its current form.

Apple’s fitness activity tracking is extremely good. It won’t beat a fanatical running or triathlon await battery life, utility, data or practicality but it isn’t thus far off that more casual runners won’t be happy.

The problem for the Series 6 is that the previous Series 5 and Series 4 versions, and therefore the new cheaper Watch SE, are even as good on this front. The ECG function is beneficial for those worried about their heart but outside of testing, I’m highly unlikely to use it regularly.

The new blood oxygen sensor within the Series 6 hasn’t won me over; it just doesn’t produce useful data in its current form unless you’re going for altitude training – at which point you’re probably strapping a Garmin to your wrist, not an Apple Watch.

The always-on screen is additionally noticeably brighter when not actively using it and therefore the battery life will reliably see you thru each day and half. The Series 6 is additionally £20 to £50 cheaper than the Series 5 at launch.

It isn’t a huge upgrade over a Series 5 or maybe the Series 4 but the Apple Watch Series 6 is that the best smartwatch you'll buy immediately if you employ an iPhone.

Pros:

excellent haptics, great always-on screen, ECG, great health tracking, great activity tracking, 50m water resistance, solid battery, comfortable, quick-swap straps, Apple Pay.

Cons:

expensive, only works with an iPhone, sleep tracking not great, blood oxygen data not that useful.

A close-u[ photograph of the Apple Watch Series 6. The new count up face resembles a dive watch with an old-fashioned bezel-based timer.

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The new count up face resembles a dive watch with an old-fashioned bezel-based timer. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

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