Apple Just Announced Their New 2026 Products—And the Watch Updates Put Longevity at the Forefront

5 min readApple is all in on the L-word: longevity. At the 2026 Fall Keynote presentation in Cupertino on September 9, plenty of “oohs” and “ahhs” fell over the crowd as we witnessed the reveal of the brand’s first-ever foldable phone, the iPhone Duo. But I personally couldn’t wait to try the impressive new wellness features on the Apple Watch and redesigned Health app.These days, practices to optimize your healthspan are about as common as tying your shoes. When I traveled to Apple’s headquarters to get a first look at all of the new products dropping this fall, I learned that the company is diving headfirst into the trend. Their updated science-forward features—available on the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4—offer more personalized, detailed insights into your body. They’re focused on not only helping to increase the length of your life, but the quality of it.With so many wearables on the market, I’m excited for many of the features on other products to finally land on my Apple devices to streamline my health data. They’ll be available on the Series 12 and Ultra 4, but you can also download a iOS 27 software update to use some of the features on previous versions as far back as the Series 9 and Ultra 2 or later versions, as well as the SE 3.Here’s what you need to know about the most important health updates arriving to your Apple Watch this fall.The new Apple Watch models offer a more accurate heart-rate tracker, which tells you when to push harder in a workout or recover.Apple even conducted a two-month study this year where 1,000 participants wore an ECG chest strap with the Series 12 on one wrist while exercising and a comparative wrist device on the other (including the Garmin Forerunner 970, Google Pixel Watch 4, Huawei Watch 5, Samsung Galaxy Watch 8, and Whoop 5.0, and Oura Ring 5 on a finger). The Apple Watch had the highest statistically significant level of accuracy with heart rate data compared to the other devices.Their upgraded sensors on the Series 12 and Ultra 4 now measure your heart rate every five seconds, so you’ll get a better physiological insight into your body faster than before, and in real time. And while Apple Watches were already tracking heart rate variability, or HRV (the amount of time between heartbeats that is a determinant of your stress level), the new software does it faster than ever; it now measures the metric every five minutes.AppleThe new Apple Watch models have a more accurate heart rate tracker, helping you know when to take the day by storm or move a bit slower.Additionally, you’ll now see two different HRV variants being monitored. The new recovery HRV metric identifies stress and recovery during the day and at night, based on your personal baseline (which you’ll receive after seven days of wearing your watch with the new software). But the watch also provides an overall HRV, which looks at the patterns of your data over time, as opposed to the 24-hour snapshot.The updated Health app offers several new metrics surrounding longevity.The app helps paint a holistic picture of your health through categories like heart health, sleep, mental wellbeing, movement health, metabolic health, hearing, and nutrition, determined through your watch’s data and surveys you can fill out (similar to what was already offered on the app).But get ready to also learn your “health age,” which factors in metrics like VO2 max, resting heart rate, sleep, and HRV to compare your body to your chronological (real) age. It suggests how to improve that score, according to what’s tanking it the most, like your sleep or recovery data.The new “health age” feature compares your body’s metrics against your chronological age.AppleThe “readiness” score factors in data to tell you how rested and recovered you are to take on the day.AppleAdditionally, you’ll receive a daily “readiness” score—a metric several other wearable brands have offered variations of for a while, like Oura and Whoop. After seven days of wearing (and sleeping in) the watch, it takes metrics from tracking your activities, vitals, and sleep to provide a baseline of how equipped, energy- and recovery-wise, your body is to take on the day. It gives you a score from 0 to 10, then offers one of four recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It. As an example, maybe your HRV is low, so your readiness score isn’t as high. However, your readiness updates throughout the day based on whether you’re resting or more active.Apple Intelligence now offers personal, data-driven advice for improving your health.In the updated Health app, the Insights tab gives you a breakdown of your current heart, sleep, readiness, fitness, vitals, and cycle tracking data. The For You section uses Apple Intelligence (Apple’s AI system) to recommend specific habits to improve your routine and health—which is where these new capabilities stand out compared to wearables that already offer similar metrics, like your health age and readiness or recovery score. For instance, if you’ve stayed up a little too late a few nights in a row, it might offer you some advice for a better nighttime routine. Or, it may suggest how to add more cardio into your routine if your VO2 max could use some improvements.AppleThe Insights tab looks at your vitals, activity, and sleep, and recommends what you should work on that day—like a specific workout or resting.Additionally, the app now features movement assessments for flexibility, strength, balance, movement mechanics, and VO2 max. Simply prop up your phone in front of you and step in front of the camera so it can see your full body. Then, you can follow the trainer on screen and your camera detects how well you’re doing in certain movements. By using AI, the assessments will then give you audio and visual cues developed by clinicians to improve your form.Series 12 is $399 and available September 18.Pre-Order the Apple Watch Series 12Ultra 4 is $799 and available September 18.Pre-Order the Apple Watch Ultra 4Other fun Apple Watch updates: - Series 12 is now available in two ceramic finishes, pearl white and night blue.- Ultra 4 now has up to 50 hours of battery life on one charge and up to 84 hours on low power mode.What Else to Know About the Most Buzzed-About Apple Products Coming This FallThe first foldable iPhone is here. The iPhone Duo, which is also the thinnest iPhone to date, has duo-screen technology so you can use multiple apps at once. It also has cameras on the front and back of the phone, which comes in handy for taking photos and seeing multiple views during FaceTimes.Your gym selfies are about to be way higher-quality. The iPhone 18 Pro allows you to take photos and videos in incredible detail with more cinematic effects. You can now control aperture (the amount of light), the camera allows for way more detailed, sharp shots, and the new shutter speed effect helps you add artistic blurs to your photos.AirPods 5 can seriously block out noise. With their active noise cancellation, the headphones have 50 percent more noise reduction than the AirPods 4. Addison Aloian is the associate health & fitness editor at Women’s Health, where she writes and edits across the health, weight loss, and fitness verticals. She’s also a certified personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). In her free time, you can find her lifting weights at the gym, running on the West Side Highway in New York City—she recently completed her first marathon, the 2025 New York City Marathon—and watching (and critiquing!) the latest movies that have garnered Oscars buzz. In addition to Women's Health, she’s made an appearance on the Oprah Podcast and her work has also appeared in Allure, StyleCaster, L'Officiel USA, V Magazine, VMAN, and more.