watchOS 11 brings powerful health and fitness insights

The new workout types and features added to the Workout app in watchOS 11 include:

1. Training load: This feature measures the intensity and duration of workouts over time, helping users understand the strain on their body and make informed decisions about their training5.
2. Effort rating: After each workout, users can track how difficult the workout was on a scale from 1 to 10. This rating can be adjusted manually, and for workouts where an automatic estimate is not provided, users can still enter an effort rating3.
3. Custom workouts for pool swims: Users can now customize interval-based workouts with support for sets of work and recovery, and haptics to signal when it's time to move on to the next interval.
4. More workout types: The Workout app now offers even more workout types that can track distance using enhancements in GPS positioning, including soccer, American football, Australian football, outdoor hockey, lacrosse, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, golf, outdoor rowing, and more. Users can also see their route maps for more workout types.
5. Apple Maps integration: Apple Watch now offers hikes for all U.S. national parks, which can be saved to Apple Watch and accessed offline with turn-by-turn guidance, even without an iPhone nearby. Users can also create their own walking routes within the Maps app on iPhone and save the route for later navigation with just their Apple Watch.

The Vitals app in watchOS 11 tracks several key health metrics, including heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, sleep duration, and blood oxygen levels1. The app provides context for these metrics by analyzing them and presenting the data in an easily understandable format. Users can check their daily health status and explore noteworthy metrics at a glance, with the app highlighting any metrics that are out of the user's typical range6. Additionally, when two or more metrics are out of the typical range, the app will send a notification to the user, detailing how the changes in these specific metrics may be linked to other aspects of their life, such as elevation changes, alcohol consumption, or even illness. The Vitals app leverages real-world data from the Apple Heart and Movement Study to inform its out-of-range classifications and notifications, and is designed to help users make more informed day-to-day decisions about their health2.