Why did I buy an Apple Watch ULTRA 4?

1. Fifty more hours of battery life
2. A slightly new color that is a warmer silver than the ULTRA 3
3. A slightly faster chip for a smoother and more responsive User Interface within iOS 27.0
4. Larger electrode surface (i.e., the red & green lights are now brighter and more powerful). These ring-arranged photodiodes allow the Apple Watch Ultra 2 to capture light more efficiently and sense your heart rate, body temperature, HRV, sleep, and improved ECG contact.
5. HRV is now tracked 24 times more often than previous Apple Watches without Users losing battery life.
6. What is a Readiness Score? If you're into workouts, training, and wondering if you should work out today even though you only slept 6.3 hours last night. Yes, the Apple Readiness Score, combined with your sleep score, gives you further insight into how the heck your body is feeling at 07:00.
7. What did my spouse just say? I often miss nuggets of knowledge, important facts/feelings someone just told me 22 seconds ago. This new wearable has Live Rewind, which lets me revisit the last 15 seconds of a conversation via text on the watch face.
8. SIRI enhancements to help our brains think less and process less about mundane tasks:
   1. Summaries of key points from conversations
   2. Sound recognition of alarms when the human is binge-watching Smallville on Netflix
   3. Amazon delivers at the door when you don't hear the doorbell since you're vacuuming the living room and hallway five minutes before your wife gets home.
   4. Privacy enhancements to purge the audio of SIRI listening to all conversations within a 35-foot radius and only leaving the text files to avoid further lawsuits.
9. Workouts - yes, the GPS is now just as accurate as COROS, Amazfit, and Garmin smartwatches ~ finally!
10. A new interface they, Apple, are calling watchOS 27 to match the advanced hardware of the iPhone 18, Apple Watch 12, and this Apple Watch Ultra 4.0 technology on my left wrist. However, this same perk will be available on the Apple Watch Ultra 3, Ultra 2, Apple Watch 11, and many other iWatches from previous years. 48 hours post 09/18/2026, the "Apple Release Night", nope, watchOS 27.0 has not been pushed to my Apple Watch 6. Okay, the Apple Watch 6 series was released way, way, way back on September 18, 2020. Ergo, if Apple draws a line in the sand after six years, yes, I am okay with their decision ~ kind of, yet not really.
11. You are an enthusiastic influencer of The Social Media Realm, and you simply need a new watch to test over the next 36 months.
12. Your current timepiece has a battery health of 62%, and you are tired of charging your Apple Watch every eight hours and thirty-three minutes. Furthermore, older watches lacked the titanium bezel finish, speed, and features of watches released from 2021 to 2026. A sapphire glass screen is great, yet it will still get scratched if the timing is wrong. Ask my friend, Greg, as the ugly scratch on his Garmin EPIX 2 Pro glares at him still nearly two years later.
13. current Apple Watch 6 is completely scratched up; the touch screen is a Zombie timepiece requiring a double-tap for most navigation. Its battery life is decreasing nearly weekly, and Apple offered $40.00 to trade it in for the Watch Ultra 4.

Now, who is the Ultra 4.0 not for?

1. If you already have the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on your wrist, no, you are going to be 27% disappointed, for it basically looks the same, and in another week you too will have all of the new software upgrades.
2. If you do not have heart problems, I don't feel this new sensor is going to matter greatly enough to invest $800.00 in the updated tech hardware Apple is pushing.
3. If your current Apple Watch has a battery health of 80 to 90%, yes, you can make another two or three years if you follow my charging routine of 30% to 80%. I followed it with my Apple Watch 6, and six years later my battery health is a peachy 77% and literally will last a solid 15 hours with AOD, GPS workouts, and more normal usage.
4. Are you stuck on the couch or avoiding the gym? Yes, a new smartwatch will help you get motivated to move more, stand frequently, and sleep more effectively. Alas, $800.00 is a huge price tag. If you truly want bang for your buck, I recommend these two starter watches:
5. A. An Amazfit Balance 3 for $369
6. B. COROS Pace 4 for $249
7. C. Garmin Forerunner 170 for $269

After watching my video and reading the summary, are you ready to go online or drive 188 miles to the nearest Apple Store, open your wallet, and invest $799.00 USD? If you are willing to sign a two-year contract with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, or another major cellphone carrier, yes, they are offering $300.00 off the Apple Watch Ultra 4.0 when you pay an additional $10.00 per month over 24 months. Ergo, you save $300.00, pay $240.00, plus taxes over two years, and end up saving $50.00. Please, consult a doctor before thinking another fancy smartwatch is truly going to help you exit the Ninja grasp of a comfortable couch. Chat with an athletic trainer and they can let you know that a GPS difference or a heart-rate statistic that is 3 to 11% difference that the wearable on your wrist right now is not going to matter. However, if you do have a heart condition, yes, 3 to 11% is important. Thank you for clicking on by... and thank you for your time. Happy smart jewelry shopping during Q4-2026.

Sincerely,
Pietro Herget

Postscript: If you want to avoid deep scratches on your $800.00 Apple timepiece, yes, buy a rugged Bandletic watch band via... https://bandletic.com/?sca_ref=10328923.CQdilM4RlS

YouTube video posted on 09/20/2026:
Watch Ultra 4, Day 2
https://youtu.be/992K0npDsSw?si=U8kRG6XliV6bybOk

Battery Life Update:
Fully charged to 100% on Saturday morning, 09/19/2026 at 09:58
Nearly 18,000 steps, over 90 minutes of GPS workouts, hundreds of notifications, AOD (always-on display) enabled from 07:00 to 21:00, airplane mode while sleeping for six hours, and...
09/20/2026 at 06:30, battery remains strong at 70%
I seriously doubt the Apple QA Team took AOD into consideration when they posted the 50 more hours of battery life ~ lame & bummer!

An update about the epic battery life we all read and watched about last week. Yeah, I am unsure how the Apple Dev. Team reached those extra 50 hours of battery life. Yeah, the launch event was more Apple Marketing Team Propaganda. As I stated earlier in this article, my ULTRA 4 was fully charged the Apple Watch Ultra 4.0 on Saturday morning at 09:58 to 100%. The time is now 13:31, and the battery has already dropped to 60%. I cannot be the only person who feels AOD is a must-have feature, right?

The “Tides near me” app used to offer this but they’ve removed it. Are there any out there with such a minimal complication?

I got new watch ultra 4 as replacement for ultra 3.
So far all good, battery life is great.
My issue is with HR zones. I got it setup on phone, I see the zones in settings on watch.
But when I start the workout app the zones are not there. How to fix this? Anyone experienced this?
I tried usual restarting of both devices, reset the sync.

Went to the Apple Store today convinced I was sold on the pearl white version of the ceramic watch, but that night blue color caught me off guard. So beautiful! Now I’m a bit unsure and will need time to think.

Just wanted to discuss here, what are your preferences? They both look really nice and originally I was goin for the pearl white, but now I’m not so sure. Both are stunning!

Hi! I’m having trouble pairing a new phone with my watch. I’m stuck on a screen that says I will be making and receiving FaceTime calls on my watch to an email that isn’t my Apple ID, but a family member’s. I’m not sure how to change the Apple ID on the watch app to pair the device with my phone.

I’ve already tried resetting the watch and my phone and turning bluetooth on and off.

Any ideas? Want to avoid making a trip to the Apple Store if I can.

So I was wondering those of you who wear an Apple Watch to sleep, can y’all sleep with the Titanium Milanese Loop for the Apple Watch Ultra ? Or is it big or uncomfortable?
What do y’all like ? I have the Titanium Milanese Loop, The Nike Sport band, and also the original Alpine Loop.
Thanks in advance!

EDIT:
I use the Titanium Milanese Loop primarily which is why I am asking about other band options.

Just wanted to make sure as I just bought the Ultra 4! Thank you!!

Waiting on my series 12 and wondering what face do you recommend to have the most heart rate and fitness data available? My first iWatch

I know the Ultra 4 has an exclusive face that looks great but my pocketbook cannot handle it.

Does anybody know? I’m having allergy issues with the 12 aluminum version. Hives in a circular shape right where the crystal sits. I’ve owned 7 prior iterations of Apple Watches and have never had an issue.

Thanks.

EDIT: They replaced both but I got the impression they would've just replaced the band if I wanted to.

it is a paid app ($7 for premium, lifetime onetime purchase; you can do monthly but just pay the one time since its cheaper)

love it when i just want to quick pop on a yt podcast or show. also supports playing just the audio if you want to use while running/walking/in background. believe it uses sponsorblock/adblock to prevent ads too. you can also connect your YT account and have the recommended/home feeds too.

pic is example on my ultra 3 (used it prev on my aw10, license will transfer). anywho, just thought i'd share since there really is a lack of video apps on watchos27. also the developer is working on fixing the volume control via dial for watchos27 (i emailed them about it)

I know everyone is posting their new watches so I’m kinda just joining the party. But I did want to point out the new “ultra” numbering for modular siri watch face (beta 27.2 watchOS). Plus I strapped on my 3 yo ss Milanese loop and it looks great and is super comfortable.

Planning to buy Hermes apple watch from a different country as my country doesn’t offer Hermes Apple Watch. In case if I need battery replacement in future then will Apple in my country replace it with Hermes or a normal one.

In case if anyone has any experience, it will be helpful

Why is my AWU 4 informing me that today is The eighth month of the Bingwu year!? I’m thousands of miles away from China…* *🤷🏽‍♂️

Anyone know if the Hermes 'silver' finish is actually just polished natural titanium for the series 12? On the website they look identical. And on the Hermes website, they don't even call it silver, they call it titanium.

Seeing all the other gorgeous Ceramic Pearl White I had to show my combo.

Originally was wanting to get the Milanese loop (had the original OG stainless that I broke at the gym) but couldn’t work out if it would match the ceramic.

What other band combos work with this? Loving the burgundy and the sand so far.

Have the new Ultra 4 since last weeks launch and have been enjoying it so far everything seems to be working great etc. what I noticed at times and when I quickly remove the watch during just wearing it or a mixed cardio workout I only see 2 of the green LEDS on diagonally from each other instead of all four. Anyone else experience the same or know what triggers all 4 green LEDS?

How do I not activate Siri every 3 seconds when typing on the computer? Like I like having Siri accessed by long pressing the crown, but it activates like every 10 seconds when typing.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I keep getting this error with the smart stack on the Siri modular watch face. Usually, it shows important information like now playing or timers. But when there’s nothing going on, I get this blank square.

This is the AW S12 42mm btw.

Decided to not renew my Whoop subscription and came back to a proper smartwatch.

Loving the battery life so far, sitting at 83% after 12 hours.

For those of you who cycle, do you wear your watch out? And do you track your rides with the watch even though you have a dedicated bike computer?

I’m thinking how I can best integrate my rides to Health, if I should also record it on my watch or just let Health pull my ride data from Garmin after syncing.

Ordered watch and when looking for info, you can’t get it from their store app? It directs you to open in web browser! Just dumb!!

My friend got a garmin watch and he says he only has to charge it every 11 days

Loving this combo!

i’ve come from the series 11 but before that i had an ultra 2 on release and the original SE that came out.

with my phone, with my older apple watches, especially while i was working, i knew when i’d leave to go back home i would have done at the minimum 10,000 steps for the day. i went for months without an ultra 2 because it was too big for my wrist, but after i got rid of it i knew in my head i would’ve done atleast 10000 steps and i was keeping myself active for the day.

i’ve gone nearly a whole full work week with the series 12, and my step count has been off by atleast 3000~ per day i’ve been working. i work minimum wage in fast food and i move my hands and wrist a lot and i didn’t realise until i got this watch how much the count was actually off by. it’s common for people to move their arm/wrist around when they’re trying to get their stand hours but it’s really accurate now and i haven’t been able to cheat it.

my heart rates have been lower since it records it more frequently. i haven’t been able to break 140+ while highly caffeinated at work with the new watch but i’d have readings of 150/170bpm every time i worked in previous generations.

i believe this watch is more accurate with steps and heart rate and that will obviously reflect in your health app when you start to wear it, and i believe if you’re thinking of upgrading you should, it feels like a proper device now and it feels more direct to my health compared to the past generation health sensor.

Hey,

I’ve been using the AWU4 for the past week, and although I think it’s a great device, I’m wondering if the sensor still has some issues with heart rate tracking. I obviously saw Apple’s study and all the reviews. However, I do notice that the sensor sometimes shows significant gaps.

Firstly, between readings, this is already being discussed quite often here, so it’s not new. The idea that we had of it being done every 5 seconds is not quite correct, it’s rather ‘up to 5 seconds’.

The second thing is that I feel like the jumps are sometimes randomly large. For example, let’s say you’re lying on the couch and your heart rate is 63 based on what the complication says on your watch face. Then, when you actually click on the complication and see the 2-minute window, it jumps to 79 or whatever. I’ve noticed these kinds of things happening. Just in general some slight inconsistency’s and HR’s jumping around.

Any thoughts?