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Apple Watch Series 12 makes a big change to a small complication that I’m excited about

read original get Apple Watch Ultra 2 → more articles
Why This Matters

Apple's new Health Sensing System in Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 reportedly samples heart rate every five seconds — a 60x increase — enabling the compact Heart Rate complication to show a live reading instead of acting as a mere app launcher. It's a small UI change that illustrates how sensor upgrades cascade into everyday software improvements, and it signals a functional gap between new hardware and older models running watchOS 27.

Key Takeaways
Worth a Look

Apple Watch Ultra 2 — If the article's heart-rate complication talk has you eyeing a new wearable, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the rugged flagship option with a big, bright display that makes glanceable complications easy to read. It's a great pick for tracking workouts, heart rate, and daily activity right from your wrist.

See Apple Watch Ultra 2 on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.

Apple Watch Series 12 is a major upgrade to the core health and fitness tracking wearable. That’s because of the new Health Sensing System that includes an even more capable heart rate monitor.

The new hardware doesn’t just extend to more accurate health data. There’s a big change to a small complication that I’m seeing in Apple’s marketing material. It’s just one thing I’m excited about with the new Series 12 and Ultra 4 models.

Apple’s Heart Rate complication gets an upgrade on Series 12 and Ultra 4 models

I really like glancing at my Apple Watch and seeing my recent heart rate. Keeping my resting heart rate low is a good indicator that I’m doing something right with fitness (and managing stress).

For that reason, I often use Apple’s Heart Rate complication on my watch face.

The small, circular version is just a launcher that displays the Heart Rate app icon. The wide version, though, displays a recent heart rate reading, plus a graph of your heart rate since midnight.

I use the wide version since it actually displays information. The app launcher version doesn’t have much utility for me.

Based on Apple’s Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 marketing material, however, it looks like the smaller heart rate complication is getting a big upgrade.

Apple shows it displaying an actual heart rate for the first time. That means it can be one of the smaller complication sides, not just a three-wide version.

The same complication is still just an app launcher on watchOS 27’s release candidate version on Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3.

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