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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Apple caught my attention with their claim that the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 have the “most accurate heart rate in a wearable.” It’s hard to make a really accurate heart rate sensor, and in my experience, Apple hasn’t had a great track record in that area. So I tested the Series 12 pretty intensively over the past week or so, and now I have results. I’m picky about accuracy; longtime readers have seen me test watch after watch against my trusty chest strap to find out how good each one really is. That sometimes brings surprises: The Powerbeats Pro 2 are surprisingly bad at heart rate tracking if you have small ears, for example. I also discovered that the Garmin Forerunner 570 is shockingly good at heart rate ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. One of the big features Apple announced alongside the new Apple Watches is Siri AI—now available on your wrist! You need to join a waitlist to try Apple's new and improved chatbot, and since my turn just came up, I put the new on-wrist Siri through its paces. Here's how it went, and why I don't think the experience lives up to Apple's promises (yet, anyway).What devices have Siri AI? Since Siri AI requires Apple Intelligence, you’ll need a device that supports it. Those include iPhones 15 Pro and newer, and an Apple Watch that is Series 9 or newer. If you want to use Siri AI on the Apple Watch, you need both a supported watch and a supported phone—a new watch and old phone won’t do the trick. With my phone and watch bo...

Apple's latest updates are all about AI—Apple Intelligence, that is. When you update to iOS 27 and macOS 27 Golden Gate, Apple will invite you to try Siri AI and other new Apple Intelligence features. (Assuming your iPhone supports Apple's AI features.) But whether you use the new AI-powered Siri all the time or find yourself frequently scrolling past the AI additions, Apple Intelligence is taking up space on your device—perhaps requiring more storage than you bargained for.I'll admit, I didn't think much of it when I updated my iPhone and Mac to the latest versions. I gave Siri AI a shot, adjusted Liquid Glass, and went back to doing pretty much the same things I was doing before I made the update. But once I saw headlines about how much storage Apple Intelligence actually takes up on the...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. When I test smartwatches and fitness trackers, I place a particular emphasis on accuracy. Is my running pace correct? Does the device capture the ups and downs of my heart rate? I even got a VO2max lab test to check a bunch of watches' fitness scores. But one thing I never test for accuracy is calorie burn. None of my devices come close to agreeing on the number of calories they think I'm burning, and I don't expect them to. Even scientists who study the accuracy of wearables can't answer the question in a way that's useful when you're shopping for this year's devices—but we'll get into why that is below. There was a time, before Fitbits, when nobody knew quite how many calories they were burning on a daily basis. Sure...