by Josh Teder

It’s been well over 6 months since I bought the Apple Watch Series 10. And while this watch marked the 10th year anniversary of the Apple Watch, in all honesty, it initially seemed like a bit of an iterative update. But after spending 6 months with a Series 10, it actually has felt like a bigger upgrade than I was expecting. And that’s really because of one thing: weight. This watch has felt so much lighter than my previous Apple Watches. Now, when I saw that the new polished titanium models were supposed to be 20% lighter than my previous stainless steel model, that didn’t sound like that much of a difference on paper. But for a thing that you wear on your wrist every day for hours on end, it actually makes a huge difference. Not only is it lighter, it’s also thinner: 9.7 mm, which is 10% thinner than the Series 9 Apple Watch. It just feels so much better on my wrist, making the Series 9 I had feel more like a brick. And if you go for the aluminum models, they’re 10% lighter than the previous ones. So, that’s been the biggest difference between the Series 10 and Series 9.

Software Experience and Fitness Tracking

The next standout feature of this Apple Watch 6 months later is its software experience. Unlike Android smartwatches, the app experience on the Apple Watch is overall better at controlling media playback from my phone. Apple Music, YouTube Music, Spotify—they all do this well. Another large portion is, of course, tracking fitness. Now, I’m by no means an athlete, in case you weren’t able to tell, but I do still like to stay active every day, typically through long walks as well as strength training workouts. The Apple Watch tracks both of these activities for me really well, especially since I subscribe to Apple Fitness+ for the strength training workouts that I can do at home, which sync with my watch during the workouts, which is awesome.

One new feature with the Activity app I really like is that you can now adjust your Activity Ring goals for specific days of the week in watchOS 11, as well as pause your rings for a set period. Now, your steps and heartbeat aren’t the only things this watch tracks. I use its sleep tracking function, not because I monitor it every day, but if I feel tired or off during the day, I can look back and see how I slept and then realize, “Oh, that’s why I can’t seem to focus today.”

Health and Hearing Monitoring

Another thing I use a lot on this watch related to background tracking and metrics is for my hearing health. Now, I have pretty sensitive hearing, and honestly, I’d like to keep it that way. The hearing app on the watch will automatically track the volume of your ambient environment and alert you when you’re in an environment that itself is too loud. I’ve walked out of a performance more than once getting one of these alerts because I just frankly do not want to have my ears ringing afterwards or go deaf over the long term if I can help it. It’s also generally sometimes useful to know how loud things are. Like when I was looking at a neighborhood with a main road nearby, I wanted to measure how loud the cars actually were driving by from a distance.

Watch Faces and Glanceable Information

Another thing I use my watch for a lot that it’s really good at is glanceable information, specifically things on my watch face such as the current UV index so I know if I need to apply sunscreen or the temperature and current conditions plus any upcoming events on my calendar. The watch faces are not only places to see glanceable information but also a place to put shortcuts to your most-used Apple Watch apps like the Fitness app or in my case the Pocketcasts app. The watch faces also, of course, allow you to express yourself from simple, elegantly designed watch faces to the extremely cute Snoopy one. You do have quite a few choices. And while you can’t buy additional ones or create your own, Apple provides enough of them and allows enough customizability to the point where I personally haven’t been bothered by not having those options.

Siri and Smart Stack Features

Another thing I’ve used a lot and has overall worked well for me on this watch is Siri. Although Apple’s assistant is often ridiculed, it excels in certain areas such as playing music, setting timers, and creating calendar events, and it works consistently on my Series 10 and is fairly fast. I’ve also found that Apple’s assistant on the watch is one of the most convenient places to set things like cooking and laundry timers because no matter where you are, you’re going to be alerted when that timer goes off because it’s on your wrist. But the other reason I think the watch is a great place for these timers is the way watchOS displays their status. I love that you can look and glance down at your watch to just see how much time is left.

Things like timers and anything else you have going on in the background of your watch will also appear in an area called the Smart Stack. You can pin widgets from specific watch apps there. And there are quite a few to choose from. Additionally, app widgets will appear there automatically based on tasks you’re doing such as a laundry timer or the podcast player. It’s similar to the idea of the Dynamic Island having this place you can go to to control stuff you have running in the background. Another useful thing I’ve noticed is that if the Apple Weather app knows it’s going to rain in the near future, that information has appeared in the Smart Stack as well, and it’s been really useful. Smart Stack has also been updated to support Live Activities. So things like your Uber rides, sports scores, flight data, or parking expiration will all automatically show up at the top.

The last thing I really use my Apple Watch for software-wise is notifications. Now, I use them less than I used to because I did a phone cleanse a few years back and I got rid of like all the non-important notifications. So, I don’t actually end up getting that many throughout the day. It’s mainly just communications from friends and family. And for that, yes, I still find them having those appear on the watch to be really useful. Oh, and one other great thing about the Apple Watch is it makes it very easy to bring up Control Center and turn on Do Not Disturb. And I also appreciate in the same area, it’s very easy to turn on Theater Mode, so my watch screen doesn’t turn on and disturb others around me during a show or movie.

Titanium Finishes and Premium Hardware

The next standout feature of the Series 10 to me has been the new titanium finishes. I noticed fewer scratches on my Series 10 than on my Series 9 Apple Watch, which was a similar color, but had polished stainless steel. The titanium finish I have is Natural Titanium, which gives the watch a really subtle, classy look, especially when paired with Apple’s more premium bands, like the Milanese Loop I ordered with mine. They come in several finishes like Slate, Gold, and Natural Titanium, plus Silver, Rose Gold, and Jet Black for the aluminum version.

One thing that I think might be a bit underappreciated about Apple Watches, especially if you’re on the Android side, is just how nice of a job Apple does with the hardware here. Up close, they’re just gorgeous with this polished look. And they look like a premium product and exude, I would say, a little bit of a sense of luxury that I don’t always get with other smartwatches I’ve tried and seen. And Apple’s mechanism for sliding the bands on and off continues to be one of the best designed in the smartwatch category. If you’re thinking about getting a band like the Milanese Loop or another one of the premium bands, by the way, pro tip: buy it bundled with the watch upfront and you’ll end up saving about $50. That’s at least the case here in the US, though it may differ in your country.

Levels App Integration (Sponsored)

Now, another thing I use my Apple Watch’s fitness tracking data for is integrating it with the Levels app, who sponsored this video. One of the single biggest predictors of how long you live and how good you feel while living is your metabolic health. What fascinated me about Levels is that it pairs blood glucose data with food and activity tracking, something that’s been the holy grail of wearables for years now. I use Levels to optimize my energy levels and help me manage my sugar and carb consumption to help make getting muscle definition a bit easier. But long-term, the habits it’s helping me build should help me better fight off against chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease, which are linked to metabolic health.

I’ve been a Levels member and logging all my meals for the past few months, which they make incredibly easy to do with features like AI photo logging and barcode scanning. Getting my blood drawn was quick and easy, and I got my results back within 48 hours. Now, while most markers were normal, it did pick up a few that were unexpectedly outside of their normal range. This let me have an important conversation with my doctor and gave me something to watch out for. And the Levels dashboard makes it really easy to click into each metric and get detail on what the numbers mean. And it’s much more insightful than your typical lab result. If you’re curious about knowing more about your health, you can get started on your Levels journey today by using our link. By doing that, you’ll get an additional 2 months free on the membership, though only for a limited time.

Display and Battery Life

The next highlight with the Series 10 is the display. Apple claims the display shows more light from an angle and is 40% brighter when viewed from an angle, making it easier to read. And in my experience, when you’re actually looking for it, yes, this is true. Although I don’t think it’s something that I’ve really noticed much in using the watch over the past 6 months, because often when I’m glancing down at it and looking at it from an angle, the watch screen is dimmed. Where you notice this change more is when the watch is active and the display is brighter. The display itself is slightly larger than the previous few generations of Apple Watches, but it’s not like a huge leap in size.

So, what are some other things to know about this watch that I haven’t already touched on yet? Well, the first one is battery life. Battery life on this watch easily lasts me all day and night. I only need to charge it when I take a shower in the morning for 15 to 20 minutes and again at night after a workout. Would it be ideal for smartwatches to last more than a day? Yes. However, I do think the utility that you get with an Apple Watch is worth the trade-off of having to charge it every day.

New watchOS 11 Features

Next, let’s look at a few more things with watchOS 11 in this watch that you should know about, like the new Tides app, which allows you to scroll through the next few days to get an idea of how large the tide will be and when low tide and high tide are. Something I used on my recent beach trip quite a bit, actually. Sleep apnea detection can identify instances where breathing stops repeatedly throughout the night. This is also available on the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches, though, by the way. The Series 10 also has a new depth gauge that launches automatically when submerged, which is very cool, as well as a new water temperature sensor, perfect for water sports and activities. And cycle tracking has also been updated for those who ovulate and has a new focus on pregnancy. You can see your gestational age and track your pregnancy across all of your health charts.

Another thing to note about this watch is with haptics. I’ve noticed that the haptics feel a bit stronger on this watch compared to my previous ones. Now, my guess is this is likely a result of Apple making the watch thinner than previous models. And for me, that’s been a good thing because I found I’m less likely to miss notifications and alert haptics on this watch compared to past models.

And the last thing I’ve really come to enjoy with this watch and previous Apple Watches as well to be fair is Precision Finding. Because this watch like iPhones and things like AirTags and AirPods all have chips in them that allow Precision Finding, you can actually see the directions on the watch of where you need to turn to go find your device.

Features I Don’t Use Much

So, what features have I not found myself using with the Apple Watch? First up is the Vitals app. It’s meant to look at the background vitals for when you sleep, which I’ve only used once or twice when I was sick, just to see if the Vitals app picked up anything. But overall, it’s not something I’ve used that regularly or found that useful. Though, depending on your health and needs, that might not be the case for you.

And just to note, many of these features are not exclusive to the Series 10, like the next one, ultra wideband home key. This feature allows you to unlock your door as you approach it without needing to hold up your watch to the lock and then wait for it to unlock. Some new smart locks are coming out that’ll support this later this year. And I’ll leave a link to the part of my smart home guide video where I discuss them in detail in the description as well as the pinned comment for this video.

Speaking of unlocking things, one thing I use all the time with my Apple Watch is to unlock Macs, which works really well and is generally fast.

Training Load is another one I haven’t utilized as much. It’s a new tool designed to help you see how the intensity of your workouts may impact your body over time. It’s not in its own app or in the Vitals app, even though it links out to the Vitals app and looks kind of similar in its design. To get to it, you actually need to go to the Fitness app. But the main reason I didn’t really use it is it doesn’t really give you any analytics. It’s primarily used to illustrate how your activity each day compares to the overall trend. But what if I want to go on a 3-mile run today? Should I? Have I recovered enough? It should be able to give you more analysis around that question and be more proactive. That’s the piece that’s missing that I think a lot of people would want out of a feature like this.

Playing media directly through the speaker is another new feature and something I’ve used but honestly found frustrating. Typically, when I’m in my car, I can use Apple’s assistant on the watch to play music off of my phone only through Apple Music, though, which is kind of annoying. It’s in this situation that Apple’s assistant sometimes starts playing music through my watch speaker.

Downsides and Limitations

Now, let’s talk about some of the downsides I’ve encountered with the Series 10 and the Apple Watch experience in general. First, you can pause Activity Rings, but you can’t retroactively pause or ignore them for your stats. So, when I was sick and forgot to pause them, there’s not really an easy way to go back and not count those days. And the last major downside with the Apple Watch I found is that it only works with iPhones. This has of course been how this has always worked for a decade, but 10 years on, the Apple Watch is still one of the best smartwatches out there. And I do find it annoying that I can’t pair it to an Android phone. Honestly, I think there are Android users out there who would, given the choice, they probably opt for an Apple Watch, depending on how well it integrated with their phone over competing smartwatches.

Final Recommendations

So, would I recommend getting an Apple Watch? Yes. In general, I think Apple Watches are a great device. And while it’s slightly disappointing they only work with iPhones, I would generally recommend them to anyone with an iPhone who wants glanceable information, the ability to control media, track their fitness, and yes, get notifications all on their wrist.

Now, if you decide to go for an Apple Watch, other questions may pop into your head, like what version should you get? Should you still go for the more premium finishes like I’ve recommended in the past? Maybe. You don’t really get that extra money back when you try to trade it in or sell your watch, from what I’ve seen at least. But I do think having the sapphire crystal display material in general, I do think that’s worth it. Especially if you’re like me and you just hate seeing any scratches on your watch’s display. I’ve had this material on all of my Apple Watches for a decade now, and I have never seen a single scratch on the display cover. I just wish that Apple would give all Apple Watches the sapphire display cover like you get on Samsung’s watches.

Now, another watch-related question you may have is which size should you get? That’s, I think, really going to be a matter of personal preference, depending on how big your wrist is and how large you prefer your watches in general. Now, if you have an Apple Store nearby, I would definitely recommend going to one. You can try on the two sizes there before ordering.

Speaking of which, if you’re in the market for a new Apple Watch, if you can, I would wait until the newer version comes out in or around September 2025. Now, if you need one right now and you’re stuck between the Series 9 and Series 10, honestly, at this point, I’d pretty much always opt for the Series 10 just because of its lighter weight and thinner design. And to check current prices on the Apple Watch Series 10 and see all of the products mentioned, you can do that by clicking on the purchase links in our description and the pinned comment.

Well, those are my thoughts on the Apple Watch Series 10 after 6 months. Let me know what you thought of this review and what you think of the Apple Watch in the comments below. And if you want to see more of my Apple reviews on products like the iPhone 16 Pro Max, AirPods Pro 2, or Vision Pro, you can click here to get to those videos, or click here to see my other smartwatch reviews. And you can see all of the products we recommend at any time by visiting 6months.net/shop.

For 6 Months Later, I’m Josh Tedar. Thanks for watching.