I’ve worn an Apple Watch every single day for over a decade, and that’s not an exaggeration (I know, I probably shouldn’t admit that, but here we are). Even when I’ve tested other smartwatches, the Apple Watch has always been on my other wrist, and that was true even on the morning of my wedding. It didn’t quite go with my dress, so I took it off for the ceremony, but in my book, that still counts towards my everyday claim. I use it to wake me with a silent alarm, log my Peloton rides and dog walks, and ping my iPhone when I lose it down the side of the sofa or in the room I just left, which usually happens four or five times a day.
What I couldn’t do until the latest Apple Watch Series 12 and Watch Ultra 4 was find out whether I should be doing any of that. Oura, Whoop, Garmin, and just about every fitness tracker out there have had some kind of readiness or recovery score for years, but not Apple. Instead, the company teased us with features like Training Load, Vitals and Sleep Score over the last couple of years, but none of those made the leap to readiness.
That changed with the Watch Series 12 and Watch Ultra 4 when Apple announced Readiness for these new smartwatches alongside a new steps complication that was almost as exciting. I’ve been using Readiness for a month now, and it’s turned out to be far harsher than I expected. Here’s what it is, what it does and how to get it.
What is Apple’s Readiness score on Apple Watch?
Apple’s Readiness feature gives you a single number between 0 and 10 each day, along with a short label explaining what it means. A score of 0 or 1 shows Recover; 2 to 4 shows Pace Yourself; 5 to 7 shows Ready; and anything from 8 up suggests Go For It. Most rivals score you out of 100, so it feels a bit like being marked by a primary school teacher, but take what you can get.
Scroll past the number and that action, and you’ll also see a brief summary explaining why you got the score you did. To calculate your Readiness number, the Apple Watch considers three factors. First is activity, both today and over the past few weeks, including active calories, the effort ratings you give your workouts and your Training Load. Broadly, the more you’ve done, the lower your score will be, while a quieter spell nudges it back up. Do a hard Peloton class before breakfast and expect the number to have dropped by lunch.
Next up are your vitals. Overnight, the watch tracks heart rate, breathing rate, wrist temperature, heart rate variability (HRV) and blood oxygen, and it keeps an eye on your heart rate during the day as well. It compares everything to your own normal, which it takes at least seven days to determine. If any of it looks ‘Slightly off’ or ‘Notably off’, you lose marks. If it’s all ‘Typical’ or ‘Favourable’, you gain them, and an unusually high HRV is especially good news.
Then there’s sleep. Last night’s sleep score counts, as does your recent pattern. A week of patchy, inconsistent sleep pulls you down, while a good night (or even just a better one than before) helps.
Your score also shifts throughout the day based on calories burned, daytime heart rate, and, brilliantly, naps. An afternoon lie-down can push your score back up (I promise to use that information responsibly). The Readiness app on Apple Watch also shows which factor is dragging things down. There is no Readiness history, so if you wanted to know what score you got at the beginning of the week compared to the end, you’re out of luck here.
How to get Readiness on Apple Watch (and the bad news)
Readiness only works on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 because it relies on the new Health Sensing System and its optical and electrical heart sensors. The Watch SE 3, Series 9, Series 10, Series 11, Ultra 2 and Ultra 3 can all run watchOS 27, but they don’t get Readiness. I know, I know, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. You also have to be at least 13. If you don’t have one of the latest Apple Watch models, however, there is a workaround you can try, though it’s not the official score I’m talking about in this feature. If you do have one of the new watches, however, there’s a little setup to do first:
- Add your height, weight and age to your Health Details on iPhone
- Set up Activity on the watch
- Turn on Sleep and Overnight Vitals
- Wear the watch to bed for at least seven nights
That’s why you won’t see a score on day one. As mentioned, the watch needs at least seven nights to learn what normal looks like for you, and it also wants you to have slept in it the night before. If you usually charge yours overnight, you’ll need to find another time.
Once it’s ready, open the Readiness app on your Apple Watch (the rainbow-shaped icon coloured pink, purple, green, and blue), then scroll up to see your score and down to see Activity, Vitals, and Sleep so you can see what’s behind your number. You’ll find your Readiness score in the Fitness app on iPhone, right at the bottom, and in the Vitals app on Apple Watch, again, right at the bottom.
A high standard
A month in, and I’ve learned that Apple’s Readiness score is a tough cookie. I’ve had nights when my sleep score hit a perfect 100 ( I do feel like you should get a virtual medal for this like you do your first 5km) and my vitals came back ‘Favourable’, yet I still only got a 9 on the Readiness scale.
That’s not very Apple. In my experience, it tends to be the generous one, with sleep scores that typically come in higher than those from rivals like Oura and EightSleep for the same night. With Readiness, it seems to have gone the other way. I’m still trying to work out if that’s my Peloton habit counting against me or Apple simply keeping 10 for the truly superhuman.
Apple is careful to say Readiness is a wellness feature rather than a medical one. It doesn’t know about any conditions you have or the medication you take, so it shouldn’t be the sole factor in deciding whether to exercise. If you feel unwell, stop, whatever your score says. But if you’re the sort of person who’ll happily do a hard workout on four hours’ sleep because you feel “fine”, seeing a 2 on your wrist might be a useful reality check, while a 9 is a good push on the days you’re looking for an excuse not to bother.
Read more: Here’s how to get a readiness score on your older Apple Watch
