The Apple Watch weighs just 30 grams, but measures 25+ biomarkers, has five FDA-clearances, and can act as a remote control on your wrist.
In 2017, I ran one of the first studies using the Apple Watch’s health sensors to detect abnormal heart rhythms, sleep apnea, and hypertension–features that are now built in or rumored for 2025. I’ve personally worn an Apple Watch since version one was launched a decade ago.
In this guide, I’m going to describe my favorite Apple Watch apps for 2025. We’ll include not just Health & Fitness, but also Music & Podcasts, how to get AI on your wrist, and a couple more Apple Watch apps just for fun.
The best Apple Watch apps for Heart Health
The Apple Watch’s health sensors capture 25+ biomarkers, including VO2Max, heart rate recovery, sleep stages, temperature, workouts, and an FDA-cleared ECG (electrocardiogram) sensor. It’s a medical device on your wrist.
Empirical Health is comprehensive heart health, including advanced biomarkers like ApoB and VO2Max, custom workouts and nutrition plans, and the ability to talk with a doctor directly in the app.
HeartWatch is packed full of detailed heart rate metrics. Tachymon lets you monitor spikes in your heart rate and is built for those with dysautonomia.
Qaly lets you send your Apple Watch ECGs directly to a cardiographic technician for interpretation.
Whoop for Apple Watch
Recovery, strain, sleep, and stress–Whoop pioneered these scores for fitness training. But if what’s on your wrist is an Apple Watch, Bevel provides similar scores in a beautifully-designed package. Athlytic is packed with
For strength training, Hevy lets you create custom workouts on your Apple Watch.
WorkoutDoors shows fully-featured vector maps directly on your Apple Watch; perfect for an outdoor run, bike, or walk.
Sleep
While the Apple Watch has built-in sleep stages tracking, it requires entering an explicit sleep mode or setting up a sleep schedule. Many third party apps can fill in the gap.
Autosleep automatically tracks your sleep, including naps. Pillow and SleepWatch provide in-depth analytics on your nightly sleep.
Apple Watch is now FDA-cleared to detect, but not diagnose, sleep apnea. If you receive a sleep apnea alert on your Apple Watch, talk with a doctor. They can prescribe an at-home sleep test and treatment, such as CPAP.
Apple Watch music & podcast apps
Overcast lets you listen and control podcasts on your Watch; it’s simple but powerful, and supports up to 20 playlists.
When you’re in the mood to just want to listen to music, Spotify’s Apple Watch app is minimal but works.
AI on your wrist
In 2025, it’d be rare to find somebody who doesn’t use ChatGPT, Anthropic, or Perplexity on their desktop.
Iris (VoiceGPT) brings the same experience to directly to your wrist, using the microphone on your Apple Watch for voice input.
Other great Apple Watch apps
Last, there were a couple of apps that didn’t fit into any other category but were so great I couldn’t leave them out.
Fantastical is one of the most beautiful and intuitive calendar apps, with support for not just Mac but Apple Watch.
CARROT Weather delivers hilariously tweeted forecasts, directly on your watch.
Best Apple Watch models
Last, what if you’re looking for a new Apple Watch for health monitoring? Here’s how they differ:
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The newest Apple Watch is the Series 10, launched September 2024. It includes all of the health sensors: an ECG for heart monitoring, sleep apnea monitoring, sleep stages, blood oxygen (internationally), temperature, and a third-generation heart rate sensor.
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Apple Watch SE (2nd edition): affordable, but fewer health sensors. It includes a second generation heart rate sensor and sleep tracking, but not an FDA-cleared ECG, blood oxygen sensor, temperature sensor, or sleep apnea monitoring.