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Apple Watch Series 11 review: stuck in the middle
Product Reviews

Apple Watch Series 11 review: stuck in the middle

by admin


No one is going to wax lyrical about the Apple Watch Series 11. Not because it’s a bad smartwatch — it’s a great smartwatch, actually. There’s just nothing that makes it feel special this year. Alas, the $399 Series 11 is the middle child of Apple Watches.

It’s not the Series 11’s fault that the entry-level Apple Watch SE 3 got a major glow-up. It can’t help that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 gets everything the Series 11 has plus satellite connectivity. But there’s little to mask the fact that this watch doesn’t offer much more than the entry-level SE 3. You’re mostly paying extra for a bit of polish.

Hardware-wise, the Series 11 is nearly identical to its predecessor, but it has a redesigned dual antennae for 5G connectivity, a bigger battery, and a more scratch-resistant display. That’s about it. The smartest updates come in watchOS 26 — and none of those are exclusive to this watch.

Even so, there’s value in being a dependable workhorse. For certain folks, the Series 11 is still the best option over the new SE 3 or the Ultra. And that’s going to boil down to three factors: battery life, health, and comfort.

$399

The Good

  • Slightly better battery life
  • 5G connectivity
  • FDA-cleared hypertension notifications

The Bad

  • It’s not “bad,” but the most exciting updates are in watchOS 26 and coming to older watches, too

The significance of 24 hours

Since the first Apple Watch launched in 2015, Apple has never strayed from its “all-day” 18-hour battery life estimate. This year, for the first time ever, a watch has an estimated 24 hours on a single charge. It’s the single-most practical and important update for the Series 11.

Garmin lovers will scoff. After all, they measure battery life not in hours, but in weeks and months. But Apple has historically been ultraconservative with its battery estimates. For years, I’ve routinely gotten at least 24 hours on a single charge with Series watches. This year, the Series 11 has a bigger battery than previous models. The 42mm Series 11 gets a roughly 9 percent bump in capacity, while the 46mm gets an 11 percent increase. This, combined with a more power-efficient 5G modem, factors into why Apple felt confident to increase the estimate. But if you were hoping that this meant 36 to 40 hours on a single charge, the disappointing news is I’ve only seen a modest bump in my testing year-over-year.

Battery life is modestly better, but the overall design is the same as last year.

Here’s what my first 48 hours with the Series 11 looked like. I took it off the charger at 10:30AM with 100 percent battery. I proceeded to have a busy day with several notifications, the always-on display enabled, and a lot of futzing around to play with new features in watchOS 26. I didn’t stick it onto a charger until a full 28 hours later, with roughly 8 percent battery left. A 25-minute charging session brought that back up to 62 percent, and then I went for a 31-minute run, which brought it back down to 46 percent. I went about the rest of my day, slept an entire night, and when I woke up around the 45-hour mark, I had 12 percent left.

These are similar numbers to what I got on the Series 10. The main difference is that I feel a bit more confident that I’ll still have charge when I wake up the next day. That wasn’t always true with the Series 10. Quite a few times during long-term testing, I’d wake up with a dead watch and incomplete sleep data.

Although I wouldn’t call this mind-blowing, battery remains an area where the Series 11 has a slight edge over the SE 3. You can read about my experience with the SE 3’s battery here, but the gist is that you can feel the difference between fast charging and 24-hour battery versus fast charging with 18-hour battery. I had to baby the SE 3’s battery a bit more than the Series 11.

This matters because if you map out which Apple Watch has which features, the Series 11 is clearly positioned as the “health watch.” And while Apple leads on advanced health detection features, it needs to catch up on sleep tracking. You can’t have robust sleep tracking without a battery that reliably lasts at least 24 hours. So is it any coincidence that Apple is finally adding a Sleep Score (more on that below) in the year it improves battery life? I think not.

Apple Watch Series 11 specs

  • Material: aluminum with Ion-X glass; titanium with sapphire glass
  • Processor: S10 SiP
  • OS: watchOS 26
  • Display: always-on wide-angle OLED, 2,000 nits
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5G, and LTE
  • Dimensions: 42mm: 42mm x 36mm x 9.7mm; 46mm: 46mm x 39mm x 9.7mm
  • Weight: 42mm: 29.7 aluminum and 34.6g titanium; 46mm: 37.8g aluminum and 43.1g titanium
  • Battery life: 24 hours with fast charging, 38 hours in low-power mode, zero to 80 percent in 30 minutes
  • Sensors: third-gen optical heart rate monitor, EKG sensor, Sp02, accelerometer, gyroscope, light sensor, barometer, altimeter, temperature sensor, depth gauge, water temperature sensor, compass
  • GPS: built-in GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, and Beidou
  • Water resistance: water resistant up to 50m, IP6X
  • NFC: yes
  • Compatibility: iPhone only

Better battery life means more possibilities outside of sleep tracking, too. For instance, Apple can offer better 5G connectivity for faster downloads and greater cellular coverage now that upgrading from LTE won’t automatically mean burning through the watch’s battery. I’ll dive deeper into 5G performance in my forthcoming Ultra 3 review, but unless you’re a heavy cellular user, the improvements here don’t dramatically change what the watch was already capable of.

The main reason you’d get the Series 11 over the SE 3 or Ultra 3 is because health tracking — not fitness tracking — is your primary concern in a smartwatch. If fitness is your top priority, the Ultra’s brighter and bigger screen, dual-frequency GPS, and rugged durability make more sense. The second reason to opt for the Series 11 is if you want something lightweight with the biggest possible screen without feeling like there’s a hulking brick on your wrist. That’s the Series 11 to a T.

Comfort-wise, this year’s model has the same dimensions as the Series 10, measuring 9.7mm thick with either a 42mm or 46mm case. The bezels are much thinner than the SE 3, with the display about 25 to 30 percent bigger, and it’s still 30 percent thinner than the Ultra 3. For older users or people with more petite wrists, this is a much more wearable design that doesn’t strain the eyes. (And if you want a keyboard to send messages more easily, that’s something the SE 3’s smaller screen can’t accommodate.)

Most of what sets the Series 11 watch apart from the SE 3 lies in this array of health sensors.

On the health front, you get every available feature, but again, neither the FDA-cleared hypertension notifications nor the shiny new Sleep Score is exclusive to the Series 11. Older watches like the Series 9, 10, and Ultra 2 will also get hypertension notifications. Any watch that supports watchOS 26 will get Sleep Score, including the SE 3.

I can’t comment on hypertension notifications yet. It got FDA clearance last Friday, requires 14 days’ worth of data in a 30-day period, and it only just rolled out yesterday. What I can tell you now is that the feature utilizes the existing optical heart rate sensor without first needing to calibrate with a blood pressure cuff. The feature is based on data from 100,000 study participants, and there’s a validation paper you can read that goes into more depth. The gist is that instead of giving you exact blood pressure readings, it searches your heart data to see if there are patterns correlated with hypertension. If yes, then you’ll get an alert notifying you to check in with your doctor. We’ll have to report back once we’ve had more time to test, but this has massive potential as a health screening tool. Apple said in its keynote that it expects to detect 1 million cases over the next year.

I made up for this abysmal sleep score with a big ole nap on my flight to the Apple Event.

What is available right now is the new Sleep Score, which is comprised of 100 points across three categories. You can earn up to 50 points for duration, where seven to eight hours is the ideal target. A consistent bedtime counts for up to an additional 30 points, while the last 20 points take into account how often and how long your sleep is interrupted. The way the data is presented is intuitive, and it smartly takes into consideration travel between time zones.

It’s not a unique metric. Fitbit, Garmin, Eight Sleep, and Oura have had sleep scores for years. However, I appreciate that Apple’s version gives more weight to factors within your control (duration and consistency) rather than sleep stage quality or biometrics. That creates more actionable insights than scores that include factors you have no control over. Conversely, it also means that most scores won’t be a surprise. On a night where I slept only two hours, I received an abysmal score of 23. I got a 93 on a night where I slept 7 hours, went to bed early, and only had six minutes of interrupted sleep. Still, I can see this being helpful if you’d rather focus on what you can control in improving your sleep habits.

Just as the health features are not exclusive to the Series 11, neither are the software updates in watchOS 26. I’ve been using the watchOS 26 beta since June, and I stand by what I said in my preview: the best updates are the revamped Smart Stack and the wrist-flick gesture.

Specifically, the Smart Stack menu subtly nudges you toward useful widgets when you need them. It’s always done this, but it’s a bit more noticeable now that there’s a tiny icon that pops up on your watchface to flag your attention. For example, if your phone camera is open, you’ll see a tiny camera icon on your watch. You can then use the double tap gesture to bring up the Smart Stack and open the remote. Meanwhile, the wrist-flick gesture is an extension of double tap. All you have to do is flick your wrist away from you to dismiss a notification, alarm, timer — you name it. Altogether, it’s easier than ever to use the Apple Watch one-handed, and that feels like a massive step forward.

Since the Camera app is open on my phone, watchOS 26 now shows me a small Camera icon. If I double tap, it’ll show me the Smart Stack with a widget for opening up the Camera Remote. I love this. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge and Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Here are some other stray observations about watchOS 26:

  • You can use the Notes app on the wrist now! It’s been convenient to dictate my thoughts into my wrist when I’m on the go and then access them on my computer or phone later. My only complaint is that you have to give it a second before you press done, or it may not sync properly.
  • If you have a phone with Apple Intelligence, the new call features like Call Screening and Hold Assist pop up on your watchface. It’s helpful when you’re arguing with your health insurance company.
  • This is more iOS 26, but if you like creating custom workouts — REJOICE! Instead of having to tap and edit your interval runs on a teeny screen, you can now create and edit them on your phone via the new Workouts tab in the Fitness app. Hallelujah!
  • If you’re not into bombarding yourself with data and complications, the new Flow watchface is delightfully minimalist.
  • I still hate Liquid Glass, but it’s not so bad on watchOS 26.
  • Workout Buddy is fine but not spectacular. Some people may find its audio cues motivating, but it won’t wow people looking for more in-depth analysis.

This is HIGH-KEY my favorite update to the Fitness app. This is going to change my life.

A weird, in-between watch

The Series 11 is in a weird place. Most of what makes it great can be found on other Apple Watches, so there’s nothing that makes it truly stand out. Perhaps I’d be singing a different tune if the battery improvements were massive, but I suspect most Series 9 and 10 users would only get a few more hours with regular usage. Unless your current watch is broken, there’s little reason for people who prefer Series watches to upgrade.

For Apple Watch newbies or folks who aren’t convinced by smartwatches, the SE 3 is the more obvious, cost-effective choice. For people who want the best of the best, I could craft a 15-page PowerPoint extolling the Series 11’s best qualities, and they’d still buy an Ultra. For people who just want a slightly nicer Apple Watch? I guess that’s the Series 11.

The Series 11 is quite literally stuck in the middle this year.

That doesn’t make the Series 11 a bad product. It has just reached the point where it feels like the default, and default choices aren’t exciting. If you’ve held onto a Series 5 or a Series 6, you’re more likely to appreciate how the incremental improvements have added up to a better experience over time. But if you’re content with your perfectly functioning Series 7 or later? This is a year where I’d prioritize upgrading my phone or AirPods instead.

Correction, September 16th: A previous version of this article mentioned Apple Watches don’t track naps. This author was in dire need of one, but they have since watchOS 11.

Agree to Continue: Apple Watch Series 11

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

You can only use the Apple Watch Series 11 with an iPhone. That means you’ll have already agreed to the iPhone’s terms of service and privacy agreements. Using optional services, like Apple Pay, Apple Music, or Fitness Plus, with your Series 10 will also come with their own agreements. Using the Health app also comes with its own terms and conditions.

If you choose to enable cellular service, you’ll also have to agree to your carrier’s terms. I activated cellular on T-Mobile and was asked to agree to one mandatory agreement.

If you add any third-party apps or integrations, you must also agree to those individual terms and privacy policies.

Specific to the Apple Watch, you must agree to the following:

Some features, like hypertension notifications, EKG, sleep apnea, or blood oxygen monitoring, may also require you to disclose your location data, as it depends on local regulatory clearances.

Final tally: One mandatory agreement plus any mandatory agreements for your iPhone. Several, several optional agreements.

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PacketStream
Product Reviews

PacketStream Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more

by admin



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PacketStream started its journey in California in 2018, when it was established by the entrepreneur duo Arthur Aivazian and Ronald Bell. They imagined it as a company solving a particular need in the market – offering a network of peer-to-peer (P2P) residential proxies, which are IP addresses sourced from real devices around the world, allowing users to bypass geographic restrictions when accessing various kinds of data.

As opposed to many other residential proxy providers, which are centralized, PacketStream’s peer-to-peer nature allows acquiring and selling residential proxies to customers directly. In other words, users buy or sell residential IPs from and to one another. This system makes proxies cheaper, albeit at the cost of reliability and speed.

Another problem that this platform could face is the risk of unreliable IP addresses potentially being added to the network. This is because PacketStream, despite offering secure proxies in general, doesn’t entirely control the IPs sold through its network.

PacketStream: Plans and Pricing

Unlike many proxy providers out there with complex pricing plans, PacketStream keeps things simple, charging per bandwidth, with a flat fee of $1 per GB. This way, you get access to the entire network of residential proxies, which is a lot more straightforward and may even be a cheaper alternative to providers charging for individual IP addresses.

Indeed, $1 per GB is one of the most affordable pricing options in the industry, as most competitors charge a lot more. These include IPRoyal with $6.5 per GB, Bright Data with $8.40 per GB, and Webshare with $2.8 per GB (depending on the specific package you selected).

That said, you’ll need to purchase at least 50 GB, which will set you back by $50. This means you can’t buy just $1 of bandwidth to take the platform for a spin before deciding – the 50 GB minimum is a must. Still, PacketStream offers rotating proxies (alongside their static counterparts), so if one IP address doesn’t work, you can switch to a different one in a jiffy.

PacketStream offers a free trial, but without a standardized process. You need to contact the sales team to request this trial, which is futile for most individual users. The free trial is only suitable for people who plan to spend significant sums on proxies. After all, why contact a sales team if you just need to test a few gigabytes worth of proxies?

PacketStream accepts payments through PayPal and major credit cards.

PacketStream: Features

PacketStream allows users not just to buy proxies, but also to acquire them and sell them on to offset costs, and sell your unused device bandwidth for profit, offering it at prices starting at $0.10 per GB. The minimum payout is $5 and is sent to your PayPal account once per week with a 3% fee applied to cashouts.

Interestingly, Microsoft Defender blocked the download and installation of PacketStream, identifying it as a program that “displays deceptive product messages.” This is typically how ‘scareware’ is described, or software that makes deceptive or fraudulent claims about your computer’s health to trick you into buying unnecessary or potentially unwanted products, which may not be inherently malicious in the same way as other malware.

However, since PacketStream doesn’t make any scary claims about your device, the flagging as potentially malicious could be due to the application’s process of using your computer to route third-party traffic when you share your bandwidth with other users. Hence, the antivirus interprets the app’s behavior as unusual or questionable. So, if you fail to install PacketStream, this could be the reason.

Residential Proxies

PacketStream offers a P2P residential proxy network spanning 190 countries. These proxies are sourced from real devices whose owners sell their bandwidth on the PacketStream network. You don’t have to worry about illegally sourced IP addresses, a major problem plaguing proxy providers. Every IP address on PacketStream was consensually added by its owner to earn money.

The company has both randomized and static IP options on offer, with randomized IPs changing with every new request to provide a high level of anonymity. Static IPs, on the other hand, remain consistent for scenarios where a single and steady IP address is required. Selection of the type of residential proxy you need is done as part of the request when buying access.

PacketStream’s proxy IP addresses were reliable during our test and offered reasonable speeds. We chose IP addresses from different countries, and they provided fast connections, although the speed varies depending on the country. PacketStream lets you choose proxies from roughly 190 countries, but you can’t select by city, which we consider a disadvantage. Many rival proxy providers let you choose proxies from specific cities to increase your chances of evading geographical restrictions.

(Image credit: PacketStream)

The platform supports HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS proxy protocols, which differ in how they handle traffic and their compatibility, each having its own strengths and downsides. Having the latter option in particular is important as it reduces network delays and provides better speeds than HTTP/HTTPS, making it ideal for high-speed, general-purpose tasks like P2P sharing or streaming. The other two, on their part, offer benefits like content caching and content filtering.

Residential proxies can be used for many things. A good example is data scraping, wherein people use proxies to bypass website geo-restrictions and scrape relevant information.

Suppose you run a website that tracks the prices of commodities and delivers this data to users. Running a price monitoring site requires extracting data frequently and quickly from many websites. The websites (primary data sources) are privy to external data scraping and block it by implementing geographical and IP restrictions. They can identify specific IPs from data scraping bots and block them from further access. They can also ban IP addresses of an entire country from accessing their information.

PacketStream gives you access to a large network of residential IP addresses to bypass restrictions and scrape commodity price data. If one IP address gets discovered and blocked, just switch to another and try your luck.) Although specific numbers may differ, this proxy provider has millions of IP addresses across 190 countries, so you’ll have no fear of running out of new proxies to bypass geographical restrictions on websites and services.

Online retail is another common use case for residential proxies. Many people use automated bots to snap up fast-selling products, placing orders before they run out of stock. However, e-commerce sites don’t like this and often blocklist bot IP addresses. PacketStream’s residential proxies let users circumvent this block and get their desired product.

As far as an e-commerce site is concerned, residential proxies belong to legitimate devices. It’s challenging for them to detect and block these proxies. Even when they do, you can switch to another proxy and visit the e-commerce site. PacketStream’s large network of residential proxies allows people to utilize automated scripts to bid for products.

One major drawback is that PacketStream offers only residential IPs. It doesn’t provide datacenter IPs, which are faster and more reliable. Datacenter IPs are sourced from dedicated servers with more speed, making them ideal for massive data scraping tasks. Large enterprises are the main users of datacenter proxies, but PacketStream doesn’t serve this cohort well. This proxy provider best suits individuals and small businesses seeking affordable residential proxies.

PacketStream doesn’t offer mobile-specific IPs. Mobile device IP addresses are present on this P2P network, but you can’t specifically choose that option. Many businesses use mobile IPs for app testing and ad verification, but performing these tasks with PacketStream is difficult.

Likewise, PacketStream doesn’t offer proxies sourced directly from Internet Service Providers (ISPs). ISP proxies provide higher data throughput and reduced delay than residential proxies, but you can’t get them on PacketStream.)

Selling Bandwidth

(PacketStream lets users sell their unused bandwidth and make money. You can add your IP address to the network and earn money when people use your device as a proxy. Pricing is $0.10 per GB, which can help you offset the cost of buying bandwidth on PacketStream.

Sharing your bandwidth requires downloading the PacketStream client on your PC. This client is available on Windows and macOS, as well as on Linux, where it can be installed by running a specific command via Docker. It can run even on low-end PCs. The primary requirement is a stable internet connection.

After installing the PacketStream PC app, you can open it anytime and activate a shared connection. Your payout is automatically calculated based on the amount of data your shared connection transmits. Closing the PacketStream app immediately terminates the shared connection, giving you complete control over the process. PacketStream can’t use your connection without your consent, which you give by opening the app.

There’s no limit to the amount of bandwidth you can share. The minimum payout is $5 for 50 GB of bandwidth, which makes sense because 50 GB is the minimum amount of bandwidth that PacketStream users can buy. A 3% fee applies to every payout.

Reseller API

PacketStream offers reselling/white-label services. This feature is for people interested in starting their own proxy providers. In that case, you can sell PacketStream’s proxies under your own branding and earn money. PacketStream provides a bare-bones version of its platform, which you can customize to build a brand atop the company’s infrastructure.

(Image credit: PacketStream)

Resellers provide access to the same network of proxies available on PacketStream. Any device added to PacketStream’s network will become available on your proxy provider. This feature isn’t for individual users, but we consider it worth discussing to give a complete PacketStream review.

PacketStream: Ease of Use

PacketStream outshines many competitors in the user-friendliness criterion. It arguably has the simplest interface we’ve encountered in a proxy provider, thanks partly to its limited features (there’s not much to navigate).

(Image credit: PacketStream)

All features are neatly arranged on the left menu, and the main dashboard lies on the right side. With a white background and a few contrasting colors, PacketStream’s interface feels visually appealing and easy to navigate. The average person won’t have any issues understanding this interface: this can’t be said for some proxy providers.

There’s a drawback, though. PacketStream doesn’t offer a browser extension to manage proxies. You need the desktop interface to manage and deploy new proxies, unlike other proxies with browser extensions for seamless proxy management. An extension lets you switch proxies at the click of a single button, but PacketStream doesn’t provide this benefit.

PacketStream: Customer Support

An area where PacketStream lags behind its competitors is customer support. It offers direct support only via email, with no live chat or telephone option. You can send a support email and expect a response within 48 hours, but there’s no option to hold a real-time conversation with support staff.

Also, PacketStream doesn’t provide as many self-help support resources as most competitors. There’s a FAQ section and user guides on the website, but they aren’t as detailed as what we’ve seen in other proxy providers.

PacketStream: The Competition

PacketStream has many competitors, the most notable being Bright Data, Oxylabs, and Decodo (formerly Smartproxy).

Bright Data offers residential, ISP, and datacenter proxies. It also offers advanced web scraping APIs as pre-built datasets. In contrast, PacketStream offers none of these except residential IPs. If you need PacketStream’s proxies for automated data scraping, you’ll need an external platform for the APIs. However, at $1 per GB, PacketStream’s residential proxy service is much more affordable than Bright Data’s, which costs around $8.4 per GB.

Oxylabs provides residential, ISP, and datacenter proxies, with a massive pool of over 100 million IP addresses. It also provides a Web Unblocker and web scraping APIs for enterprises. Oxylabs is undoubtedly the more sophisticated platform. It offers more reliable and speedy proxy IPs, with complete control over its proxy network, unlike peer-to-peer PacketStream. However, Oxylabs’ residential IPs cost $8 per GB, compared to PacketStream’s $1.

Webshare offers residential, ISP, and datacenter proxies, but not web scraping APIs. Its pool of 80 million+ IP addresses across 195 countries is on par with Oxylabs and Bright Data but larger than PacketStream. With pricing as low as $2.8 per GB, Webshare is one of the most affordable proxy providers for enterprises. Yet, PacketStream’s $1 per GB beats it in pricing.

In summary, PacketStream lags slightly behind most competitors in certain advanced features and customer support. However, it outperforms them in ease of use and affordability, helped by the lower costs of running a P2P network and the opportunity to earn money through offering your bandwidth for other users.

PacketStream: Final words

PacketStream is among the most affordable residential IP providers in terms of price per GB, although the minimum purchase is worth $50. This makes it ideal for individual users or small businesses that require rotating and static proxies for mundane online activities. Having said that, enterprises will probably find it lacking for any large-scale data scraping needs. Besides, it lacks the more reliable datacenter and ISP proxies and has limited customer support.

We’ve rated the best VPN services.



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Screenshot from Destiny 2
Product Reviews

Destiny 2’s latest game-breaking bug: Players can no longer respawn in solo activities… Like, at all

by admin



This afternoon my Destiny 2 clanmate texted me to say: “If you die in Solo Ops or Patrol you can no longer respawn 😂”. That can’t be right, I thought. That would be such a fundamental bug that it would effectively break the game. Anyway, I loaded in, did some testing, and you can probably guess where this is going.

We are investigating an issue where players are unable to respawn in Solo Ops activities after dying. We are attempting to solve this issue as soon as we’re able. More information will be provided when available.September 16, 2025

From my own experience, once you die the respawn button will appear after the usual countdown, but cannot be interacted with. In order to start playing again you either need to go to orbit (ie, leave the activity) or switch characters. Which is as big a problem as it sounds. The bug even seems to extend to Patrol zones, although I was occasionally able to self-revive.

Quite how long it will take to fix is anyone’s guess, but as you can tell by the tone of Bungie’s tweet, this is a four alarm fire. You cannot have players trying to complete every solo activity in the game on a single life. I would love to tell you I’m surprised that a bug of this size has made it into the live game, but as we’ve been writing about recently, Destiny 2 is currently in a parlous state, both in terms of its biblical-sized swarm of bugs and player sentiment towards the systemic changes introduced with the Edge of Fate expansion.


Related articles

Only this morning, I woke up to find a message from a different clanmate about a bug, this time involving a legendary sword that is one-shotting some of the hardest enemies in the game. The only criteria is you need to have no ammo and jump as you light attack with the sword.

See below:

The Most Broken Bug EVER Goldtusk IS BUSTED! No Ammo INSANE DPS One Shot BOSSES – Destiny 2 – YouTube

Watch On

Meanwhile, the exotic hand cannon Sturm is still giving players a +380% damage buff to all outgoing ability damage. Needless to say that is very much not intended. So far, Bungie has disabled the hand cannon in the Trials of Osiris PvP mode, but let the bug slide in PvE. That’s probably because, with the community in near-constant tumult, the studio would rather not be accused of being the fun police.

Perhaps painting itself into a corner, on a recent Bungie livestream the developers said they were pausing any non-critical balance fixes, although Sturm surely qualifies as the kind of critical bug that will have to be fixed sooner rather than later.

Anyway, here’s how you can take advantage of it for now:

This Game Breaking “Build” DELETES Bosses! Destiny 2 – YouTube

Watch On

And whilst those bugs might sound fun, they are merely the wacky cherries on top of an otherwise fetid cake. Pay a visit to Bungie’s ‘Known Issues’ page for the Edge of Fate and you will find the Magna Carta of bug lists. Here are some random highlights:

On and on it goes, so much so that I can only feel sorry for Destiny 2’s embattled community team, which forms the frontline when it comes to dealing with players’ understandable fury. No wonder they sound downbeat today:

It sucks that we’ve been unable to build positive momentum. Too many bumps in the road and missteps.I truly believe we are beginning to shift and head in the right direction.Roadmap to come, and I hope it helps us to rebuild trust as we move towards Renegades and beyond.… https://t.co/qpO0YAaorWSeptember 16, 2025

Still, at least Bungie has seen sense about the recent armor controversy and effectively given players the chance to earn what would have been a paid set of armor as an in-game reward instead. Although honestly the fact I’m giving credit for that is probably a form of Stockholm Syndrome at this point.





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Everything to Remember About 'Gen V' Before It Returns for Season 2
Product Reviews

Everything to Remember About ‘Gen V’ Before It Returns for Season 2

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The Boys spin-off series Gen V returns for its second season this week. While we won’t grieve Prime Video for making more sequel TV series for the tongue-and-cheek superhero show that built a career on taking the piss out of DC and Marvel, we will give it grace by picking up the pieces of Gen V‘s first season so viewers are all caught up just in time for its return on September 17. Here’s everything you need to know about Gen V season one.

Gen V centers on Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), a Supe with the power to manipulate blood like she waltzed out of Avatar: The Last Airbender. She enrolls in Godolkin University, a superhero academy that’s been training Supes on ethics, crime fighting, and branding since 1965.

There, she meets an assortment of cool, superpowered friends, like magnetism-manipulating Andre Anderson (Chance Perdomo), mind-warping telepath Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips), size-shifter Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway), and Jordan Li (London Thor/Derek Luh), Marie’s maybe sorta kinda pre-Facebook official partner whose gender-swapping powers grant them super strength and energy blasts.

Maria witnesses star student Luke “Golden Boy” Riordan (Patrick Schwarzenegger) incinerate Professor Brinkerhoff (Clancy Brown) and self-implode, kicking off a series of events that not only unearth secret experiments taking place under the school’s watch but also have huge implications for The Boys‘ finale as well.

After some sleuthing, Marie and her friends discover that Luke was completely justified in attacking his teacher. It turns out that Brinkerhoff was just one of many staff members and trustees at God U involved in secret experiments aimed at creating superhumans.

One of these experiments produced a serum designed to kill Supes. Unfortunately for the students, their story doesn’t end in victory, as Homelander (Anthony Starr) crashes their party and quickly apprehends them.

pic.twitter.com/JOrZ5kbrr8

— GEN V (@genv) March 30, 2024

One unfortunate real-life detail that’ll ripple into the upcoming season of Gen V is the passing of Perdomo. The 27-year-old actor died last March following a motorcycle incident. Production on Gen V was delayed as a result; when work resumed, Gen V‘s creators aimed to honor Pedromo with how they handled Andre in the second season (a feat Variety reports is earnest, if not awkward in execution).

From what we saw in season four of The Boys, Gen V‘s Cate and Sam Riordan (Asa August Germann) switched teams, joining Homelander in his reign of terror. We’ll have to wait and see if the Supe-killing virus from God U, which Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) possesses, will come into play or if Marie will be the key to Homelander’s downfall.

Gen V returns to Prime Video for season two on September 17.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.





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Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect Charged as Prosecutor Seeks Death Penalty
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Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect Charged as Prosecutor Seeks Death Penalty

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Utah County prosecutors on Tuesday charged Tyler Robinson in the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, a murder officials say was politically motivated. They intend to seek the death penalty.

Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray announced the indictment at a midday news conference, listing charges of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child. Robinson, 22, is also charged with two counts of obstruction and two counts of witness tampering.

“Charlie Kirk was murdered while engaging in one of our most sacred and cherished American rights,” Gray said. “The bedrock of our democratic republic is the free exchange of ideas in a search for truth, understanding, and a more perfect union.”

Gray said that the murder was considered an aggravated offense because it was believed to be motivated by the victim’s political expression. On the matter of the death penalty, he added: “I do not take this decision lightly, and it is a decision I have made independently as county attorney based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime.”

Robinson will make his first court appearance at 3 pm MST on Tuesday.

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on September 10 while taking questions from students. The cofounder of Turning Point USA, he was credited with galvanizing young conservatives and playing a pivotal role in Donald Trump’s 2024 White House return.

The shooting sparked chaos on campus, where delayed and contradictory emergency alerts left many students and faculty scrambling in confusion. Vigils for Kirk have since been held in Arizona, New York, and Washington, among other states. Across the US, Kirk’s murder has become both a rallying cry for far-right retribution and fuel for an assault on civil society.

Investigators claim forensic evidence links Robinson to the shooting, with FBI director Kash Patel telling Fox & Friends that matching DNA was found on a towel wrapped around the rifle and on a screwdriver recovered from the rooftop where the fatal shot was fired. Patel also said investigators believe Robinson wrote a note of his alleged intent to kill Kirk, bolstering claims the attack was premeditated.

An indictment released Tuesday adds vivid details to the allegations. Prosecutors say surveillance footage captured Robinson climbing onto a campus rooftop, lying prone in a “sniper position,” and firing from nearly 160 yards away. Investigators recovered cartridges at the scene with hand-engraved messages, which prosecutors argue points to premeditation and motive.

Prosecutors also cited interviews with Robinson’s parents and roommate, who said he expressed anger that Kirk “spreads too much hate” and admitted he had “enough of his hatred.” The filing further alleges that Robinson told his roommate to stay silent if approached by police and that children were visible near the stage when Kirk was shot—factors prosecutors say aggravated the seriousness of the crime.

The indictment recounts an interview with Robinson’s mother, who told investigators her son had grown more political in the past year “and had started to lean more to the left,” the indictment claims, citing “pro-gay” and “trans-rights” views. She described him as becoming increasingly consumed by online debates and grievances, noting his fixation with political topics seemed to intensify in the weeks leading up to the shooting, the indictment says. She added that Robinson had also begun to date his roommate, a transgender woman, adding that his father has “very different political views.” The roommate is said to be fully cooperating with the government.



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Annapurna Interactive will reveal three new games in a showcase on September 23

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Annapurna Interactive is hosting a games showcase on September 23, 2025 at 8PM ET / 5PM PT to show off three of its upcoming games. The publisher says the “Annapurna Interactive Direct from Tokyo” will stream on YouTube and feature new games from Kyoto-based developer Marumittu Games, Iridium Studios and Yarn Owl. Annapurna Interactive held its previous games showcase this past February to show off games like Skin Deep and Wheel World.

Marumittu Games’ Annapurna project was initially detailed in 2023 when the publisher announced it was working with the studio. At the time, Marumittu said it was pulling from the work of journalist Rutger Bregman and Homo Deus author Yuval Noah Harari to make a game that’s “thinking about humanity in the future.” Developer Yarn Owl similarly teased its project a year earlier in 2022, saying that it was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Annapurna Interactive hasn’t formally announced its partnership with Iridium Studios, but the developer does list its next game as “an unannounced RPG with an unannounced partner” on its website, which certainly sounds like it could be what Annapurna plans to show off at its showcase.

Despite what seems like a fairly normal past year of game releases, the future and long-term stability of Annapurna Interactive has been in question since the mass-resignation of the publisher’s staff in 2024. Since then, Annapurna Interactive has continued to announce and release games, while the publisher’s former staff spun up a new publisher to support in-development projects from Take-Two’s shuttered indie label, Private Division.



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Apple Watch SE 3 review: major glow-up
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Apple Watch SE 3 review: major glow-up

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When I walked into Apple Park last week, there was one thing that I did not have on my bingo card: the $249 Apple Watch SE 3 stealing the show from the Apple Watch Series 11 and the Apple Watch Ultra 3.

But here we are. It’s 2025, and the entry-level Apple Watch is the one I’m most excited by.

That’s because compared to the iterative updates of the Series 11 and Ultra 3, the third-gen SE has gotten a massive, wide-ranging glow-up. Unlike the other watches, there also weren’t any leaks suggesting this was even in the cards, making this jam-packed release a total surprise. And the cherry on top? In the lead-up to the event, I wrote the easiest thing Apple could do to make the Apple Watch better was give people what they wanted. Nearly every single update to the SE 3 does exactly that.

$249

The Good

  • We finally get an always-on display
  • We get double tap and wrist flick!
  • So many more health features!
  • 5G!
  • Fast charging!
  • More durable!
  • On-device Siri!
  • Upgraded processor
  • You get a speaker too

The Bad

  • Those bezels are still thicc
  • Wish the battery life was a skosh better

I could probably just list all the changes, wrap up this review, and crawl into bed because many of them are such obvious improvements. Here they are in a nutshell:

  • The SE 3 jumps from the S8 chip to the S10, enabling faster processing and features previously limited to the Series and Ultra models, including double tap, wrist flick, on-device Siri, and improved voice isolation during phone calls.
  • Apple has finally heard the prayers of beleaguered SE users everywhere and given the people an always-on display. Huzzah!
  • It’s still only got an 18-hour battery life estimate, but the SE 3 finally has fast-charging.
  • There’s a wrist-temperature sensor now, enabling retrospective ovulation tracking and more robust sleep tracking data in the Vitals app.
  • Other health tracking features coming to the SE 3 include breathing disturbances, sleep apnea notifications, and the new Sleep Score.
  • The SE also gets 5G connectivity for faster downloads and better cellular coverage.
  • It supports audio playback now, so if you want to listen to your music or podcast from the wrist (hopefully not in public), you can.
  • The watch itself is purportedly four times more resistant to cracks than the SE 2.

There’s so many updates jam packed into this tiny little watch.

That’s a heckuva lot. All of these “new” features were introduced on the Series 8, 9, and 10, and they function identically on the SE. Given that, it’s become harder to differentiate the SE 3 and the Series 11, especially since the latter’s coolest updates are tied to watchOS 26 and are coming to this cheaper model, too.

At this point, there are only a few key upgrades reserved for the Series 11. The SE 3 doesn’t have EKG capabilities or the ability to measure blood oxygen. Hypertension notifications are limited to the Series and Ultra lineups. The SE 3 comes in the smaller 40mm and 44mm sizes, and it has thicker bezels. The smaller displays also mean that you don’t get a keyboard for texting. And while you get 5G, it lacks the re-engineered antennae in the Series 11, meaning you might get slightly worse coverage in certain areas. The SE 3 also misses out on the modest bumps to battery capacity and battery life in the Series 11.

You’re giving up this handful of features in exchange for $150 off the price. For the average person, that tradeoff is absolutely worth it.

When I tested the second-gen SE in 2022, it felt like a first-time buyer’s Apple Watch. You got the core features, and if you’d never had an Apple Watch before, you wouldn’t feel all that bothered by the thicker bezels or missing features. That’s also true this time around, except there’s even less to miss.

During testing, there were several moments when I forgot I wasn’t wearing a Series watch. The biggest pain point for me last time around was the lack of an always-on display. Now that’s available on the SE 3, most of my complaints evaporated. I can always see the time or my complications without having to wake the watch up. It sounds like a small thing, but it’s crucial to really making the watch a source of glanceable information. Likewise, I’ve become so fond of double-tap and wrist-flick gestures for single-handed convenience. Not having to give those up meant using the SE 3 didn’t feel like a sacrifice.

Behold! The always-on display. It is glorious.

I’ll get more into 5G performance in my upcoming Ultra 3 review, but I didn’t notice a huge drain in my day-to-day usage. (This might be more of an issue for you if you frequently leave your phone at home.)

The biggest features you lose out on by choosing the SE 3 are EKGs or blood oxygen sensing. But let me play devil’s advocate here. For most of the past 18 months, none of the newer Apple Watches sold in the US could perform blood oxygen readings — and I didn’t hear many complaints. Also, while you can’t actively take on-the-spot EKGs, the SE 3 can still passively check for signs of atrial fibrillation via irregular heart rhythm notifications. I can’t comment on hypertension notifications yet, as the feature only just became available for testing yesterday. However, now that sleep apnea notifications, more robust period tracking, and wrist-temperature data for the Vitals app are available? I don’t feel like I’m missing anything except metrics I didn’t make much use of to begin with. Obviously, you’ll feel different if you do value EKG and blood oxygen, but I’d argue the majority of people get more value out of high and low heart rate alerts.

Up close, it’s hard to unsee how thick the bezels are on the SE 3.

But on the wrist? I got used to it.

As for battery life, you have to baby the SE 3 a smidge more than the Series 11. In my first 24 hours with the watch, I left my hotel at 7:30AM PT with 100 percent battery, tracked a 48-minute mini-golf session, and then hopped on a cross-country flight. After arriving home at 11:45PM ET, roughly 13 hours later, I had 27 percent battery left with no low-power saving mode used. A 10-minute charge while I brushed my teeth and did my skincare bumped me up to 37 percent, and that was enough to get me through the night. I woke up at 6:45AM with about 22 percent battery, and that got me to around 9AM before I really needed to charge.

Apple Watch users will find this battery babying normal, while Garmin or Fitbit diehards will view this as unbearably annoying. But it’s about what I’d expect from the SE 3. You have to be more aware of the SE 3’s battery levels if you’re going to push it hard throughout the day. You’re slightly freer to forget with the Series 11.

  • Material: aluminum with Ion-X glass
  • Processor: S10 SiP
  • OS: watchOS 26
  • Display: always-on, 1,000 nits
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5G, and LTE
  • Dimensions: 40mm: 40mm by 34mm by 10.7mm; 44mm: 44mm by 38mm by 10.7mm
  • Weight: 40mm: 26.3g GPS and 26.4g cellular; 44mm: 32.9 GPS and 33g cellular
  • Battery life: 18 hours with fast charging, 32 hours in low power mode. Zero to 80 percent in 45 minutes.
  • Sensors: second-gen optical heart rate monitor, accelerometer, gyroscope, light sensor, barometer, altimeter, wrist temperature sensor, compass
  • GPS: built-in GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, and Beidou
  • Water resistance: up to 50 meters
  • NFC: yes
  • Compatibility: iPhone only

The only thing that truly bugged me was the screen size. I have the 40mm SE 3, and things are undoubtedly tiny, while the bezels are thicker than on the Series watches. But even I have to admit that it only really bothered me because I’d switched back from a higher-end Apple Watch. Eventually, I got used to it, and it’s much less noticeable if you use watchfaces with a black background. As someone with terrible eyesight, I find it easier to interact with and read notifications on a bigger display, but if you’ve got good eyesight, this may be a nonissue for you.

The best Apple Watch for most people right now

Beefing up the $250 SE 3 this much sows chaos into the Apple Watch lineup. Right now, the dividing line between the Ultra and the Series 11 is clear — there’s better GPS tracking, a rugged design, more buttons, satellite connectivity, and the biggest honking screen and battery Apple has to offer. The line between the SE 3 and Series 11? For many people, it’s now nonexistent.

The skeptic in me believes that the SE 3’s glow-up is partly an effort to draw more people into the Apple Watch ecosystem. It’s an incredible value, and Apple happens to be coming off five consecutive quarters of declining Apple Watch shipments due to a decrease in consumer demand, fewer models, and ho-hum feature upgrades. You don’t need to be a financial whiz to see the SE 3 will likely do gangbusters in terms of sales.

This watch is just an incredible value.

The SE line doesn’t get refreshed every year, and it’s possible that with the Series 12 or 13, Apple may introduce a new chip or sensor that enables more advanced health features that won’t make their way over to the SE 3. But that’s a moot point for people who are looking to buy today.

The true decision boils down to whether you think a bigger display, thinner bezels, EKGs, and blood oxygen are worth an extra $150. If you have to buy now, I’d recommend getting the 44mm SE 3 to mitigate the screen issue. But unless you have legitimate health reasons for needing the latter two metrics? Save that extra $120–$150 for a rainy day.

Agree to Continue: Apple Watch SE 3

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

You can only use the Apple Watch SE (2025) with an iPhone. That means you’ll have already agreed to the iPhone’s terms of service and privacy agreements. Using optional services, like Apple Pay, Apple Music, or Fitness Plus, with your SE will also come with their own agreements. Using the Health app also comes with its own terms and conditions.

If you choose to enable cellular service, you’ll also have to agree to your carrier’s terms. I activated cellular on T-Mobile and was asked to agree to one mandatory agreement.

If you add any third-party apps or integrations, you must also agree to those individual terms and privacy policies.

Specific to the Apple Watch, you must agree to the following:

Final tally: one mandatory agreement plus any mandatory agreements for your iPhone. Several, several optional agreements.

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Product Reviews

MindsEye’s response was so mindblowingly negative its star thought ‘I might never work in another game again’

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By all accounts, MindsEye was not a good game, and I doubt its ongoing updates will ever change that perception in the eyes of audiences everywhere. The Steam reviews are at 37%, ‘Mostly Negative’ and the Metacritic matches it exactly. People do not like this videogame.

In fact, they don’t like it so much that star Alex Hernandez thought it might outright kill his videogame career. Hernandez, who played main character Jacob Diaz, said in a chat with Frvr that being, in essence, the public face of a failed videogame is a pretty tough thing to go through (even though Hernandez’s performance was good, as far as I’m aware).

“It’s hard. I’m not gonna lie about that,” said Hernandez. Not just for himself, mind you, but “for the 300 or so employees at Build A Rocket Boy, you’re like ‘I hope this goes really well.’ I want them all to get raises and have a giant party and have this be the job that launches their career.”


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Which, well, isn’t what happened. “Videogamers are a unique species—and I am one of them—where… the feelings are so strong, and the internet is an anonymous place where people will share things they would never say to your face ever… Even if they thought it was a pile of trash, they just wouldn’t look you in the face and be like, ‘Everyone who worked on this game deserves to die’.”

Alas, the internet means lots of people very much are like that, and it was tough both for Hernandez to experience and to see the team he’d worked with go through.

(Image credit: Build a Rocket Boy)

Hernandez said that, although he’s developed a “pretty thick skin” over the course of his acting career, “It was a good two days of, like, ‘Fuck’. Just based on the response, not based on the work itself… I was like, ‘I might never work in another game again.'”

Because he was, after all, the face of the game. “Because one of the caveats of being the face on the box is that people, rightly or wrongly, will associate all of their opinions and, more importantly, their emotions about this game with my face…

“My name will now be associated with something that many people have regarded as pretty fucking bad. And as an artist, as a man, as a gamer, that hurts, it’s wildly painful.”

The good news, though, is that after having a “wallow” in those feelings for a couple of days, Hernandez picked himself up and soldiered on, even if some folks still inexplicably thought his social media pages were the best place to complain about the game. “I can’t be responsible for the whole thing, even though my face is on the box, and I have to accept the reality, there is some amount of gamers that are going to carry that negativity with them.”



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Plagued by Parts Shortage and EV Demand Uncertainty, GM Prepares for Layoffs
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Plagued by Parts Shortage and EV Demand Uncertainty, GM Prepares for Layoffs

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Automotive giant General Motors is preparing for layoffs at its assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri.

Although the layoffs will be temporary, the majority of the workers at the plant will be affected, according to a letter sent to employees by the plant’s executive director and the local UAW representative.

GM’s Wentzville plant builds the company’s Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size trucks, as well as the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans. The latter two are some of GM’s longest-running offerings and were rumored to be due for a complete EV revamp by 2026, but GM walked back on those plans, according to GMAuthority.

The reason for the temporary layoff—expected to last between September 29 and October 19—is a parts shortage.

GM didn’t respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo. We’ll update this post when we receive a reply.

The parts shortage is only the latest in a string of headwinds for GM, the major one being the Trump administration’s attack on the electric vehicle industry that caused the automotive giant to reevaluate its electrification strategy.

One of Donald Trump’s first courses of action as President was to initiate the repeal process of an electric vehicle consumer tax credit worth $7,500. Although the current tax credit was passed as part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, an EV tax credit has existed in one form or another for more than a decade.

The tax credits are set to expire on September 30, plunging the electric vehicle industry into the great unknown.

That unknown caused GM to cut output at a major electric vehicle assembly plant, temporarily lay off workers, and indefinitely delay a shift at a Kansas City assembly plant that was set to produce electric Chevy Bolts later this year, Reuters reported in September.

GM’s (and America’s) EV test

Back in 2021, GM made a significant commitment to completely electrify its fleet of vehicles by 2035. A major roadblock for that vision has since arrived in the form of Trump-era EV policies.

According to CEO Mary Barra’s comments from last week, electric vehicles are still the company’s “north star.” Previously floundering demand is now looking up, too: sales of used electric vehicles rose 40% from last year in July, and GM’s own electric vehicle sales jumped to an all-time monthly record in August.

The company shared in a press release that although they are expecting strong demand in September as well, sales will “no doubt” be lower after the tax credits end.

“It may take several months for the market to normalize. We will almost certainly see a smaller EV market for a while, and we won’t overproduce,” Duncan Aldred, president of GM’s North America business, said in the press release.

The upcoming uncertainty is not just a test for GM, but a test for the U.S. at large. While EV demand flutters in the U.S. and Washington repeals key support for the industry, Chinese EV-makers like BYD enjoy government support as they ambitiously expand operations and global influence.

The demand might be slow-coming in the U.S. due to many reasons (one of which undoubtedly is the lack of EV charging infrastructure), but experts believe the future is still very much electric. Goldman Sachs analysts shared last year that they expect electric vehicles to make up 50% of global new car sales by 2035. 



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Apple Watch Series 11 Review: Finally, the Watch Lives Longer
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Apple Watch Series 11 Review: Finally, the Watch Lives Longer

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For years, Apple has tried to extend the battery life of the Apple Watch. For as many years, the company has only succeeded by half measures. Features like Low Power mode or faster charging help you keep the watch on your wrist for longer, but Apple has not significantly improved the watch’s 18-hour battery life—even at last year’s much-hyped decade-versary of the Apple Watch.

I say this to give the context of why such a little thing was so shocking. After wearing the new Apple Watch Series 11 for a full afternoon and wearing it to sleep, I woke up in the morning and discovered that I still had 58 percent battery left. 58 percent! I can wear the watch to sleep, get up, get my kids to school, and charge the watch when I’m at my desk! Constantly fussing over battery life was a major pain of the Apple Watch, and it’s been fixed.

Longer battery life also makes it significantly easier to use Apple’s newest health features as well. If you have a Series 3 or 4 and have been waiting to upgrade, this is the year to do it. Too bad Apple couldn’t pull this off last year.

In a Heartbeat

Photograph: Adrienne So

First things first: The new Series 11 comes in 42- and 46-millimeter case sizes with aluminum and titanium finishes in a variety of colors—Gold, Natural, and Slate for titanium, Rose Gold, Silver, Space Gray, and Jet Black for aluminum). It has the same slim case as last year’s Series 10, along with features like fast charging and a new, more scratch-resistant glass.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has long contended that the Apple Watch is meant to save your life. In accordance with this, the newest features on the watch (or more accurately, the watchOS 26 update that applies to all Apple Watches, Series 6 or later) are health-related. First, the watch now offers hypertension, or high blood pressure, notifications.

Undiagnosed high blood pressure now affects as many as one in three people worldwide and can lead to heart attacks, stroke, or other long-term health conditions. The optical heart rate monitor on the watch purports to check how your blood vessels respond to your heartbeats; Apple says that the feature was developed with data from a series of studies that totaled over 100,000 participants.



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