Apple spread its new health features across three places today: the Health Sensing System in Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, watchOS 27 for existing watches, and a redesigned Health app arriving with iOS 27 on September 14. Some features need only an iPhone, some need only a new watch, and the most talked-about ones, such as Health Age, need both.
The distinction matters because the new watches cost from $399 and $799, while iOS 27 is a free update. Apple’s press releases are specific about what each feature draws on, so here is the breakdown by device. Our Apple Watch Series 12 coverage has the full watch announcement.
Apple health features and the hardware each one needs
| Feature | Apple Watch | iPhone | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Sensing System (5-second heart rate, Recovery HRV, daytime vitals) | Series 12 or Ultra 4 | Paired iPhone | New sensors, not a software update |
| Readiness score | Series 12 or Ultra 4 | Paired iPhone | Apple lists it only for the new watches |
| Health Age | Any Apple Watch supplying VO2 max, resting heart rate, sleep and HRV | Apple Intelligence iPhone on iOS 27 | Apple says it requires Apple Watch |
| Longevity and Insights tabs | Optional data source | Apple Intelligence iPhone on iOS 27 | Also pulls from AirPods, clinical records and third-party apps |
| Movement evaluations | Apple Watch | iPhone camera | VO2 max test needs Apple Watch, AirPods Pro 3 or a third-party heart rate device |
| Labs (50-plus biomarkers, $119) | Not required | Health app | About 2,000 Quest Diagnostics locations, US only |
| Perimenopause and menopause support | Any watch on watchOS 27 | iPhone on iOS 27 | Users 40 and over; not in all regions |
Features that need a new Apple Watch
The Health Sensing System is hardware: new optical and electrical heart sensors and larger green LEDs that read heart rate every 5 seconds and HRV every 5 minutes, 24 times more often than before. That makes Recovery HRV, the daytime vitals view and the overnight comparison against a personal baseline exclusive to Series 12 and Ultra 4.
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Readiness, the 0 to 10 daily score with Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready and Go For It recommendations, is built from those vitals along with activity, training load and sleep, and Apple lists it only for the two new watches. Apple has not said whether any part of Readiness comes to older models through watchOS 27.
Features that need only an iPhone
Labs has no watch dependency at all. It lets Health app users in the US book and pay $119 for a panel of more than 50 biomarkers at about 2,000 Quest Diagnostics locations, with results flowing back into the app. The redesigned Health app itself, with its Longevity and Insights tabs, runs on Apple Intelligence iPhones and iPads with iOS 27 and iPadOS 27.
Apple says the redesigned app launches in US English first, that some features need users 18 or over, and that the Vitals app is for wellness rather than medical use.
Features that need both
Health Age compares your metrics with your chronological age using VO2 max, resting heart rate, sleep and HRV from Apple Watch, and Apple states plainly that it requires one. It does not have to be a Series 12, since older watches already collect those four measures, but the feature lives in the new Health app on an Apple Intelligence iPhone.
Movement evaluations are the other dual-device feature: the iPhone camera captures flexibility, strength, balance and movement mechanics while the watch supplies heart data, all processed on device with no video stored or shared. See our iOS 27 release date coverage for the update schedule.
iOS 27 and watchOS 27 arrive on September 14, and Series 12 and Ultra 4 reach stores on September 18. Apple has not published a list of which iPhones count as Apple Intelligence devices in these releases, so check compatibility before buying for a specific feature. Our event recap has everything else Apple announced.
