Technologies

Apple Watch 10 Years Later: The Feature That Changed Everything for Me

Here’s a look back at the turning point that made the Apple Watch into a powerful health tool and what’s kept it relevant in the face of competitors for a decade.

I wasn’t immediately sold on the Apple Watch. But five years ago, it alerted me to a serious health problem, earning it a permanent spot on my wrist. Ten years after its launch, the Apple Watch still stands apart, even as a flood of other wearables and fitness trackers have hit the market.

It took several years for the Apple Watch to find its footing beyond just being an iPhone companion. Over the past decade, similar health tracking devices from companies like Samsung, Google and Oura have since ramped up competition. A March report from Counterpoint Research revealed a 19% drop in Apple Watch shipments in 2024, due to heightened competition and less frequent upgrades. Despite that, the Apple Watch has held onto its spot as the best-selling smartwatch in the world, with a lineup that now includes the Series 10, Ultra, and SE.

For many people, including me, it’s become a way to make data personal and meaningful. It’s an easy way to keep tabs on loved ones. And, perhaps most importantly, it’s been a literal life changer.

A very memorable ‘one more thing…’

Rumors about the Apple Watch, or «iWatch» as most people called it, had been simmering long before its launch. In 2014, fitness trackers and smartwatches like the Fitbit, Jawbone Up and Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch had already been on sale and were vying for a spot on people’s wrists. I liked testing these early trackers and watches because they got me outside of the office, but sooner or later, the novelty would wear off, and I’d retire them to my desk drawer. I wasn’t much of a watch or bracelet wearer to begin with, and most early smartwatches didn’t offer me enough incentive to keep wearing them.

Then, in September 2014, Tim Cook unveiled the Apple Watch during a keynote for the iPhone 6 (it arrived in stores on April 24, 2015). I remember holding the Apple Watch for the first time in the demo room after the announcement and thinking it was the best-looking smartwatch I’d ever seen. But that wasn’t much of a compliment considering most pre-Apple Watch wearables lacked fashion appeal and had a more utilitarian vibe. The Galaxy Gear screamed «nerd gadget» with its bulky camera on the strap and a mic on the clasp. The cult favorite Pebble Watch looked more like a plastic toy than a timeless piece. (Sorry, Pebble fans.)

That first Apple Watch appealed to me on a couple of levels. It was Apple’s first new product category since the 2010 launch of the original iPad. It was also the first major tech event that I covered as a journalist. Ultimately, in my Apple Watch review for CNET en Español, I concluded it was a nice iPhone companion, but I wasn’t sure I needed it.

The turning point: When my heart skipped a beat

By the time the Series 4 rolled around, features like LTE and onboard GPS helped the Apple Watch begin to break free from its dependence on the iPhone. I still wasn’t wearing it every day, but one feature changed that.

«We did have this turning point with the Series 4, where we had a little bit of a leap forward in the sensors. We had the advanced motion sensors that allowed us to offer fall detection, and we had the electrical heart sensor that allowed us to offer the ECG app,» says Deidre Caldbeck, senior director of product marketing for the Apple Watch and Health.

This coincided with the release of other heart features like high and low heart rate alerts, and irregular rhythm notifications, which use the optical sensors in the watch to notify users to possible signs of atrial fibrillation, a potentially life-threatening heart condition.

In December 2018, I was at the UCSF Medical Center with cardiologist Dr. Gregory Marcus, testing the new electrocardiogram feature for a CNET story — comparing it with a full-fledged, medical-grade electrocardiogram at the hospital. The last thing I expected was for the Apple Watch to catch something abnormal about my heart rhythm.

But it did.

I had 12 leads from the hospital’s EKG monitor attached to my body while I simultaneously took an ECG reading with the Apple Watch, using my index finger on the digital crown. Marcus signaled to something on the machine — a small irregularity disrupting my heart’s otherwise steady, melodic rhythm. I looked down, and the same out-of-place little wave popped up on the Apple Watch’s screen. My heart was literally skipping a beat.

At the time, I freaked out about what all this could possibly mean. But after some research and a follow-up visit, Marcus concluded that my premature ventricular contraction wasn’t serious or permanent. It was likely triggered by sleep deprivation and stress. I was a new mother to a 1-year-old, after all.

My story took on an unexpected personal turn, and I was left feeling completely different about having Apple’s tech strapped to my wrist. If it was powerful enough to surface such a nuanced heart condition, what else could it show me?

By Christmas of that same year, I had bought an Apple Watch for both my parents. They’re in their 70s and live in El Salvador. I figured if I couldn’t be there physically to watch them, I’d at least want them to have an Apple Watch to let them know if something was off.

It turns out that stories like mine helped Apple see beyond the Apple Watch’s innovative tech and drive the company in a direction steeped in health, wellness and early detection.

«What really inspired and motivated us to do more and to continue to pull on those threads and push the boundaries of what this device could do,» Caldbeck said, «[was] hearing stories from users about learning something about their health that they wouldn’t have otherwise learned because they’re wearing this device throughout the day.»

The Apple Watch as a diagnostic tool

Recently, I caught up with Marcus, nearly seven years after my original story, and talked with him about how he now uses ECGs from devices like the Apple Watch to help diagnose heart conditions in his patients.

«When a consumer or user obtains an EKG, it’ll get some sort of read — possible atrial fibrillation, normal, etc. That is not sufficient,» Marcus said. «Those recordings can be saved, usually as a PDF, and sent to a health care professional. The health care professional can make a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation using those EKGs.»

Marcus’s praise also came with a warning. Sometimes, having all this information, especially for heart rate alerts, can cause patients to worry unnecessarily, even if they are otherwise healthy and show no other symptoms.

«If you’re going to screen a huge population, almost by definition you’re going to have some number of false positive results,» Marcus said. «False positive results are going to lead to unnecessary anxiety, unnecessary testing, maybe unnecessary treatment.»

A jumping off point into other vitals

ECG and heart rate notifications were just the beginning. Now, the Apple Watch can flag signs of sleep apnea, overall mobility, hearing health, menstrual cycles changes and cardiovascular trends to name a few.

For years, I’ve tracked workouts with the Apple Watch and relied on the Move rings to hold me accountable for how much (or how little) activity I had throughout the day. Over time, Apple added more advanced metrics like VO2 Max, Cardio Fitness, Heart Rate Zones and Training Load, which allowed me to get more out of my workouts and stay focused on long-term health goals. The Training Load feature helps me decide when to exercise. Heart Rate Zones and notifications push me during the workout. And VO2 Max and Cardio Fitness scores give me a benchmark to work toward. As a mom of three who’s hard-pressed to carve out even 30 minutes for myself, that kind of focus the Apple Watch brings has been key to making my workouts more impactful.

I may have had a few choice words for the Apple Watch when it alerted me that my Fitness Score dipped days after birthing a human. But it was the push I needed to get back into post-baby shape after my pregnancies. I’m happy to report I’ve reclaimed my «high» score that I still wear with pride.

These features aren’t exclusive to the Apple Watch. In fact, Apple isn’t always the first to roll them out. But I appreciate how the Watch translates them into something relevant, so they don’t get lost in the endless sea of data.

Turning a chore into something seamless

The Apple Watch has affected my life in other ways too. I used tech to track my menstrual cycle well before it debuted on the Apple Watch in 2019. For my first baby, I used a smart thermometer to share basal body temperature readings (an indicator of ovulation and fertility) to my iPhone. It wasn’t seamless, since it required me to remember to do it before getting out of bed, but it beat the old-school pen and paper method.

Once the Apple Watch introduced cycle tracking, I ditched the thermometer and started logging everything on my wrist. Initially, it may not have been as accurate since it didn’t track temperature changes. But the convenience of having the tracking on my watch helped me stay consistent and accurately pinpoint my fertility window.

Apple added two sensors to the Watch Series 8 (and newer), which allow them to track subtle changes in body temperature. The combination of cycle tracking and recording these subtle temperature shifts helped me better confirm ovulation, and it may have played a hand in welcoming baby No. 3.

What really keeps me coming back

The Series 10 currently on my wrist still feels (and looks) a lot like that original Apple Watch smartwatch I reviewed back in 2015. It’s kept the core features that make my life easier — like pinging my phone (which I use an embarrassing number of times), and that spares me from having to dig through my Mary Poppins purse for my phone or wallet at the checkout counter. And the battery life continues to be a pain point 10 years later, though at least I can now squeeze in a full night’s sleep before having to top it off.

Features like cycle tracking and cardio fitness resonate with me the most, but I know that my preferences will continue to evolve alongside the watch. Maybe once my kids are older and I start getting more consistent sleep, I’ll lean more into sleep tracking features or whatever new tool Apple has in store for the watch that year.

The Apple Watch’s real evolution over the past 10 years happened under the hood and isn’t about a single feature. What keeps me (and my family) coming back to the Apple Watch is the personal way in which it tracks the metrics that are relevant to me and steps in when it matters, whether with a nudge to get moving, a health alert or a literal call for help in an emergency.

Technologies

Motorola’s New 2025 Razr Line Gets a High-End $1,300 Ultra Phone

Technologies

Motorola’s $1,300 Razr Ultra Adds Luxury to the 2025 Foldable Phone Line

The new three-tier Razr series comes with Motorola’s biggest AI push yet. One of the flip phones even has a wooden back like the old Moto X from a decade ago.

Motorola’s hoping that good things can come in threes for its newly announced Razr 2025 line. Specifically, there are three Razr models, with a $1,300 Ultra edition debuting alongside updated versions of the base $700 Razr and the $1,000 Razr Plus.

I spent a little time with the new Motorola Razr phones, and it was hard to notice their differences side by side. The design tweaks and spec changes between the three are slight. I found it easy to mix up the Plus and Ultra models when they’re folded shut, as they both have a 4-inch cover screen. The base Razr uses a 3.6-inch cover display adorned with a colorful bezel. Unfolded, all three phones look tall because each has an interior screen with a narrow aspect ratio compared to a regular smartphone. The Ultra folds out to an expansive 7-inch display, while the Razr and Razr Plus have slightly smaller 6.9-inch screens.

Motorola’s also using the new Razr line to showcase Moto AI and fashionable materials like Alcantara fabric. The new lineup marks Motorola’s largest push into AI — cleverly named Moto AI. Motorola has partnerships with Perplexity, Meta’s Llama AI, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini.

It’s quite an aggressive push to expand both Motorola’s Razr line and its AI ambitions, but it makes a lot of sense since Apple, Google and Samsung have also expanded their AI plans while releasing flagship phones at different prices. During a press preview event, Motorola noted that 25% of its Razr customers upgraded from an iPhone. Having a third higher-end Razr option should appeal stronger to customers abandoning the iPhone Pro Max. The Razr Ultra could also tempt someone considering the $1,300 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. While AI features still aren’t the main appeal for customers, the expanded suite of Moto AI tools makes this year’s Razrs more competitive against Apple and Samsung’s AI offerings.

However, the 2025 Motorola Razr line has a noticeable disadvantage against competing foldable phones: they will receive only three years of major software upgrades and four years of security updates. Compared with Google and Samsung’s seven-year commitment to both, it’s about half as long. But with that expectation set, there are a lot of unique design elements to the new Razr line that make it stand out from other phone makers. And that’s worth keeping in mind too.

Motorola’s new Razr line will go on preorder May 7 ahead of a May 15 release date.

Motorola Razr Ultra

The Motorola Razr Ultra is the newest and most powerful member of the family. It has the same Snapdragon 8 Elite chip found in other flagship phones like the OnePlus 13 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra. It also has a wood back option — known as Pantone Mountain Trail. The Razr Ultra is the first Motorola phone to get a wooden back since the Moto X line from a decade ago.

My favorite model, though, is the Pantone Scarab, which is made from velvety black Alcantara fabric — think faux suede or micro suede. The Ultra also comes in magenta-like Pantone Cabaret and Pantone Rio Red.

The phone supports 68-watt wired charging, which is faster than most other flagships, and 30-watt wireless charging. The Ultra also has three 50-megapixel cameras, with a wide and ultrawide lenses on the back and the selfie camera on the interior display.

That 7-inch interior display looks tall and could be a two-handed device for many people when unfolded. The Ultra model I tested did not have an internet connection, but I could easily see how the wider space would be useful for gaming and movie-watching.

On the other hand, the 4-inch cover display feels just right for quick texts and photography. I almost want this smaller display to be a hair taller, as its wider ratio makes it more challenging for viewing content. Both displays have an adaptive refresh rate of up to 165Hz, which makes animations, gameplay play and scrolling social feeds look ridiculously smooth.

The Ultra also has 16GB of memory and comes with either 512GB or 1TB of storage.

Motorola Razr Plus (2025)

Motorola’s Razr Plus gets a smaller revamp compared with last year’s model, and it has many of the same specs from the 2024 version (which earned it a CNET Editor’s Choice award). It has the same Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 processor, 6.9-inch interior screen, 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage. Cameras are also similar. There’s a 50-megapixel wide camera and a 50-megapixel telephoto on the cover display and a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the interior screen.

The Razr Plus gets a few new hardware enhancements that are coming to all three phones. It has a new titanium-reinforced hinge that Motorola says will help its extend its lifespan: 35% more folds than last year’s model. The Razr Plus has IP48 protection for submersion in up to 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes. This makes the phone, along with the other 2025 Razr models, one of the only foldables that has some level of dust resistance.

The Plus is available in three colors: Pantone Mocha Mousse, Midnight Blue and Hot Pink.

Motorola Razr (2025)

Motorola’s standard Razr also got a small spec bump compared with last year’s standard Razr. It does move up to MediaTek’s Dimensity 7400X processor, which is slightly newer than the 7300 included in the 2024 model. It also keeps the 3.6-inch 90Hz cover display and the 6.9-inch 120Hz interior screen.

Cameras are also largely similar: a 50-megapixel main camera and a 13-megapixel ultrawide on the cover screen and a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the interior display.

The Razr (2025) comes in four Pantone-branded colors: Spring Bud (green), Gibraltar Sea Blue, Parfait Pink and Lightest Sky (white).

Moto AI

Moto AI debuted last year on the 2024 Razr and Razr Plus. Motorola will partner with several AI companies to significantly upgrade Moto AI in 2025. Moto AI features can be activated with a dedicated button or by looking and speaking directly at the phone.

Motorola says that Moto AI, along with integrated services like Perplexity, Copilot and Gemin, will complement each other. For instance, Perplexity can help with research-based tasks like vacation planning and will partly power Moto AI’s Next Move feature that offers suggestions based on what’s happening on your screen. Llama AI can summarize notifications for Moto’s Catch Me Up. Moto’s Pay Attention and Remember This are meant to help organize notes, audio transcriptions, contextual photos and screenshots. Other general queries can be fielded by either Copilot or Gemini.

Motorola’s own AI will also pitch in for a variety of photography enhancement features. These include Signature Style for customizing the look of your photos as well as a Group Shot feature that can merge multiple photos together to ensure one where no one is blinking.

Motorola’s earbuds get crystals and Bose

Motorola’s fashion-forward ambitions didn’t stop at just the Pantone-colored Razr line. The company also unveiled the Moto Buds Loop open-style earbuds, which include Swarovski crystals along with a Sound by Bose badge. Pricing and availability weren’t announced yet, but the earbuds look like small earrings and hook across the ear. Motorola says that the open style lets in ambient noise (which can be good for staying alert in public places). The buds have a dual-microphone system and AI for voice calls and reducing background noise.

Motorola Razr (2025) specs vs. Motorola Razr Plus (2025), Motorola Razr Ultra

	Motorola Razr (2025)	Motorola Razr Plus (2025)	Motorola Razr Ultra
Cover display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate	3.6-inch pOLED; up to 90Hz variable refresh rate	4-inch pOLED; 1,272 x 1,080 pixels; up to 165Hz variable refresh rate	4-inch pOLED; up to 165Hz variable refresh rate
Internal display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate	6.9-inch AMOLED; FHD+; up to 120Hz variable refresh rate	6.9-inch pOLED; FHD+; 2,640 x 1,080 pixels; up to 165Hz variable refresh rate	7-inch AMOLED; up to 165Hz variable refresh rate
Pixel density	Cover: 413 ppi; Internal: 413 ppi	Cover: 417 ppi; Internal: 413 ppi	Cover: 417 ppi; 464 ppi
Dimensions (inches)	Open: 2.91 x 6.74 x 0.29 inches Closed: 2.91 x 3.47 x 0.62 inches	Open: 2.91 x 6.75 x 0.28 inches Closed: 2.91 x 3.47 x 0.6 inches	Open: 2.91 x 6.75 x 0.28 inches Closed: 2.91 x 3.47 x 0.62 inches
Dimensions (millimeters)	Open: 73.99 x 171.30 x 7.25mm Closed: 73.99 x 88.08 x 15.85mm	Open: 73.99 x 171.42 x 7.09mm Closed: 73.99 x 88.09 x 15.32mm	Open: 73.99 x 171.48 x 7.19mm Closed: 73.99 x 88.12 x 15.69mm
Weight (grams, ounces)	188g (6.63 oz)	189g (6.67 oz)	199g (7 oz)
Mobile software	Android 15	Android 15	Android 15
Cameras	50-megapixel (wide), 13-megapixel (ultrawide)	50-megapixel (wide), 50-megapixel telephoto	50-megapixel (wide), 50-megapixel (ultrawide)
Internal screen camera	32-megapixel	32-megapixel	50-megapixel
Video capture	4K	4K	4K
Processor	MediaTek Dimensity 7400X	Snapdragon 8s Gen 3	Snapdragon 8 Elite
RAM/storage	8GB + 256GB	12GB + 256GB	16GB + 512GB, 1TB
Expandable storage	None	None	None
Battery	4500 mAh	4,000 mAh	4,700 mAh
Fingerprint sensor	Side	Side	Side
Connector	USB-C	USB-C	USB-C
Headphone jack	None	None	None
Special features	IP48 rating, dual stereo speakers, 30-watt wired charging, 15-watt wireless charging, 1,700 nit peak brightness on cover display, 3,000 nit peak brightness on main display, 5G.	IP48 rating, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on front, titanium-reinforced hinge, 2,400 peak brightness on cover display; 3,000 nit peak brightness on main display, 5G, Wi-Fi 6/6E, Wi-Fi 7, 45-watt wired charging, 15-watt wireless charging, 5-watt reverse charging.	IP48 rating, 68-watt wired charging, 30-watt wireless charging, 5-watt reverse charging, dual stereo speakers, Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic cover dispaly, 3,000 nits peak brightness on cover display, 4,500 nits peak brightness on main display, 5G.
US price starts at	$700	$1,000	$1,300

Technologies

Adobe and LinkedIn Are Teaming Up to Help Creators Verify Images’ Authenticity

The partnership allows the new Adobe content authenticity app to verify that a creator is who they say they are.

Adobe’s next step forward in its content authenticity efforts is here. The Adobe content authenticity app is now in public beta, available for anyone to try. With the app, you can attach content credentials to all your digital images and photos.

Content credentials are a kind of invisible digital signature that’s added after a project is finished. Right now, you can add them to images, with support for videos and audio coming soon. Besides your name, content credentials can include your social media handles, personal website and can disclose any AI usage. You can also use these credentials to signify that you don’t want your work to be used to train AI models.

One of the best parts about the app is that you don’t need a Creative Cloud subscription to use it. So even if you don’t want to pay for Adobe programs, you can quickly sign up for a free Adobe account and use the app to create content credentials and apply them to your digital work.

Creators who post their work online know that it’s all too easy for people to steal, misattribute or erase the original creator from a piece of work. That’s where the new partnership with LinkedIn comes in to give content credentials a little more security.

Currently, LinkedIn offers three types of verifications on its platform: identity, workplace and educational. You likely already have at least one if you’re a semiregular LinkedIn user. You can get a workplace verification by using your work email, or you can get an identity verification using a form of government-issued ID. LinkedIn’s new «Verified on LinkedIn» program will help people use these verifications in other corners of the internet. If you’re verified on LinkedIn, those credentials will appear in your Adobe content credentials account. You’ll also be able to apply your LinkedIn verifications on TrustRadius, G2 and UserTesting.

«Using Verified on LinkedIn, users will be able to use the verifications they’ve completed on LinkedIn to show who they are across the different online platforms they use, boosting trust, confidence and credibility,» Oscar Rodriguez, vice president of trust at LinkedIn, said in a statement.

When you’re inside the content authenticity app, you can batch apply credentials to up to 50 images at a time — a highly requested feature that came out of the private beta, Andy Parsons, senior director of content authenticity at Adobe, told CNET in an interview. You can also use the content credentials app to inspect tags added to other images. The content credential browser extension is also available, if you want the ability to view credentials wherever you scroll online.

Content provenance, or how we know where a piece of content originates, is more important than ever in the age of AI. The content credential app is the result of Adobe’s involvement with a larger group called the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, or C2PA. The group advocates for an open technical standard to help people easily see where an image, video or another piece of content came from. Other members include Google, Meta and OpenAI — all heavyweights in the generative AI market. LinkedIn is now also joining, but its parent company, Microsoft, is a longtime member.

For more, check out our hands-on testing of the new Photoshop iPhone app and the fight between Adobe and creators over the future of AI.