Apple’s latest Watches are its most impressive yet with advanced health tracking, satellite connectivity

Apple’s (AAPL) latest Apple Watches hit the market Sept. 19 with a number of meaningful upgrades. The $259 Apple Watch SE 3, $399 Apple Watch Series 11, and $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3 each get more durable displays, as well as 5G cellular connectivity.

But the marquee feature of this year’s lineup is hypertension notifications, only available on the Series 11 and Ultra 3. Apple says the feature could potentially alert up to 1 million people that they show signs of chronic high blood pressure within the first year of its availability.

I’m navigating the process of dialing in the right medication for my recently diagnosed hypertension, which makes the Series 11 and Ultra 3 especially intriguing. I’ve also got sleep apnea, which all of the watches can now detect. I’m a real peach to sleep next to at night.

Apple says hypertension notifications, which you have to opt into, work by using the Series 11 and Ultra 3’s built-in optical heart rate sensor. It’ll also work with the Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 via software updates.

Hypertension alerts work by capturing a photoplethysmography, a waveform generated via the optical sensor that looks at the blood volume in your blood vessels from beat to beat. You won’t notice the measurements because the watch takes them in the background. After a 30-day period, you’ll get an alert if the watch finds signs associated with hypertension.

Apple is careful to point out that the watches’ results aren’t a diagnosis, and that it isn’t meant for use by people who have already been diagnosed with hypertension, are under the age of 22, or are pregnant. I unfortunately didn’t get to try out hypertension alerts, because they weren’t available at the time I was writing my review, and I’d need 30 days to get a reading.

Additionally, all three watches get Apple’s new sleep score functionality, which uses a 100-point sleep system meant to help users better understand their sleep patterns.

Scoring is based on sleep duration, which accounts for 50 points; bedtime consistency, which is worth 30 points; and interruptions, which are worth 20 points. Consistency bases your bedtime on the past 13 days you’ve gone to bed. Interruptions are scored the lowest because users can’t control when they wake up at night. My score was predictably rated as very low on my red-eye flight back to New York on Wednesday morning and low Wednesday night, but jumped to high after a good night’s sleep on Thursday.

The three watches also get Apple’s new Workout Buddy feature, an AI assistant that provides personalized motivational chatter to get you pumped to exercise. It’s actually a nice change of pace to have something like Workout Buddy to get you excited to move, providing you with things like your fastest run times. Hearing an energetic British voice tell me I ran my fastest 5K was genuinely helpful, since I don’t keep track of my times on my own.