Apple may have woken up somewhat to new challenges ahead with the on-trend message that everyone seems to be getting more into personal fitness.
The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday brought several new sports-related announcement for future functionality in WatchOS 5.
I think these announcements are interesting for those of us with sports-focussed devices. These new features are, well, a little basic on the surface.
Challenges
Friends can be challenged over 7 days with competitions based on closing their ‘activity rings’.
New Workout Types
Yoga, hiking and running. Great.
Automatic Workouts
Workouts will be automatically started and stopped.
Enhanced Running Features
To include cadence, moving average pace and pace-based alerts. WHOOPee-do.
Here is a more waffly version…
This post is part of the Apple Watch guide for endurance sport on this site, which covers the full lineup, watchOS, accuracy data, the medical roadmap, and the complete set of articles.
Last Updated on 27 May 2026 by the5krunner
My favourite kit and nutrition
- Injinji – Runners protect your toes. Avoid discomfort and minor injury. Run more. run faster. I use them.
- Garmin 90-degree charging adapter — the small adapter that keeps your charging cables tidy. Essential for race day. I use one.
- Garmin charging puck — the fastest and most reliable way to top up your Garmin before a session. I use one.
- Ravemen FR300 — front light that mounts directly under your Garmin or Wahoo head unit. Keeps your bars clean and your beam pointed where it matters. I use one.
- Body Glide – The Blue anti-chafe stick that all swimmers and many runners use. I use it.
- Maurten — the race nutrition trusted by elite athletes. Gels and drink mix engineered to be easy on the stomach. I use them.
- Garmin Varia RTL515 — radar rear light that alerts you to vehicles approaching from behind. Pairs with your Edge or Garmin watch. I use this model.
- Favero Assioma Pro RS2 — the power meter pedals most serious cyclists end up choosing. Accurate, easy to move between bikes. I use this model.
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. ID
I have said this before if the sport watch companies don’t wisen-up quickly they will be rendered obsolete (or purchased) by major brands with capital to burn. Apple, Samsung, Google–all of them are just swimming in Scrooge McDuck levels of cash each.
If you don’t think they aren’t eyeballing Fitbit or Garmin for patents or tech, or even by squeezing them via their own foray into the Sports watch sector, you’re out of your mind (not you, or anyone, just a turn of the phase).
Little things like this (QoL) make the install base happy (confident?) in their purchase (investment). It makes them less likely to go and buy a “Hardcore” dedicated sports watch. This affects those companies (all the money!!) which either they:
-Become more like the smartwatch brands and
a)compete and thrive
b)compete and die
-Stick to what they do
The problem with the second one is the notion the market is static when really it’s a malleable board and everything can fallout underfoot right away. What if, let’s say Samsung, creates a truly amazing sports function (hardware) which revolutionizes how sports tracking works; how does a Garmin compete? Samsung already owns a fitness watch, tablets, smartphones, a literal smorgasbord of ecosystem appendages. How would Garmin deal with this? Personally–I say they get bought-out in a few years (dependent on how amazing this tech is).
Even if it isn’t an “Earth-shattering” improvement–death by a thousand cuts via small software improvements and updates to the package can begin to trivialize the need for a sports watch at all, thus making much easier to purchase.
I know, I know, I’m extrapolating too much from this, projecting opinion as fact; but I see the cracks in the sector and those cracks are starting to widen. What Apple did here isn’t much, but they add up. In time what’s to say the Apple Watch isn’t doing what sports watches are doing….but also it integrated with ALL the subsequent devices in their ecosystem and are no obtrusive to the user in the slightest (again QoL).
And, I really need to stop myself when responding here 🙂 This was supposed to only be a paragraph or two.
“These new features are, well, a little basic on the surface.”
Yep.
I like the AW as daily driver – the smart stuff is great. Also music and the possibility of making a phone call (e.g. emergency, duty) during a workout. But as *dedicated* sport watch… it really sucks. Mainly because it has like no sensor (PWR, CAD, SPD, and more) support and because of bogus metrics. The ow battery life in when using the sport mode is challenging, but that I can handle.
655/803 CAL via AW3 (https://i.imgur.com/0R5RPE7.png)
1270 kJ via PWR (https://i.imgur.com/bHWjd5b.png)
😂🤦♂️
yeah the longterm prognosis is not good for garmin i would say (https://the5krunner.com/2017/11/04/2018-peaktastic-not-garmintastic-year-ahead-sports-tech/ ). but that’s still years away.