Apple Watch Ultra 3 Hands-On: Satellite Messaging & Everything Detailed!

Apple has just announced the Apple Watch Ultra 3, and as expected, added satellite messaging as well as a larger and brighter display. That’s in addition to a number of other hardware and software improvements. Beyond this, the company announced the Apple Watch Series 11, as well as the new Apple Watch SE 3. And perhaps most notably: All of the existing pricing remains the same – there were no price increases here for watches.

The lineup gets the previously announced WatchOS 26 and Workout Buddy, but all three watches also get new sleep score features, as well as all units getting 5G cellular connectivity for the cellular editions.

Let’s dive into a quick overview of things, and then down the road I’ll have a full in-depth review of them.

What’s New:

Here’s everything that’s changed, compared to the Apple Watch Ultra 2:

– New display for increased viewing angle brightness
– Increased display size to largest in an Apple Watch (roughly 5% bigger in pixel sq mm)
– New LTPO3 display increased refresh rate in always-on mode “without impacting battery”
– Added ability to see ticking seconds in watch faces in dimmed always-on state
– Decreased bezel/borders slightly (but same case size)
– Added new Waypoint watch face
– Added 5G cellular
– Added Satellite SOS
– Added Satellite text messaging
– Added Satellite FindMy location sharing
– Apple says they doubled the signal strength compared to Ultra 2
– Added Hypertension tracking/notifications (pending FDA approval)
– Added sleep score (coming to all WatchOS 26 units)
– Increased battery life to 42 hours of regular battery life, from 36 hours
– Available in both black and natural titanium (like before)
– Added new band colors
– Price remains $799USD (including cellular hardware)

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 will be available for pre-order today, and start shipping on September 19th. The satellite messaging pieces will be free for two years, after which, Apple may or may not decide to charge for them (just as they’ve not yet charged for other satellite features to date)

Looking at the display real quick, here’s how the Apple Watch Ultra 3 compares to the existing Apple Watch Ultra 2:

You can see the difference at a lower viewing angle:

And you can see the decreased bezel area (between display and frame) compared to the Ultra 2:

There’s, of course, a slate of other new bands as well across all the usual band realms within the Apple Watch sphere (e.g., Nike, Hermes, etc).

How the Satellite Messaging Pieces Work:

Apple becomes the third company in as many weeks to announce satellite messaging from the wrist, following Google and Garmin. Apple allows you to reach emergency SOS services, as well as regular text messaging, plus sharing of FindMy location.

In order to message via satellite (for either emergency or regular purposes), you’ll need to be aware of where things are available:

– Satellite SOS (Emergency): All 17 countries currently supported by the iPhone Emergency SOS*
– Satellite text messaging (regular chatting): 3 countries: US, Canada, Mexico
– Sending FindMy location/position (non-emergency): All 18 countries supported by the iPhone for FindMy (basically includes Mexico that’s not in the SOS list)

Here’s the list of countries for the above:

Satellite SOS: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S

FindMy Updates (simply adds Mexico to list above): Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S

Next, you’ll need one more piece to remember:

– Satellite SOS: Available without a cellular plan attached to the watch
– Satellite text messaging: Requires a cellular plan from any supported carrier in US, Canada, or Mexico

Ok, with that backstory, you’ve got the three core scenarios above.

If it’s an emergency SOS situation, it’ll ask you the typical flow of questions related to the emergency situation. It’s simply now optimized for the smaller screen:

To send a message (of any type), you’ll need to raise your wrist in order to contact a satellite. Just like the iPhone, you’ll orient your body towards a satellite, which will slowly pass across the sky around you.

In addition to the SOS messages, there’s also the regular non-emergency messaging, and the FindMy Updates:

These act a bit differently (aside from the region areas noted above).

In the case of regular text messaging, you can use iMessage to any iMessage contact that you’ve talked to in the last 30 days (it has a 30-day limitation because it needs to maintain a secure channel which was instantiated within that time window), or any SMS contact as long as your phone is online elsewhere. Meaning, if your phone is with you (and also offline), then you’ll need to use iMessage to another contact. In terms of inbound messages, that’ll realistically only work when you manually check for them. It sounds like there is a brief time period until the satellite passes when, if you’re lucky, existing messages may sync down.

For the FindMy feature, you’re allowed to update your FindMy location every 15 minutes, manually. There is no automatic tracking here, it’s purely a manual process. Which is fine, it still updates your location and all works out.

If you were to compare how this fits into the recently announced offerings from Google and Garmin, it’s closest to Garmin’s satellite offering from a features standpoint, except Apple is free and Garmin is charging for it. Here’s where each company stands:

– Satellite SOS (Emergency): Apple, Google, Garmin
– Satellite text messaging (regular chatting): Apple, Garmin (though Garmin is a bit more complex for their messaging)
– Sending location/position (non-emergency): Apple, Garmin

Now, when it comes to technology, Apple is using LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites (identical to their iPhone) provided by Globalstar, whereas Google and Garmin are using GEO (Geostationary) satellites by Skylo. From a technical standpoint, this means that you’ll need to wait for and track a LEO satellite as it’s orbiting past you. On the flip side, this means that even if you have to wait a few minutes, it might have better coverage than GEO satellites if they were being blocked by a mountain/ridge/etc…

Of course, beyond all that, there’s the reality that Apple isn’t charging users for these features, whereas Garmin is charging for satellite connectivity. Though notably, Apple does require you to have a cellular plan enabled on your watch for satellite text messaging features to work. In other words, someone is still taking your money for that piece – just instead of being Apple (or Garmin), it’s your cellular carrier.

Still, I suspect this will (rightly) only frustrate Garmin users looking at the new Fenix 8 Pro/LTE models, which require a Garmin subscription for the emergency satellite SOS pieces to work on a $2,000 watch. It’ll be interesting to see if Garmin reacts.

Sleep Score & Hypertension:

Next, Apple has added both a sleep score feature, as well as an FDA-cleared (or cleared soon) Hypertension tracking feature.

Starting with the sleep score piece, this is looking at four key sleep-related metrics:

– Sleep duration
– Bedtime consistently
– Interruptions
– Time in Sleep Stages

You’ll then get both a sleep score (number), as well as a classification, such as above (class-action is ‘Excellent’). Beyond this, you’ll get more details about how your score is compiled:

Of course, this is hardly groundbreaking in the grand scheme of wearables. In fact, almost every wearable company today has a sleep score.  I occasionally compare these in reviews, against both each other and a gut check. It’ll be interesting to see how things are handled here. Apple says they leveraged more than 5 million nights of sleep from their greater study dataset. Further, the company noted that they aimed to at least provide simplicity in how the score is calculated, rather than it being entirely black magic.

Next is hypertension detection and notifications. This will require tracking for 30 days before it gives notifications, though, at least 14 of those days you must wear the watch during the day (this only tracks during the day). This feature is pending FDA clearance this month, along with regulatory approval in “150 regions” globally.

Once a hypertension notification is triggered, it’ll then recommend you acquire a blood pressure monitor, and will walk you through twice-daily (morning/night) recording of your blood pressure. From there, it combines all that data into a PDF report that you can send to your doctor. Notably, none of this requires calibration (unlike Whoop/Samsung/etc…), though inversely, it doesn’t provide a specific blood pressure number either. Said differently: This is not a blood pressure monitoring device per se.

Apple says they expect to notify over 1 million adults in the first year alone, who aren’t aware they have hypertension. Though they also noted they don’t expect to find every single case of hypertension.

Wrap-Up:

Generally speaking, Apple’s Watch releases tend to be incremental in nature. Meaning, they don’t tend to be aimed at getting the previous generation unit owners to immediately upgrade their sub-1-year-old watches. Instead, it’s designed more for getting Apple Watch owners from 3-4 years back to upgrade. But the Ultra series is different. To begin, it’s younger, and thus, there isn’t as much historical precedent.

But this time, I’d argue there’s a solid reason to upgrade even an Apple Watch Ultra 2 (which can be 1-2 years old depending on when you bought it), if you travel outside of cellular range often. Having simple texting is a massive feature for people spending time in the mountains, assuming it works well-ish from a coverage and usage standpoint.

This will be something I’ll be keen to test over the coming weeks, to see how well it compares side-by-side with both LEO and GEO-based satellite messaging options (including the iPhone). All things to dive into in the review.

With that – thanks for reading!

FOUND THIS POST USEFUL? SUPPORT THE SITE!

Hopefully, you found this post useful. The website is really a labor of love, so please consider becoming a DC RAINMAKER Supporter. This gets you an ad-free experience, and access to our (mostly) bi-monthly behind-the-scenes video series of “Shed Talkin’”.

Support DCRainMaker - Shop on Amazon

Otherwise, perhaps consider using the below link if shopping on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot. It could simply be buying toilet paper, or this pizza oven we use and love.