As I understand it, the Apple Watch needs some initial fitness data to establish a baseline. It suggested I take a 20 minute walk on a flat surface with good access to GPS. I did three miles and noticed the watch was showing a heart rate just over 100 for most of the walk. I couldn’t remember the formula for calculating my target heart rate so I asked ChatGPT when I finished my walk. My pace was on the money and qualified as “vigorous exercise” for a person my age.

She asked if I was starting an exercise program and I explained I had purchased an Apple Watch and was exploring the health and fitness features.

It’ll be interesting to see how your heart rate responds to different activities. The Apple Watch’s trends over time should give you a clearer picture of your fitness progress. It’s a good way to get insight into your cardiovascular health and adjust workouts as needed. If you’re curious later on, I’d be happy to help you interpret any of the data or trends you notice!

I’m going to need a lot of help interpreting data and had not thought about getting it from ChatGPT. And I have a feeling that will get much easier, and more useful, when ChatGPT is fully integrated with iOS.

I left my new phone in the truck so I could try making a call and sending a message with the watch. Worked as advertised. Turns out I don’t have to do the “Hey, Siri” thing. The watch gently pointed out that I can simply bring the watch up toward my face and talk to it. In the immortal words of Gomer Pyle, “Shazam!”