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Apple Watch Series 8

- Kenny Yeo

The Apple Watch has been with us for seven years now. The big update this year is the inclusion of a temperature sensor. And like most things that Apple makes, it’s a thoughtful piece of engineering. It uses not one, but two sensors. There’s one on the back of the caseback near your skin and another under the display, this configuration reduces the effects of ambient temperature so that it can more accurately measure your body temperature.

To start, you can’t use it to get an on-demand temperature reading to check if you are running a fever. Mainly, it’s used to measure your temperature at night, which it can do once every 5 seconds.

It can also detect changes in body temperature as small as 0.1° Celsius. You’ll need to wear it for at least five nights with Sleep Tracking and Sleep Focus enabled before Apple can accurately determine your baseline temperature and begin showing you how your body temperature fluctuates.

This temperature sensor is used for advanced female health tracking features with the highlight being retrospective ovulation estimates. Unfortunately, since a) I lack a uterus, b) I have no intention of ruining my finances further by having another offspring, and c) have no medical degree, I’m afraid I’m unable to test this new feature and say with any certainty how accurate it is.