VITALWhat Apple’s Readiness score is
Apple describes readiness as a daily read on your capacity for the day ahead. The score runs from 0 to 10. Apple’s UK support article sorts it into four labels:
- Recover: 0 to 1
- Pace yourself: 2 to 4
- Ready: 5 to 7
- Go for it: 8 to 10
The user guide and Apple’s newsroom use the same ranges.
Apple says the score draws on three kinds of data.
- Activity and training load: recent activity, including active calories, workout effort ratings and training load. More activity can lower the score. A workout can lower it later the same day. Steadier or lighter activity can raise it.
- Vitals: overnight and daytime readings, including heart rate, respiratory rate, wrist temperature, heart rate variability (HRV) and blood oxygen, compared with your recent baseline. Apple says that baseline needs you to sleep with the watch on at least 7 of the past 49 nights. When Apple marks your vitals as off, the score goes down. When every metric is typical or favourable, it goes up. On some Apple Watch models bought in the United States, Apple says blood oxygen is not available in the Vitals app.
- Sleep: your recent sleep score. A low score from poor or uneven sleep can lower readiness. A higher sleep score, or an improved one, can raise it.
The score can update through the day as new data comes in, including calories burned, naps and daytime heart rate. You can open it on the watch, or in the Fitness app on iPhone.
Apple says the scoring was developed with data from the Apple Heart and Movement Study, with exercise scientists and physicians at Apple. It also says readiness does not account for every health factor, such as existing conditions or medicines, and should not be the only reason you decide to exercise. Apple calls it a general wellness feature, not a substitute for professional medical judgement.
Apple introduced the score with Apple Watch Series 12 in September 2026. Series 12 runs watchOS 27. watchOS 27 is also offered on some older watches. The Readiness app is not part of that wider update.
There is no single formula for readiness across apps. What a readiness score is, and why one app’s number cannot be compared with another’s, is a separate question.
Which watches get it
Apple’s user guide says the Readiness app is available on Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, for ages 13 and older. The UK support article names the same two models.
That leaves out Series 11, Series 10, Series 9, Apple Watch SE, Ultra 3 and Ultra 2. Apple’s newsroom says watchOS 27 is available for Series 9 or later, Apple Watch SE 3, and Ultra 2 or later, and that not every feature is on every model. Installing the update does not add the Readiness app to an older watch.
Why it might not show
On a Series 12 or Ultra 4, Apple publishes a setup list for when the score does not appear. Before a score can appear, Apple says you need to:
- Enter your height, weight and age. The user guide points to the Fitness app on iPhone. The UK article says Health Details.
- Set up Activity.
- Set up Sleep, turn it on, and wear the watch in bed. Apple asks for at least seven nights of sleep with that watch. The UK article also says you need to have slept with the watch last night.
- Set up Overnight Vitals.
Until that history is there, Apple says you will not get a score. A new watch, or a night you did not wear it, can leave the score blank. That checklist is about setup on Series 12 and Ultra 4. It does not add the app to an older model.
Options on Series 9, 10, 11, SE and Ultra 2 or 3
Apple’s Readiness app does not run on these models. You can still get a daily score from an iPhone app that reads Apple Health, from whatever sleep, heart rate or workout data that watch shares with Apple Health.
Athlytic and Bevel are two apps that do this. Athlytic is built around Apple Watch, and its listing says a watch is needed for most features. Bevel’s site lists Apple Watch, Oura, Garmin and Amazfit under Works with, and does not say an Apple Watch is required. Neither app shows Apple’s 0 to 10 score. Each one uses its own formula, so the numbers are not interchangeable with Apple’s, or with each other.
The differences, including price and where each app is the stronger fit, are on Vital vs Athlytic, Vital vs Bevel and Vital vs Gentler Streak.
If there is no overnight heart data at all, a score can still be estimated from sleep, how you feel and recent training. That is a rougher guide, and it should say so. Readiness without an Apple Watch sets out what that estimate can and cannot see.
How Vital does it
Vital does not use Apple’s Readiness algorithm, and it does not use Apple’s 0 to 10 scale. It reads Apple Health with your permission. If those readings are there, Vital can use them, with or without a watch. This page does not name particular Apple Watch models for that.
Vital’s own Readiness is a score out of 100, with the bands Rest, Low, Moderate, Ready and Peak. Those labels are Vital’s, not Apple’s.
In Vital
Readiness in Vital is built from last night’s sleep, your HRV, your resting heart rate and your recent training, read from Apple Health and compared with your own usual. Without overnight heart readings, it is estimated from last night’s sleep, a short morning check-in and your recent training, and it is marked as an estimate. It works with or without a watch.
Vital Club is £9.99 a month or £69.99 a year in the UK, with a 7-day free trial when you’re eligible.
Get Vital for iPhoneCommon questions
Which Apple Watches show a readiness score?
Apple says the Readiness app is on Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, for ages 13 and older. It is not on Series 11, Series 10, Series 9, Apple Watch SE, Ultra 3 or Ultra 2.
Why is my Apple Watch readiness score not showing?
On Series 12 or Ultra 4, Apple says you need your height, weight and age entered, Activity set up, Sleep set up and turned on, Overnight Vitals set up, and at least seven nights of sleep with that watch, including last night. On any other model, Apple’s Readiness app is not available, so there is no Apple score to show.
Does watchOS 27 add Readiness to older watches?
No. Apple says watchOS 27 is available for Series 9 or later, Apple Watch SE 3, and Ultra 2 or later, and that not every feature is on every model. The Readiness app is listed for Series 12 and Ultra 4 only.
Can an older Apple Watch still get a daily score?
Not from Apple’s Readiness app. An iPhone app that reads Apple Health can build its own score from data the watch already saves. Athlytic and Bevel are two of those apps. Vital also reads Apple Health, and it works with or without a watch. None of them uses Apple’s 0 to 10 score. See Vital vs Athlytic, Vital vs Bevel and Vital vs Gentler Streak.
Is Vital’s readiness the same as Apple’s?
No. Vital does not use Apple’s algorithm. Vital’s score is out of 100. It uses sleep, HRV, resting heart rate and recent training from Apple Health, compared with your own usual. Without overnight heart readings it is marked as an estimate.
Vital gives general information about fitness and wellbeing. It is not medical advice, and it does not diagnose or treat any condition.