So your Apple Watch has it all. It tracks your steps, heart rate, ECG, workouts, calories, and more. But there’s something missing- it doesn’t track your stress. So I set out to try some of the internet’s best-proclaimed stress tracking apps for the Apple Watch and found one to be the crown jewel- and it’s free!
So, if you’re on the lookout for the best Apple Watch apps to track your stress, here are the ones I tried.
Best Stress Tracking App for Apple Watch- StressFace
Image Courtesy: igeeksblog
StressFace is an app on the App Store that is free and that shows your stress score ranging from 1-10. The stress score can also be added to my watch face as a complication so that i don’t have to open a specific app.
The app shows current stress levels in real time and also pushes me to use the Breathe app in order to update the score. It also shows my average stress levels throughout the days in a bar graph form as well as a timeline of my scores throughout the day.
Even though a few features require a premium version, what made this app stand out amongst others is that the main feature of the app- stress score- is not hidden behind a paywall. For most of the other third-party apps, the main feature of revealing the stress score requires a premium.
The iPhone app seems lackluster. Although it provides meditation to improve stress, it lacks more data. Personally, I would like to see what factors it takes into consideration, such as HRV or HR.
While third-party apps can be a solution to stress monitoring on the Apple Watch, the watch does not have an inbuilt stress app. So the question is…
Can your Apple Watch detect stress?
A study published in Dec 2022, titled ‘Using Apple Watch ECG data for heart rate variability monitoring and stress prediction: A pilot study.’, from the University of Waterloo, suggests that apple watch Series which have the ECG functionality i.e. Series 6 and above, can predict stress levels using data collected throughout the day.
The study involved 33 participants using both an Apple Watch along with an iPhone 7. The stress was assessed using frequent ECG readings and questionnaires. The results were promising despite certain limitations, such as a small sample size and shorter ECG durations.
This could mean that Apple has the tech to introduce an inbuilt stress app, and I’m sure that when they do, we won’t need any of the third-party apps.
Wrap Up
Personally, constantly looking at my stress score makes me even more stressed, but this is a revelation I got after I tried these apps on my Apple Watch. But if you want a stress score on your wrist, StressFace is an easy-to-use, straightforward app.
It gives you exactly what you need- a stress score. And it doesn’t hide it behind a paywall.
