The Apple Watch wants to be your fitness companion -- from tracking daily activities and nudging you to get off the couch to helping you train for marathons.
At an event on Monday in San Francisco, Apple detailed how the device will do much more than tell the time. In addition to taking phone calls, answering emails, checking updates from apps like Instagram and paying for items at retail checkout, users will be able to stay on top of their workouts and overall daily activities.
The Apple Watch -- which will come with a built-in heart-rate monitor -- will directly compete with the long list of fitness wristband trackers on the market, like the Fitbit and Jawbone. It will come with a Workout app that gives a look at measurements tracked during specific activities, like going for a run or bike ride.
Each week, the device will send its users a progress report on their movements and suggests a new daily Move goal based on the week before.
Apple invited model and maternal health advocate Christy Turlington Burns to the stage to describe how she used the Apple Watch while running a recent half-marathon in Tanzania.
“In the short time I’ve been using it, I can already see how this is going to be an important part of my life,” she told Apple CEO Tim Cook.
The company also introduced a new software framework called ResearchKit that will allow patients to help medical researchers. Patients battling diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes can share symptoms with researchers via the platform to help them learn more about various illnesses.