Apple Watch Series 4 (44mm) Aluminum case GPS

The Apple Watch Series 4 (44mm) Aluminum case GPS is a smartwatch with a 1.7-inch touchscreen color OLED Retina display, compatible with iOS and includes step counting, sleep tracking, and calories burned.

Unlock to see our ratings and compare products side by side

CR Expert Take

How did it perform in our expert lab testing?

Overall Score

The Overall Score for this model is derived from our expert lab test results.

Unlock ratingswith membership.

Current Range of Tested Smartwatches

What goes into the Overall Score?

Ease of use

/ 5

Versatility

/ 5

Health

/ 5

Step-count performance

/ 5

Heart-rate performance

/ 5

Scratch test

/ 5

Water resistance test

/ 5

Ease of interaction

/ 5

Readability in bright light

/ 5

Readability in low light

/ 5

Ease of pairing

/ 5

Heart-rate monitor accuracy

/ 5

Step count accuracy

/ 5

Color

/ 5

Detailed Test Results

Overall this model was very easy to use, somewhat accurate for counting steps, and excellent at measuring heart-rate accuracy. With recent version smartphones, our experts found it very easy to pair, very easy to interact with, and very easy to connect to charger. In our water immersion test it passed the manufacturer's claim of 164 feet for 10 minutes.

About

The Apple Watch Series 4 (44mm) Aluminum case GPS is a smartwatch compatible with iOS and includes real-time heart-rate monitor, steps, sleep, and calories. It has a touchscreen display with 368 x 448 screen resolution but lacks always-on display capability. It has an on-screen battery indicator and a wireless magnetic charging dock. It has phone notifications and vibration/sound alerts. It includes inactivity alerts that remind you to move if you are sitting for a long time. It has a find my phone and find my watch feature, can control playback of music stored on your smartphone and can control playback of music stored on your watch. Has WiFi, GPS and NFC. The manufacturer offers changeable straps and has weather at-wrist. Walkie-Talkie app feature allows you to talk to other Apple watch users via WiFi or Cellular but only one person can talk at a time. The OLED display is larger than previous Apple models and it's thinner. New features include an EKG module, low as well as high heart rate monitoring and notifications. Unlocked LTE 4G adds $100 (service typically costs $10/month with carriers). With the new accelerometer and gyroscope, Apple Watch Series 4 can detect that you’ve fallen; when an incident like this occurs, a hard fall alert is delivered, and you can easily initiate a call to emergency services or dismiss the alert -- if you’re unresponsive after 60 seconds, the emergency call will be placed automatically and a message with your location will be sent to your emergency contacts. Also, you no longer need to say “Hey Siri,” just raise your wrist and speak. It has multi-sport tracking features: outdoor walk, outdoor run, outdoor cycle, indoor walk, indoor run, indoor cycle, elliptical, rower, stair stepper, high intensity interval training, hiking, yoga, pool swim, open water swim. Its dimensions are 1.7 x 1.9 x 0.4 inches (LxWxD) and it weighs 2.5 ounces.

Features & Specs

Features

Cellular

Standalone GPS

Standalone music

Yes

NFC

Yes

WiFi

Yes

SpO2 sensor

ECG

VO2 Max

Blood pressure (claimed)

Menstrual cycle tracking

Menstrual cycle tracking with temperature

Guided breathing

Stress tracking

SWOLF

Heart rate variations (HRV)

Sleep tracking

Alerts

Navigation

Breadcrumb navigation

Ambient sound level notification

Crash detection (claim)

SOS emergency calling (claim)

Fall detection (claim)

Siren

Low battery indicator

Always-on display capability

Touch screen

Yes

Display type

color OLED Retina

Heart-rate monitor

Active

Battery life (claimed)

18 Hrs

Phone compatibility

iOS

Depth and duration (ft., min.)

164 feet for 10 minutes

Menstrual Cycle Tracking with Temperature

Specs

Crystal type

Ion-X glass

Case material

Aluminum

Diameter (in.)

1.9

Display size (in.)

1.7

Weight (oz.)

2.5

Thickness (in.)

0.4

Price & Shop

Apple Watch Series 4 (44mm) Aluminum case GPS

CR Expert Take

Overall Score

What goes into the Overall Score?

Detailed Test Results

About

Similar Products

Similar Products

Features & Specs

Features & Specs

Features

Specs

Price & Shop

Price & Shop

More From Consumer Reports