The stuff Hacker News actually recommends.

Watches and wearables · Apple Watch

Apple Watch Series 10

12owners with an opinion
56%of verdicts positive
5/4positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Praised for battery and reliability; criticized for performance and support.

What owners wrote

NeutralOwned 1 year
Yeah, I'm shocked at this [1]. The Series 9 was released in September 2023, not quite 3 years old. Apple is normally very good with long-term support. This is surprising to say the least. I bought a 10 last year when it was current-gen and it's going to be the minimum supported Watch with the next version of Watch OS? WTF? At least I'm glad I did that rather than repalcing a battery on an even older Watch. iPads aren't free from this either but it's a little less severe [2]. For example, iPad Air 4th gen will be the minimum iPad Air and it was released in 2020. The M1 iPad Pro was released in 2021 and will be the minimum there. [1]: https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/08/watchos-27-drops-suppor... j2]: https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/08/ipados-27-drops-support...
Doesn’t like it
I'm very close to selling my S10. I barely use it. All the features are sort of nice to have. The only one I really care about is heart rate monitoring during exercise and the AirPods Pro 3 do that.
Doesn’t like it
It also made my iPhone 16 Pro Max a bit laggier, but the worst offender is my Apple Watch Series 10 which has a big frame rate drop every time there is a Liquid Glass animation. It feels very sluggish now and the battery seems worse than before. Everyone is impacted to different extents, I don’t think it’s deliberately made to cripple older iPhones.
Likes it
The G7 pairs directly with an Apple Watch and acts as the primary sync device. Unlike the G6, you don’t get null readings displaying on the watch until you open the app. I have the dexcom widget on my Apple Watch series 10 with a G7 paired with direct to watch and it always displays the current reading
Neutral
> Apple Support Are we sure the website wasn't just broken normally? I kid, a bit, but good lord does Apple _suck_ at websites. Apple Developer and, more often, App Store Connect is broken for no good reason with zero or a confusing error message. Note: I'm typing this on a M3 Max MBP (via a Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse) with an iPhone 16 Pro and iPad Mini (N-1 version) on the desk next to me with an Apple Watch Series 10 on my wrist and AirPods Pro in my pocket. I'm a huge Apple fanboy, but their websites are hot garbage.
Neutral
I have an apple watch. When I shower I put it on a charger. I have never gotten it under %10. Eventually this won't be true in all likelyhood due to degraded battery. I shower 1-2 times a day though.
Likes it
Yes, for sure it does much less. It just has basic health monitoring, steps, heartbeat, sleep. I have the continuous heartbeat monitoring off, and turn it on for workouts 3-4 times a week. It will show messages, email, or other app notifications. For me that's most of what I want from a smartwatch, and I'm willing to trade the more advanced features for the battery life.
Doesn’t like it
I have a handful of watch chargers including one at my desk and one in my laptop bag. A full day of kid activities and work around the house doesn't really see either of those though. Do I detour to top up the watch a couple times a day? Yes. Does my watch run out of juice some days? Also yes. Would a Fitbit or Garmin have this problem? No. It's a bit of a slog moving my health data out of Apple's ecosystem which is why I haven't done it yet.
Likes it
I wear my Apple Watch all the time, even when I'm sleeping. I pretty much just charge it when I'm in the shower or getting ready in the morning. It charges super fast, and I've found that having a regular charging routine is actually better for these gadgets. Funny enough, watches with longer battery life can mess up your charging habits. I had this problem with my old Pebble watch. Yeah, the battery lasted longer, but I'd forget to charge it and end up with a dead watch more often than I do with my Apple Watch. Now, I just pop it on the charger every morning, and I'm good to go. No more worrying about it dying on me out of nowhere.
Doesn’t like it
um. How do people wear the watch during the night so monitor their sleep? The bloody thing doesnt usually make it 14 - 19 hours before it requires a recharge. It is the most natural for me to take it off and let it charge when I sleep. I guess I could take it off when I am at my desk and charge it there, but the various notifications and software is handy to have all day.
Doesn’t like itHasn’t owned it
Yup. Many people will never experience this, but an Apple Watch Series 10 effectively cannot track a marathon for most runners. I've heard some people say that if you put it into its low-power mode, it can barely do it, but otherwise you need an AW Ultra, which can record up-to ~8 hours of continuous activity. If you regularly do longer, lower-impact outdoor activities like cross-country cycling or hiking, none of the Apple Watches can really handle it (especially if Apple's future intention is that you'll also be able to rely on it for emergency satellite connectivity; with what battery life??) When Garmin says that they have a watch that can last 28 days, what that really means is "it could do like 50-80 hours of continuous activity tracking" or "you can easily record a 10 hour hike, and also not be worried that the watch will be dead if you need it for emergency satellite services". That's years beyond anything Apple, Google, or Samsung can do; none of the big tech companies are remotely close to this.
Doesn’t like itHasn’t owned it
It's not, many applications don't really work without your iPhone connected via Bluetooth even if your watch can make it's own internet connection. It basically seems like Apple and app developers are not considering people using their watch without their IPhone present as well.
Likes itHasn’t owned it
Sure, but that's just the price you pay for having fancy portable gadgets. You want longer battery life, there are tradeoffs. Personally, "it's finally a little thinner" is the thing that has me planning to buy an Apple Watch for the first time.
Doesn’t like itHasn’t owned it
Apple introduced a "new" 42mm smaller size, and with that, added a whole lot of confusion to band compatibility. The Sport Loop and Milanese Loop now come in 40mm, 42mm, and 46mm variants. From one of their updated watch strap pages: > Strap Compatibility > You can match most straps with any Apple Watch Series 3 or later case of the same size. > 40mm, 41mm and 42mm straps are all compatible with 40mm, 41mm and 42mm case sizes. 44mm, 45mm, 46mm and 49mm straps are all compatible with 44mm, 45mm, 46mm and 49mm case sizes. > The Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop straps are only compatible with Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Series 4 or later and Apple Watch Ultra or later. > For Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop, the 40mm, 41mm and 42mm cases are compatible with strap sizes 0–9; the 44mm, 45mm, 46mm and 49mm cases are compatible with strap sizes 0–12. I'm having such a hard time trying to parse this, especially since Series 3 was available in 38mm and 42mm variants, and it was Series 4 that upped the numbers to 40mm and 44mm.