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How Apple’s New Tech Is Going to Make Adventuring Safer, Easier, and More Comfortable

Everything You Need to Know About Apple’s New Ultra Watch 3, iPhone 17 Pro, and AirPods Pro 3

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We took the new Apple Watch Ultra 3 deep into the desert to test its off-grid, satellite messaging ability. (Photo: Jakob Schiller)

For the past nine years, I’ve joined journalists from around the world in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple headquarters for the keynote product launch speech. Many of those journalists work for tech publications, so they spend the whole day fastidiously taking notes about every detail Apple announces. I, meanwhile, patiently wait to see what Apple is going to say about the tech that will matter to outdoor adventurers. Some years, there are only a few specs of interest, but this year I found myself typing just as fast as my colleagues because all three of the major product releases—iPhone 17 Pro, Ultra Watch 3, and AirPods Pro 3—come with important updates for �����ԹϺ��� readers.

I’ve been furiously testing early releases of all three products for the past week. Here is a full breakdown of the new features that matter to those of us who love to travel, play outside, and explore off the grid.

Apple Watch Ultra 3, iPhone 17 Pro, and AirPods Pro 3 Reviewed

Apple Watch Ultra 3

Satellite Connectivity 

The biggest news is that the now includes satellite connectivity. To get this feature, Apple reengineered the radio to cover more frequencies and doubled the watch’s antenna strength so it can communicate with the same satellites as the iPhone. When connected to the satellite, users can send and receive text messages, trigger an SOS, and share their location so that they appear in the Find My feature on the iPhone.

During the launch, an Apple rep gave us a demo of the SOS feature. Like with satellite connection on the iPhone, the Ultra 3 prompted her to point it toward the location of the best satellite and then established a connection. With the SOS activated, software on the watch walked her through a series of pre-loaded questions to establish what kind of emergency she was facing. She didn’t go all the way through the steps but told us that the pre-loaded messaging would eventually become custom two-way messaging so she could tell the emergency responder exactly what was happening.

To do my own testing, I ventured into the desert and mountains outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico to find spots without cell service. Unlike the new Garmin fenix 8 Pro, which allows you to override the cellular connection in order to find a satellite, the Ultra 3 has to be completely out of cellular range to offer the satellite option (something we hope Apple fixes in a future generation).

After going miles down various four-wheel drive roads to places where all my cell bars disappeared, a satellite image appeared automatically on the top of the watch and I was able to tap it. The watch told me where to point my arm and, in under a minute, I was connected and able to send a message.

My wife was my main test buddy, and messages sent to her phone went through in 10 seconds or less, whether I was out on a mesa or in a mountain meadow. My wife then sent messages back, each of which came through seamlessly. A dialogue box on the watch told me I was sending via satellite and the messages my wife received also said they were sent via satellite.

I went through another series of steps within the satellite area of the watch (aided by software that Apple calls Connection Assistant) and was able to quickly and easily show my wife where I was. Unlike the normal Find My function that automatically updates your location, the satellite version has to be done manually, and it can only be updated every 15 minutes. In my experience, that should be plenty once you’ve established your general location.

At the moment, you can only send messages via satellite in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. But most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan get the SOS and Find My features. The one notable country where you can’t trigger an SOS, at least for now, is Mexico.

Apple decided to make the satellite SOS feature on Ultra 3 free for two years, but you’ll have to add a cellular plan to the Ultra 3 in order to use messaging and Find My. On my Verizon plan, the watch line runs an extra $15/month (It’s $10/month for ATT, and $5-$10/month on T-Mobile).

Battery Life 

According to Apple’s testing, the Ultra 3 should last with “normal” use thanks to a bigger battery and more efficient software. Their definition of normal includes a workout with music, sleep tracking, constant time checks and notifications, and several hours of cellular connectivity.

If you want to use the watch in Race mode—which provides the most accurate heart rate and GPS readings—Apple says the battery will last up to 20 hours as long as you turn on Low Power Mode, which saves battery life by limiting non-vital notifications and disabling other battery-sucking features. 20 hours is fine for most activities, but ultra runners or hikers who are out for longer than 20 hours would need to stop and charge their watch at least once.

In my own testing, I was able to get almost two full days of use out of a single charge. That includes one night of sleep tracking, one thirty-minute GPS-tracked workout, and an evening off the grid sending occasional satellite messages and location updates to my wife.

For weekend warriors like me that are not regularly spending a week in the backcountry, two or three days of battery life is fine. But more serious adventurers and athletes will undoubtedly prefer because it prioritizes battery life and gets up to 27 days of normal use, up to 123 hours of GPS use, and up to 53 hours of full satellite connectivity.

Workout Features 

The Ultra 3, along with any other Apple watch capable of running the new operating system, gain several new workout features. Workout Buddy is software that reads metrics off your watch, then sends them through your phone to your AirPods to feed you stats and motivation via a Siri-like voice before, during, and after your workout. You will have to carry your phone with you for Workout Buddy to function, though.

Runners using the Ultra 3 also get more options to customize workouts and record more detailed information, including vertical oscillation, stride length, and ground contact time (which Garmin has had for some time).

iPhone 17 Pro

Rear Cameras 

Of the four new iPhones Apple is launching this year, the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, I concentrated on the . It has the best cameras while also being smaller than the Pro Max, making it better for backcountry portability.

The most important update for anyone who likes to play outside is that all three cameras—the ultra wide (13mm equivalent), standard (24mm equivalent), and telephoto (100mm equivalent)—all come with 48-megapixel sensors. On last year’s iPhone 16 Pro, only the standard and ultra wide cameras were equipped with bigger sensors.

In testing, I found that the telephoto lens’s new, 56-percent-bigger sensor made a noticeable difference in capturing fine details. In the portrait I shot below, for example, there’s much richer detail in the young man’s hair and the texture of his cowboy hat than there would be in a similar shot taken with the 16 Pro. Because of the added resolution and the ability to shoot in AppleRAW, I was also able to drag the photo into Lightroom and adjust tone, light, shadows, and color with no part of the photo falling apart.

Apple said the iPhone 17 Pro gives users eight lenses, which is true, but takes some explaining. The phone has just the three physical lenses mentioned above, but, via software and special hardware, they crop in on the sensors to mimic other focal lengths, allowing you to also shoot photos that look like they were taken with a macro, 28mm, 35mm, 48mm, and 200mm lens. The macro photos can be shot as 48-megapixel files, but all the other focal lengths have smaller sensors due to the cropping.

No phone camera comes close to what a full-frame mirrorless camera can produce. Mirrorless cameras have much larger sensors that gather more light, capturing significantly more detail and allowing for much better low-light performance. But those cameras don’t fit in your pocket, which is why the iPhone has long been, and continues to be, the best camera for anyone who wants to move light, fast, and far—and the updates to the sensors reinforce its superiority.

Front Camera 

A new square sensor in the front (selfie) camera allows iPhone 17 users to shoot vertical or horizontal photos while holding the phone vertically at all times. You can choose which format you want with the tap of a button, or AI can auto-sense that there are a lot of people in the frame and automatically choose the horizontal frame so everyone fits. According to Apple, iPhone users shot 500 billion selfies last year, and, since it’s much easier to hold the phone vertically, many were poorly cropped.

The front sensor also goes from 12 megapixels to a substantially bigger 18 megapixels, can now shoot stabilized video, and allows for dual capture, where both the rear and front cameras can record at the same time. Content creators will love the smoother selfie video and the ability to show themselves narrating a scene they’re filming.

Battery Life 

Apple improved battery life in the iPhone 17 Pro through better heat dissipation and by creating more space for a bigger battery. In my experience, Lightroom is always the app that sucks the most energy and creates noticeable heat. I’ve had limited testing in Lightroom with the new iPhone 17 Pro, but I chewed through several big photos I shot in AppleRAW and noticed that the phone was noticeably cooler and used significantly less battery.

AirPods Pro 3

Heart Rate Monitor

The most important update to AirPods is that the now has a built-in heart rate monitor. Many people already use a watch to monitor heart rate, but those who, like my wife, hate wearing a watch will appreciate the ability to track their heart rate while running with just their phone and the Pro 3s. Apple said that if you’re wearing an Apple Watch the Pro 3s will continue to monitor your heart rate and the two devices will work together to get the most accurate reading.

Live Audio Translation

�����ԹϺ���rs heading to a foreign country will benefit from a new live translation feature that works on the Pro 3, AirPods 4 with ANC, or AirPods Pro 2, in conjunction with an iPhone 15 or later.

You start by downloading the language you want to translate onto your phone. When you encounter someone speaking the new language, you hold down both stems on the AirPods, which turns on ANC and launches the translation feature. As the person speaks, the translation happens on the phone and is relayed to the AirPods in your native language. When you speak back, your words are translated on the screen of your phone so you can hold it up and show what you’re saying.

If both people talking have AirPods with ANC then the live translation can happen back and forth via the headphones, without the screen. In my testing, there was a little bit of delay as the translation software works, but it provided a serviceable translation fast enough to keep a conversation going. Right now the service is offered in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, and will be coming in Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.

Water, Comfort, ANC

The Pro 2s were splash resistant, but the Pro 3s now come with a IP57 rating, which means they’re submersible. They’re not made for the pool, but that rating ensures they won’t crap out if one falls in a puddle or you want to run a marathon through a downpour.

Marathoners and others will appreciate the comfort of the Pro 3’s new design that’s supposed to fit better in your ear and comes with more tips so you can customize the fit. I wore my Pro 3s for five hours straight during one work day, never felt any pain, and always had a secure fit.

Apple says that the now offer active noise cancellation (ANC) that’s two times better than the Pro 2s and four times better than the original Pros. Thanks to a better battery, the Pro 3s get a full eight hours of ANC, which is 33 percent better than the Pro 2s.

I found that the ANC on the first-gen Pros was already pretty good, and confirmed in my testing that the Pro 3s are even better, and now cancel enough ambient noise to block out almost all distractions. I’m no audiophile, but to my ear, the sound is crystal clear, with crisp highs and full bass that makes anything from Mozart to Dr. Dre sound amazing.