Apple Watch HRV app

Take a measurement with Mindfulness

For a measurement you start yourself, open Mindfulness on your Apple Watch and choose Breathe. Wellhero’s instructions recommend a two- to three-minute session: keep still and breathe normally.

After the session, allow time for your watch to sync with your iPhone. Open the Apple Watch measurement screen in Wellhero, refresh if needed, and select the session to analyze. Choose Breathe for this workflow; Reflect is a different type of session.

Use the readings your watch takes automatically

Apple Watch also records HRV in the background. Wellhero imports the available readings through Apple Health, so you don’t have to start a Mindfulness session for every measurement.

Background readings do not arrive on a fixed schedule. Their availability depends on what your watch records and when it syncs. They can help you follow changes between your own measurements.

See HRV recorded during sleep

If you wear your Apple Watch to bed and track your sleep, Wellhero can use the HRV readings recorded during that sleep period. Grant the requested HRV and sleep permissions in Apple Health, then allow time for the data to sync.

A night without enough recorded data may leave a gap. Wellhero needs actual readings to show overnight HRV.

Understand Recovery HRV

Recovery HRV is the HRV value Wellhero uses for that day’s recovery assessment. It currently uses SDNN. Wellhero takes the morning measurement when one is available, otherwise the average during sleep, then the day’s average if neither is available.

The recovery assessment compares HRV and resting heart rate with your own baseline. The Recovery HRV chart helps you follow the HRV value used from one day to the next.

What about RMSSD from Apple Health?

Apple Health supports native RMSSD data from iOS 27 and watchOS 27. You can allow Wellhero to read these measurements in Apple Health. Wellhero’s Recovery HRV still uses SDNN.

Getting started

Install Wellhero on your paired iPhone and Apple Watch. Allow access to the Apple Health data you want to use, and give your devices time to sync.

You can then start a Mindfulness measurement or use the background readings already available from your watch. Detailed reports are on the iPhone; the watch app gives you a quick view of your latest stats.