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If you have a massage gun, you probably have a favorite attachment. I know that when I have the option for the heat therapy head, I’m hard-pressed to swap it out for one of the ball, bullet, or fork heads instead. But this means I’m not making the most of the tools available to me: Each massage gun head serves a specific purpose, and understanding them is crucial for safe and effective use.

While more and more versatility is a big selling point , there are four primary attachments you’ll find with most massage guns, each designed for different muscle groups and treatment goals. Here’s how you can use them to maximize your massage gun’s potential while avoiding common mistakes that could lead to injury.

First, some massage gun basics

When I’m marathon training, I use a massage gun before and after my runs. In the photos below, you can see all the attachments that come with two of my massage guns, the Bob and Brad Q2 Pro Mini and the HeyChy D5 Pro. Here’s what I’ve learned using them over the years.

How hard to press when using a massage gun

One of the most common mistakes with massage gun use is applying too much pressure. “Remember to let the gun do the work,” advises Amanda Grimm, a sports and remedial massage therapist and physical therapist. “Don’t press hard, move it slowly across the targeted area and limit its use to 1-2 minutes per muscle group.”

Use soft heads on sensitive tissues, and heavier heads on deeper muscles. It’s the device’s percussive action that provides the therapeutic benefit, not the pressure you apply. If you find yourself pressing hard to “feel” the effect, you’re likely using too much force and risking injury or excessive soreness.

How often to use a massage gun

While it’s tempting to use the massage gun daily, giving muscles time to recover between sessions is important. Use it as part of your warm-up routine before exercise or for recovery afterward, but avoid daily intensive treatment of the same areas.

National Academy of Sports Medicine-certified trainer Baltazar Villanueva recommends pairing massage gun therapy with active movement to maximize benefits. This approach helps reinforce the increased range of motion and flexibility gained from the percussive therapy. Try to move the treated area through its range of motion immediately after massage gun therapy. This helps your body “remember” the improved mobility and can make the benefits more persistent than using the massage gun alone.

However, when you encounter a specific knot or trigger point, the approach changes slightly. Use the bullet head attachment and apply gentle, sustained pressure for 10-15 seconds before slowly moving away. Remember, more intensity doesn’t necessarily mean better results.

Now, let’s get into the specifics of which attachments help which parts of your body.

The ball head: Your go-to for large muscle groups

The ball head attachment is the workhorse of massage gun therapy. Its rounded, cushioned surface makes it ideal for treating expansive muscle areas without causing discomfort. As Grimm explains, the ball head excels because it distributes force more evenly across the treatment area, making it perfect for general recovery on large muscle groups like the quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings.

The ball head’s design allows for comfortable pressure distribution, making it perfect for post-workout recovery sessions on your major muscle groups according to Villanueva. Its versatility also makes it suitable for treating broad areas of muscle tension, though care should be taken to avoid bony areas like the kneecap.

The flat head: Has your back

The flat head attachment features a wider, level surface that’s specifically engineered for broader muscle areas. As Grimm explains, this makes it exceptional for back muscles, where its design can cover more territory with each pass. The flat head works particularly well on the upper back and shoulder blade area, where muscle tension often spreads across wide zones.

The flat head is particularly effective for denser muscle tissue and is an excellent choice for people who are more sensitive to vibration, as its broader surface area distributes the percussive force more gently than other attachments.

When using the flat head on your back, focus on the muscle tissue rather than the spine itself. The attachment’s broad surface helps ensure you’re treating muscle rather than risking contact with bony structures.

The bullet head: Precision targeting for problem areas

The bullet head is your precision instrument, designed with a smaller, more focused contact point. This attachment provides concentrated pressure that makes it particularly effective for targeting trigger points and specific problem areas. However, as Grimm cautions, the bullet head should be used with extra care, especially around bony areas, due to its concentrated force delivery.

This focused pressure makes the bullet head ideal for working on specific tension spots in smaller muscle groups like the calves, but it requires more careful handling than broader attachments. Use lighter pressure and shorter duration to avoid overstimulation of sensitive tissues, and always be mindful of underlying bone structures.

The fork head: Spine-safe muscle relief

The fork head features a unique design with two prongs that create a channel down the middle. This shape allows you to work on muscles alongside the spine without making direct contact with the vertebrae. Villanueva notes that the fork head is excellent for treating areas around the spine, such as the trapezius muscles, and can even be used effectively on the Achilles tendon area, as its design specifically avoids direct contact with bone.

This attachment addresses a common problem: how to treat back muscles without risking spine injury. The fork head’s design ensures you can provide effective treatment to paraspinal muscles while maintaining safe distance from the spine itself, making it an essential tool for addressing upper back tension and other areas where bone proximity is a concern.

Start slow

Understanding the specific purpose of each massage gun attachment will help you gain maximum benefit while minimizing risk. Always prioritize safety over intensity. If you’re new to massage gun therapy, start conservatively. Begin with the lowest intensity setting and use the ball head attachment on large, less sensitive muscle groups like the quadriceps or glutes. Try gentle pressure and slow movements, paying attention to how your body responds.

As you become more comfortable with the device and understand your body’s response, you can gradually explore other attachments and muscle groups. Always listen to your body, and if something doesn’t feel right, stop immediately.

Finally, massage guns work best as part of a more comprehensive recovery routine. Combine their use with proper hydration, adequate sleep, stretching, and movement correction. The gun addresses symptoms, but underlying issues like poor posture or movement patterns need separate attention.

Unlike Android, the iPhone has never had a physical back button. You need some way to go back to the previous page in various apps, and rather than a button, Apple found a decent solution in the back gesture. It requires you to swipe from the left edge of the iPhone’s screen towards the right, and while it doesn’t work in all apps, most have adopted it. As good as this gesture is, it can be hard to reach for right-handed people (especially on large iPhones) since it requires you to extend your thumb all the way to the left. iOS 26 makes this a lot easier.

Once you start using iOS 26, you’ll notice that the back gesture has changed. You can swipe right from pretty much anywhere on the screen to go back. This feels much more intuitive than swiping from the left edge. I tried this in a bunch of Apple’s own apps, including Mail, Podcasts, and Settings, and it works quite well in all cases. One notable holdout is Safari, which retains the old back gesture. That’s understandable: Safari lets you go back a page if you swipe right from the left edge, and it also lets you go forward a page by swiping towards the left from the right edge of the screen.

Back gestures on iOS 26 vs. Android

In some ways, iOS 26’s back gesture is better than Android’s back gesture. While Android OS lets you swipe from either edge of your phone’s screen to go back—assuming gesture-based navigation is enabled on your phone—the iOS 26 back gesture is easier to remember: swipe right to go back, no matter which part of the screen you’re on. This gesture has already become a part of my daily routine on my iPhone 12 Pro Max, where reaching the opposite edge of the screen is a task and a half. 

That said, I do get frustrated with the current implementation of this gesture because it doesn’t always work. When I open a chat in Messages, I still have to swipe right from the left edge. In other apps, sometimes you may encounter a conflicting gesture that may stop you from going back. For example, in Mail, you need to swipe over an empty part of the screen to go back. If you swipe over any of your emails, then you trigger Mail’s default right-swipe gesture, and it shows you the option to mark a mail read or to snooze the email.

It might be a matter of adapting to the various quirks of iOS, but it’s also worth keeping in mind that iOS 26 is still in its first developer beta, so some rough edges are to be expected. I’m quite excited to see how it gets polished through the beta cycle, and most importantly, how well third-party apps use the gesture to their advantage.

(Washington, D.C., June 12, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins signed the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. This is prepared monthly by the World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) and provides market-moving annual forecasts for supply and use of U.S. and world wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds, and cotton.

It’s quite convenient being able to play Mario Kart or Zelda on the go, but once your Switch 2’s battery life indicator says it’s about to die, you’re back to worrying about where the nearest outlet is.

If you’ve been playing your Switch 2 in handheld mode this week, you might have noticed that the console warns that it’s running out of battery quicker than you’d expect. Maybe you chalked that up to the device’s more powerful hardware putting more strain on the battery than the original Switch, and resigned yourself to a life of charging more frequently.

The thing is, you might also notice that even though the battery says it’s low, you can keep playing for quite a bit longer than it suggests—perhaps even hours longer. That’s because the battery indicator isn’t actually telling you the truth: your Switch 2 likely has a lot more power left than it’s telling you.

This isn’t a theory: As IGN reports, Nintendo itself confirmed that this is happening. While it isn’t totally clear why some Switch 2 consoles are showing incorrect battery stats, Nintendo does have two official troubleshooting steps you can try if you encounter the problem.

Recovery Mode

If your Switch 2 appears to be giving you the wrong battery stats, try booting the console into Recovery Mode. To do so, shut your Switch 2 all the way off. Then, press and release the power button to boot up the Switch 2, and, as it does, hold down the volume up and volume down buttons.

By just rebooting into Recovery Mode, you might solve your problem. If not, there’s another step to try.

Recalibrate your battery

Battery calibration generally involves letting a battery run from 100% down to zero, then charging back up to 100% again, to “reset” the battery indicators’ range. This was common advice for older types of batteries, but since the rise of the lithium ion battery, you don’t see as many people pushing calibration.

That said, Nintendo recommends it for improving the Switch 2’s battery indicators. In fact, it recommends running through battery calibration a few times. Here’s what the company says to do:

1. Update the Switch 2 to the latest software version.

2. Head to System Settings > Sleep Mode, then set all three “Auto-Sleep” modes to Never.

3. Plug the Switch 2 into power.

4. Charge the console to 100%, or charge it for at least three hours.

5. Let the console charge an additional hour.

6. Unplug the Switch 2 from power, and let the console sit on the Home Menu for three to four hours.

7. Once the battery is almost out, shut down the console completely for at least 30 minutes.

8. Repeat several times.

If you don’t notice an improvement after running through these calibration steps multiple times, you may need to send the console to Nintendo for servicing. It isn’t clear what Nintendo plans to do to fix affected units. (I hope the solution isn’t just giving you a new one.)

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It’s not hard to get me to download an app. If I see an ad for one, it’s going right on my phone. I don’t care at all if it’s all a scheme to get my data—my data is out there, baby, and it’s too late to care, so I might as well reap all the benefits these flash-in-the-pan, VC-bolstering programs can give me.

Most of the time, I don’t get much. But sometimes, I get free stuff! I love trading my data and my finite time on this earth for meager rewards. If you do too, here are eight apps I use all the time to get free stuff, from food to more tangible goods.

The best apps to get free food or drinks

Dunkin’

As I’ve noted before, but the Dunkin’ app is elite when it comes to rewarding customers for spending money on donuts and coffee. If you play it right, you can get all kinds of treats for free. Yes, you have to spend money to earn money, but if you’re already going to Dunkin’, that doesn’t really matter. For every dollar you spend, you get 10 rewards points, but if you visit 12 times in a month and hit “boosted” status, each dollar you spend until the end of the month earns you 12 points. Points add up quickly, and you don’t need all that many to score something free: You can get an espresso shot for 150, a donut for 250, a hot or iced coffee of any size for 500, and so on.

There are also point-enhancing promotions going on all the time. Sometimes, you get bonus points for ordering a certain snack or visiting at a certain time. On Mondays, you get 100 points just for placing a mobile order. Soon enough, you’ll rolling in free munchkins.

McDonald’s

In the food and drink sphere, I have a membership and associated app at pretty much every restaurant chain. McDonald’s is among the best. The app is fabulous because it’s constantly running promotions where you can get a free something-or-other, usually for doing nothing but using the app to place your order. On days when I’m feeling frugal but not particularly health-conscious, you’ll catch me mobile-ordering my way to a medium fry and a big Diet Coke—and the fries are free as long as I spend a minimum of $1, which is about what the drink costs.

Right now, the app is offering up a free double cheeseburger or six-piece McNuggets when you buy one. I also have enough points for two McChickens or a large iced coffee. Every dollar you spend earns you 100 points, but as with the Dunkin’ app, you also get bonus points for fulfilling certain stipulations, like double points on breakfast orders. The first time you pay through the app with your linked card, you’ll also get 1,500 points, which is enough for a cheeseburger.

7-Eleven

7-Eleven has a severely underrated rewards app. I usually get a dollar or so off my purchases every other visit, and since most of the goods available at this convenience store are themselves just a few dollars, that basically means I’m getting free Doritos or Vitamin Waters every week. Every dollar you spend gets you 10 points (unless you’re spending on age-restricted items or gas), plus you can earn extra points for daily promotions like buying two of a certain item. Once you get 1,000 points, you have $1 to spend. A dollar off for every $100 spent isn’t great, but if you take advantage of those random weekly specials, you can score a lot of bonus points.

Seated

For a slightly different spin on getting free stuff from a food app, try Seated, which I’ve also evangelized for before. What sets it apart from other restaurant-affiliated apps is that the free things you get for using it don’t come from the restaurants themselves. Instead, you get a percentage of your money back every time you use the app to make a reservation and eat a meal, which you can then spend on gift cards for businesses like Uber, Amazon, and TJMaxx—or just have it deposited back into your checking account as cash. Again, you’re spending money to make money, but it’s better than getting nothing if you’re spending anyway. I have gotten hundreds of dollars back from Seated and turned that into hundreds of dollars worth of free stuff.

Claim

This week, I was served up an ad for Claim, an app with the tagline “get paid to eat and shop.” Buddy, you do not have to tell me twice. After linking a debit card and my Venmo account, I got to work figuring out how to earn my free stuff. The gist is that once per week, you can choose a restaurant or retail establishment from a pre-selected list and stake a “claim” on it. This means that if and when you spend money at that spot during that week using your linked card, you get $10 sent to your Venmo account. To test it out, I got a claim for Wingstop, which happens to be across the street from the post office where I ship out my Poshmark sales. I took a walk, dropped off my sales for the day, then ordered a six-piece wing box. By the time I got home and tucked into the chicken, $10 had appeared in my Venmo account. I would have had to stop and eat that day anyway, so this was free money.

While you can only select and use one claim per week, you can earn additional claims by inviting friends to the app. You pick the establishment you want a claim for—right now, choices include Starbucks, Chipotle, Blue Bottle Coffee, Dunkin’, and more—and the place you want your friend to get their free claim for. Once they use your referral and link a card to the app, you both get a bonus claim.

The best apps to get free stuff

Influenster

I’m way into makeup and personal care items and I’m always looking for ways to get my hands on more. Years ago, I downloaded Influenster, an app that promised free samples in exchange for a little effort on my part in the form of reviewing products within the app. After earning up some cred within the app, I started getting free stuff sent to me, with the caveat that I would thoughtfully review it. There were other tasks I could complete, like creating public Instagram posts about products, but I declined—that’s not my style. Even without completing those challenges, I have gotten a ton of free stuff. I even secured a few lipsticks from Revlon that I ended up liking so much I’ve consistently repurchased them in the years since 2017. Great app.

Iris

Lately, I’ve gotten very into Iris, which is basically a new spin on Influenster. You earn “gems” by reviewing products, posting in discussions, and generally interacting with the community, which is comprised of people interested in beauty and skincare. These gems can be used on “drops,” or limited-time offers of products you can get sent to you free, but which you must then review. The drops you’re eligible for depend on your level within the app, with the quality scaling up as you climb the latter.

Drops are quite limited: One may only have a few pieces available, so you have to order it the second it hits your phone, unless you’re saving your gems for something major. Right now, I’m entertaining the delusion that I’ll earn 45,000 gems fast enough to snag the final remaining Dyson Airstraight, a hair tool that costs $500 in the real world. The nice thing about Iris is that you can’t use real money to buy gems or expedite your progress. You really do have to do it all on your own, and you’ll pay nothing out of pocket.

A few months ago, I used my gems on a travel-sized bottle of Glossier perfume, which saved me about $40. I didn’t have to wait long, the package came straight from Glossier as if I’d ordered from the company directly, and all I had to do was write a review the next week.

Goss

Goss is similar in terms to Iris in terms of possible rewards, but your earn them very differently. The best way I can describe it is like sports betting, but for pop culture. By using in-game currency to place bets on things like how many likes a celebrity’s Instagram post will have within 24 hours or who will be voted off a reality show during its next episode, you’ll acquire a different in-game currency that can be traded for real-life products. After a few (very fun) weeks of betting a while back, I earned enough to get a Summer Fridays lip balm. Could I go to Sephora right now and buy one for $24? Absolutely I could. Is it more fun to answer questions, place bets, and gamify the whole ordeal? Absolutely it is.

You can buy in-game currency with real-world money, which sets this one apart from Influenster and Iris, but you don’t have to. By completing arbitrary challenges like logging in every day or placing certain types of bets, you can quickly rack up enough credits to paste bets consistently, without spending a dime. You also get rewards by inviting friends with your referral code.

Now the bad news: The app is down for scheduled maintenance as of this writing, and won’t be back until August. I’ve been missing it since it disappeared a few weeks ago, and am eagerly awaiting its return so I can use my accured in-game currency to buy some self-tanner and a tote bag.

Yes, I know nothing is really free

What’s that phrase?”If it’s free, you’re the product?” Well, yes. All of these apps require me to give companies access to my data, from my interests to my shopping habits. I’m also racking up time playing games, writing reviews, or even spending money to earn some of it back. I understand that, but in these instances, it’s a trade I’m willing to make.

By choosing apps that line up with the things you’d already be doing or spending money on—in my case: buying makeup, walking to Dunkin’ twice a day, and wasting time on my phone—you can earn free rewards, and make the most of your routines and idle time. Life can be a downer, so I might as well find ways to turn a mundane task into free perfume.

Aventon’s new Adventure 3 is an excellent e-bike, as you can see in my Adventure 3 review, and it’s loaded with customization options. While it’s great with the factory settings, I like to get in there and change my tech around, to turn an e-bike into my e-bike. Here’s how I changed my top speed, tuned my assistance, and set-up the bike’s security systems.

Changing the Aventon Adventure 3’s top speed

“Can I make this go faster?” is my first question with any e-bike (and really everything in my life). With the Adventure 3, the answer is, “Yes; to an extent.” The bike’s default assistance speed limit is 20 miles per hour, so if you don’t change the settings, the motor will stop kicking in at that speed, whether you pedal or use the throttle. In this configuration, the Adventure 3 is a class 2 e-bike.

But I’d rather have a faster, class 3 e-bike, so I changed the bike’s assistance limit to 28 mph. In this configuration, the throttle and/or the pedals will provide assistance up to 20mph. From there, you can pedal with motor assistance up to 28.

You might be asking, “Can it go faster than that, though?” Yes and no. I’m sure the motor is capable of higher speeds, but it is hard-limited to 28 mph with pedal-assist. This is the legal assisted speed limit for vehicles to be considered “e-bikes” in the U.S. If you must go faster, you could always ride it down a hill or pedal really hard.

Changing the top speed is achieved through the Adventure 3’s app, so let’s start from the beginning.

Syncing your Adventure 3 with the Aventon app

Unlike some e-bike makers, Aventon bikes practically require you to use their app. Luckily, it works really well. Here’s how to sync the app and your phone:

• Download the Aventon MyRide app on your smartphone.

• Power on your e-bike.

• Hold down the “i” button on the handlebar to enter the menu.

• Use “+” and “-” to select “Connect to App”, then press “i.”

• A QR code will appear on your bike’s screen.

• Open the Aventon app, sign in, and select “Scan Pair.”

• Scan the QR code, name your bike, and confirm.

Navigating the Aventon App

Once the app is installed and open, check out the tabs at the bottom of the screen. Here’s what each one does:

• Ebike: Your control center for everything from locking your bike to adjusting performance settings.

• Record: This stores your past rides, and the speed, distance, calories burned, and riding time of each.

• Go: Records your ride and displays your route on a live map.

• Discover: Aventon’s built-in social platform. Share photos, rides, and follow other riders.

• Me: Manage your profile, unlock riding achievement medals, and sync with third-party apps.

Here’s how to set the top assisted speed:

• Tap on the “Ebike” tab and then select “More Settings” to access advanced customization options.

• Select “Speed Limit and Metric.”

• Adjust your max speed between 12 mph and 28 mph.

Tuning your pedal assist levels

Speed is one thing. How you get your speed is another. The Adventure 3 offers three levels of pedal assist, but each is tweakable, allowing you to fine tune your ride to your heart’s content. I found the bike’s “Eco” setting to be a little underpowered and its “Sport” setting to be a little overpowered, so here’s how I changed them.

From the “more settings” menu on the “ebike” tab, click “RideTune.” As you can see, each of the three levels of assistance (Eco, Sport, and Turbo) can be controlled via three sliders. Here’s what each does:

• Max Torque: More torque = faster acceleration and better hill-climbing, but reduced range.

• Assistance: Controls how much motor support you get while pedaling. Higher = more help, but more battery drain.

• Pedal Response: Determines how quickly the motor kicks in. Higher = faster response; lower = smoother ride.

Settings will appear on a triangle chart showing how your choices balance Power, Range, and Smoothness. So I bumped up the torque on and assistance on my “Eco” setting and boosted them a bit in “sport.”

There’s no perfect setting here. It’s all vibes, so play around and find what feels right for your style. If you hit on a combination you like, you can save the profile to the cloud. This lets you create custom power-level profiles—like “trail riding” or “commuting”—and swap them out when you want to.

How to sync Aventon’s app with Strava and/or Apple Health

Everyone knows that exercise doesn’t count unless it’s tracked and made public, so I synced my Aventon with exercise-boasting app Strava and Apple Health. That seems to be the extent of what Aventon’s app can pair with at present, but it happens to be exactly what I wanted, so it’s all good. For me at least. You can do this by clicking “me” on the home screen, then clicking “connected apps” under the “Service” heading. Once Strava is paired up, you can hit the “record” button on the Aventon app and it will send your rides over to be posted on Strava automatically.

Security features to know about

I’ve seen Pee Wee’s Big Adventure enough times to take bike security seriously, so I don’t leave my bike around without a big lock, but I still set up these security features on the Adventure 3, just in case.

Auto locking: I set my bike so the back wheel locks whenever the bike is powered off. It won’t prevent anyone from throwing your bike in the back of a truck and driving away, but it will prevent “crime of opportunity” bike thefts where someone hops on and pedals away.

Motion Alarm: The “Unusual Activity Detected” setting lets you tweak how sensitive your bike is to movement. When triggered, it will sound an “alarm” (really a fairly quiet beeping) and send a notification to your phone. I set mine to be as sensitive as possible, because it’s funny when my wife brushes against my bike while gardening, and I send her a text that says “ARE YOU TOUCHING MY BIKE??” The bike just rats her out! Hilarious!

Lost Mode: I haven’t had to use “lost mode” on my e-bike, and hopefully I never will, but knowing what your bike will do if stolen is important, so here’s what happens instantly if you trigger lost mode:

• The motor is disabled.

• The rear wheel locks.

• The gently beeping alarm sounds.

• GPS tracking begins.

I spoke to an LA-area police detective about whether the cops would care if you have a GPS tracker on your stolen e-bike, and he said it depends on the department. If the cops aren’t busy with other crimes, they might stop by an address to investigate your stolen e-bike, but GPS data alone isn’t accurate enough to get a search warrant anyway. So I’d still get a nice lock.

Geofencing: This is a cool feature that I don’t have any use for, but if you’d like to make sure your bike can only be ridden in the geographic area of your choice, you can either restrict your ride to a specific area, or only allow it to function in an area you choose. You can designate up to four “go” and four “no-go” zones. For instance, I wanted to make sure my bike couldn’t be used around a local dog park, I could set it like this:

Aventon’s “discover” platform

I absolutely love Aventon’s goofy “discover” social media platform. I’m not even sure why I like seeing strangers’ rides and pictures of their bikes, but I do. So make sure you check it out, set up a profile, and post some pictures for me to look at.

Aventon’s onboard display

The app is the main way to control your Aventon bike, but there are some things you can do without your phone, directly from the onboard display screen. You could probably figure this all out from context clues, but just in case: The display shows basic e-bike info—current speed, assist level, odometer, and battery power, but holding down the “+” and “-” buttons on the handlebar control brings up a settings menu with the following options:

• Clear Trip: Reset your trip distance.

• Battery Lock: Lock or unlock battery access (no physical key required).

• Bike Lock: Lock the rear wheel to prevent riding.

• Display Unit: Switch between miles and kilometers.

• Brightness: Adjust the screen’s brightness from “1” (dimmest) to “5” brightest.

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I have, at my disposal, at least nine different devices that can estimate my cardio fitness. They all put it in terms of a number scientists call VO2max. But the only way to find your actual VO2max is to get a test done in a lab, so I knew what I had to do. From my results, I’ll tell you which devices gave me the best and worst readings—and what that means for my (and your) training going forward.

My test included devices from Apple, Coros, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura, Suunto, Ultrahuman, Withings, and Whoop. I wasn’t surprised that Garmin scored well, but I was expecting better from some of the other brands, like Apple. There were also a few serious outliers—you’ll have to read on to see which devices did the worst.

What is VO2max and why does it matter?

VO2max is a measure of cardio fitness, so athletes and their coaches have long been interested in knowing their VO2max numbers. But more recently, VO2max has become a wellness buzzword, for some reasons that make sense and some that are probably a bit overblown. 

I say overblown because VO2max is just one measure of fitness, not the be-all-end-all, even for athletes. And, like pretty much any number you get from fitness tech, it’s on your watch because it’s easy for a device to estimate, not because it’s necessarily the best thing to focus on. (Nevermind that the estimate may not even be accurate.)

Anyway, a big reason for the buzz around VO2max is that it’s been associated with longevity. Fitter people tend to be healthier and live longer, and VO2max puts a simple number on the otherwise nebulous concept of fitness. A 2016 statement from the American Heart Association pointed out that cardiorespiratory fitness may be a better predictor of mortality than traditional risk factors like cholesterol levels. 

VO2max is also handy to track if you’re interested in your fitness for fitness’ sake. If you like to run or play sports, your VO2max tells you something about how good your body is at aerobic exercise, which is directly relevant to your improvement as an athlete. 

So if your VO2max goes up over time, that’s a good sign, whether you’re interested in winning races or just living a healthy life. Smartwatches will often estimate your VO2max based on workout data, so pretty much every wearable these days will give you a VO2max estimate, sometimes labeled as a “cardio fitness” score. 

How do you get your VO2max tested for real? 

The easiest way to get a VO2max estimate is to glance at your watch, assuming it does the calculation for you. The next easiest way is to do a field test like the Cooper test, which asks how far you can run in 12 minutes. But these are all estimates that may or may not get close to the truth. 

To actually test your VO2max, you need to go to a lab. And that’s why I drove out one sunny Tuesday to the Human Performance Lab at St. Francis University, where Dr. Kristofer Wisniewski and Dr. Michelle Stehman put me through a treadmill test. 

I’ll describe how the testing went for me, but if you get your own VO2max test done, things may be a little different. You might end up on a bike rather than a treadmill, for example, or you might do a walking-only test, or you might have your VO2max session combined with other health or fitness tests.

For the 48 hours before the test, I was instructed not to have any alcohol. For the last 12 hours, no intense exercise. For the last three hours, no caffeine or food. That last part panicked me a little bit, until I realized I had plenty of time for a normal breakfast before my midday appointment. I showed up in exercise clothes and I brought a water bottle, although I couldn’t drink from it during the test. In hindsight, I should have also brought a snack to eat afterward while I awaited my results.

At the lab, I confirmed my answers on a health form I had filled out when booking the appointment, and before we got started I took two puffs of my inhaler (I have mild asthma, which can sometimes be triggered by hard exercise). The scientists took my weight and height, and then began hooking me up to the equipment that would monitor me during the test. 

There was a chest strap to measure my heart rate, which they wanted to make sure was “uncomfortably snug” and tucked underneath my sports bra band. Then there was a mask over my mouth and nose, measured to fit and secured in place with straps that went tightly behind my head. You can see this in the photo above, and it too was, by design, uncomfortably tight. 

The tube attached to the mask doesn’t actually pump oxygen into my mouth, as I mistakenly assumed. Instead I’m breathing normal air from the room, and the air that I exhale is getting sampled to see how much oxygen and how much carbon dioxide it contains. The tube was stiff and supported by a stand, so from time to time I’d have to ask the scientists to move it a little to the left or the right so I could stay centered on the treadmill.

Before the treadmill started, there were lots of little things to be aware of. For example, I wouldn’t be able to see the treadmill while I’m running—that turned out to be more disconcerting than all the physically uncomfortable stuff. A sign on the wall in front of me was perfectly centered on the treadmill, so I could use that as my visual anchor. If I got off-center, Dr. Stehman would tell me to move a little to the right or left. If I wanted to steady myself on the handrail, I needed to do that with my hand palm-up, since a palms-down grip could affect my blood pressure readings. Dr. Stehman would, yes, be taking my blood pressure with a cuff and stethoscope at a few points during the test. And every few minutes, Dr. Wisniewski would ask how I’m feeling, and how hard I felt I was working on a scale of 1 to 10. 

We started at a brisk walk, 3.5 miles per hour. Every three minutes, it got harder: a slow jog at 4.5 mph, then a more comfortable jog at 5.5, then up to my usual easy run pace at 5.7 mph. After that, the incline increased instead of the speed. First 5% at 5.7, then 10% at 5.7. About a minute into that last stage, I gave up, grabbed the handrail, and signaled that it was time to stop. The rest was a blur—I recall a walking cooldown and at least one more blood pressure reading. Dr. Wisniewski analyzed my results while I recovered and sipped some water. Not counting the cooldown, I was on the treadmill for just over 16 minutes.

Why is VO2max measured this way? 

I’m going to get just a tiny bit more technical in my explanation, to make sense of why I had to be hooked up to all this stuff on a treadmill. VO2max literally means the volume (V) of oxygen (O₂) that your body can use per minute, at maximum (max), during exercise. It’s measured in milliliters of oxygen per minute, per kilogram of your body weight. (Bigger people breathe more air than smaller people, even if they aren’t necessarily fitter, so the equation accounts for that.) 

In common parlance, we often write this as “VO2max” but I will format it scientifically just this once, so you can see: “V̇O₂ max.” The dot on the V means it’s volume per unit of time, not total volume. If you hear runners talking about their VDOT scores, that also refers to an estimate of VO2max.

Why do we care about the amount of oxygen you breathe? Because it corresponds to how much work your body is doing. If you remember that respiration equation from high school biology—glucose plus oxygen feeds into a system that gives you energy in the form of ATP—knowing your oxygen consumption tells us how much energy your body is making and using aerobically. 

So if you put an elite athlete on a treadmill and crank up the speed and incline, their body will be able to do an enormous amount of work, consuming plenty of oxygen to match, and a test will register that they have a high VO2max. 

On the other hand, an out-of-shape, sedentary person would not be able to do what the elite athlete does. They’d manage a brisk walk, maybe a little jog, but they wouldn’t be able to work nearly as hard as the athlete, and so they wouldn’t consume nearly as much oxygen. They would be measured as having a lower VO2max.

Your VO2max can change over time. If that sedentary person starts training consistently and they take the treadmill test again in a few months, they will likely find they can walk or run faster, maybe handle more of an incline. The test would show their VO2max has improved. Heck, maybe someday they will be an elite athlete.

On average, younger people tend to have a higher (better) VO2max than older people, and men tend to have a higher VO2max than women. Elite athletes have been recorded with VO2max numbers in the 70s and 80s, but among recreational athletes, many of us will have numbers in the 30s and 40s, maybe 50s. (For context, Garmin has a chart that breaks down what’s considered “good” by age and sex.) 

How smartwatches and fitness trackers measure VO2max

Your smartwatch (or tracking ring or band) doesn’t know how much oxygen you’re breathing. Most of these devices use an algorithm that compares how hard you’re working—for example, how fast you’re running—with how fast your heart is beating. 

Garmin devices, for example, use GPS-tracked activities that last at least 10 minutes. Garmin can trim out parts of your activity that aren’t helpful—say, times you stopped to tie your shoe or chat with a neighbor. 

From the GPS data, the device knows your speed. And from your heart rate, it knows how hard your body is working to keep up that speed. This approach is sometimes called a “submaximal” algorithm, since you don’t have to run at top speed to get usable data. Even an easy jog can tell your Garmin or Apple Watch a lot about your fitness. If you can move at a good clip while your heart beats at a chill, easy rhythm, you’re likely a lot fitter than someone whose heart is beating out of their chest to keep up that same pace.

Each device has its own algorithm to turn the data it collects into a VO2max estimate, and that starts with recognizing when an activity is able to give the algorithm enough data. This varies from device to device; Garmin wants a 10 minute minimum activity, while Coros wants 25 minutes. You often need to have a certain minimum heart rate for the algorithm to kick in. Here’s an example from Apple’s developer documentation that describes when and how it calculates VO2max from an activity: 

“The system can generate VO2max samples after an outdoor walk, outdoor run, or hiking workout. During the outdoor activity, the user must cover relatively flat ground (a grade of less than 5% incline or decline) with adequate GPS, heart rate signal quality, and sufficient exertion. The user must maintain a heart rate approximately greater than or equal to 130% of their resting heart rate. The system can estimate VO2max ranges from 14-60 ml/kg/min.” 

These details vary from device to device. Some Garmin watches can use power meter data from a bike in place of GPS. These algorithms generally require the device to know your maximum heart rate, which they are notoriously bad at estimating, but which they can measure directly if the device is programmed to do so. For a deep dive into what one of these algorithms looks like, here is a paper published by Firstbeat Analytics, which built Garmin’s VO2max algorithm. (It’s not clear if the details described here are exactly the same as what Garmin watches currently use.) 

But some devices don’t give you much detail on how they estimate your VO2max, and some seem to say they may offer a number without collecting any exercise data at all. Whoop, for example, says that “To calculate your score, the algorithm factors your continuous physiological data (including resting heart rate and heart rate variability), your exercise patterns, and GPS-tracked performance metrics (when enabled). It also accounts for how VO2 Max naturally changes with age and incorporates physical factors that influence oxygen utilization, like height, weight, and biological sex.” My Whoop app tells me to do more GPS-tracked activities to improve my VO2max estimate, but according to statements from the company, the app may provide a number even if it doesn’t have GPS data to work from. 

Oura is a bit different from the other devices I tested. Instead of calculating a VO2max estimate from your regular workouts, it prompts you to take a six-minute walking test. This type of test is well known in the medical field, and has been used to estimate VO2max, if imperfectly. 

But there’s a depressing thing to remember about all this. When it comes to knowing how accurate fitness watches actually are, we don’t have enough information to make a scientific judgment. I discussed the problem here: Device makers aren’t required to validate their metrics or to publish their methodology. They just put whatever algorithm they want into whatever device they want, and leave the rest of us to investigate it if we feel like it. By the time scientists are able to design a study, carry it out, and report the results, often enough time has passed that the model they tested is obsolete. 

Studies on smartwatch VO2max estimates generally find that they correlate with tested VO2max results—the higher the smartwatch estimate, the higher the tested VO2max for the same person—but that the exact number can be off by quite a bit. For example, this study on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 concluded that “For individuals with good or excellent fitness, Apple Watch demonstrated a propensity to underestimate VO2 max, whereas among those with poor fitness, there was a tendency to overestimate.”

My results, and the winners

I got my official lab result shortly after finishing the treadmill test, and then at home I surveyed the various fitness trackers I’d been wearing lately. Some I had been testing for a review like the Garmin Forerunner 570, some I wear because they are my personal devices and I use them out of habit (like the Oura ring) and some I still had around from previous review testing. You’ll also see a few devices I haven’t finished reviewing yet—consider this a sneak peek.

For any devices that didn’t have recent data, I made sure to take them for a run or two so they could recalibrate. Where I had multiple devices of the same brand, they all fed data into the same app or algorithm, so I’m organizing the results by brand rather than device. A full list of the devices I used is at the bottom of this article. 

My lab-tested VO2max turned out to be 42.8 mL/kg/min. That was higher than most of the estimates I got from my wearables, so I seem to be in better shape than many of them believe. That said, a few overestimated me—Garmin by just one point, Whoop by about three, Ultrahuman by a bewildering amount. Here’s the full list, sorted by how close they were:

• Tested VO2max: 42.8

• Garmin: 44 (1.2 points high)

• Fitbit: 41 (1.8 points low)

• Suunto: 40 (2.8 points low)

• Whoop: 46 (3.2 points high)

• Apple Watch: 37.9 (4.9 points low)

• Coros: 37 (5.8 points low)

• Oura: 37 (5.8 points low)

• Withings: 36 (6.8 points low)

• Ultrahuman: 61 (18.2 points high)

Garmin came out on top, estimating a VO2max of 44, just 1.2 points over the actual value. I was expecting Garmin to be pretty good, since it knows my exact max heart rate and I’ve already seen that its 5K race time estimate was pretty close to my actual time. 

I was not expecting Fitbit to be next in line, but hey, good job, Fitbit. I’ve seen other reviews that pegged Suunto as having a reasonably accurate VO2max estimate, so it was nice to see Suunto performing well here, even if it was still a few points off. 

After that, Whoop stands out with its three-points-high estimate of 46. Whoop won’t reveal exactly how it estimates VO2max, but since it supposedly doesn’t require exercise data at all, I don’t trust it very far. (I did make sure to feed it some GPS data during my testing, which it said improved the accuracy of my estimate.) If it’s a guess, at least it’s a flattering guess. 

Ultrahuman’s estimate is so far off I almost didn’t include it. I only started testing the Ultrahuman ring a few days ago, and only did two workouts with it so far—but the other devices on my list were all able to give a plausible estimate the first time a number showed up. I checked my settings, and found that I can’t edit the max heart rate Ultrahuman calculates for me, which is probably affecting the accuracy of the VO2max estimate. But if the Ultrahuman app is working from poor data as a design choice, I’m hardly being unfair by using the number it gives me. So it’s on the list, and I’ve voiced my reservations.

The rest are all around five or more points too low. If I had trusted my Apple Watch, I would think I’m a lot less fit than I really am. Along with Coros, Oura, and Withings, it gave a number in the 30s. I really can’t be too impressed by these.

Limitations

The biggest caveat on my results is this: I’m only one person. If you did this same experiment with 100 different people, we probably wouldn’t all get identical results. Some devices might be more accurate with young athletes, some with ordinary folks, some with people who have naturally higher or lower heart rates, and so on. Devices change. Software gets updated. Please view my results as a snapshot of one person on one day with this specific collection of devices. 

The VO2max estimates from each device have their own parameters that I don’t necessarily know about. I did my best to have a correct (or close-enough) weight, age, and where possible, max heart rate entered in each app. But since the companies don’t all disclose what variables they use in their calculations, I don’t have a full list of numbers to go in and double-check.

There is also no such thing as a perfect test, even when done as well as possible. If I had gotten my VO2max test done on a different day, or at a different lab, my result may have been slightly different, and the order of the rankings wouldn’t be quite the same. 

How useful is the VO2max score on your device? 

I’m going to be honest here: after all that science, I can condense the practical advice into about four words: “Make number go up.” Whether your VO2max comes from a lab test or a smartwatch estimate, it will tend to get higher as you do more exercise, more consistently. 

If the number is increasing, or if it stays steady at a relatively high number, you’re probably doing something right. If it decreases over time, you could take that as a nudge to do a little more cardio. 

(If your watch’s estimate isn’t getting higher as you feel you’re getting more in shape, I’d check it by testing your fitness another way, like timing yourself running a certain distance, or even gauging how you feel during a workout you’ve done before, and seeing if that improves over time. But normally we’d expect changes in these VO2max estimates to keep pace with fitness improvements.)

Besides a VO2max estimate, most of these devices also tell you how good your VO2max is relative to other people of your gender and age group. Garmin has me as “excellent” and once, for a moment, I briefly had a score of “superior.” Apple says my cardio fitness is “high,” Oura says my cardio capacity is “peak,” and Suunto says I’m “excellent.” 

Without quibbling too much about where the borders of these ranges might lie, I think these are fair judgments given that the lab said I’m in the 96th percentile of my cohort of middle-aged women. That sounds impressive on paper, but in real life I’m a pretty average runner. That “for your age and gender” asterisk is doing a lot of work.

But let’s take a step back for a minute. VO2max is just a number. My real goals in life involve being healthy and happy, and maybe improving my 5K time as a treat. If I were a true masochist like some people around here, I might add wanting to run marathons faster and faster. 

Your VO2max is connected to all of that, but it’s not literally the same thing. You can have a high VO2max and still have health problems. Athletes often find that their real-life race times are faster or slower than their VO2max test results would suggest. Coaches don’t just say “let’s get your VO2max up.” They’ll have runners work on their lactate threshold, their running economy, their mental toughness, their leg strength, and dozens of other things. 

Health and fitness are multifaceted and can’t be boiled down to a single number. So while you can use VO2max (or its smartwatch estimate) as a shorthand for cardio fitness, it’s certainly not a direct measurement, nor does reaching a certain VO2max number unlock a certain level of health or longevity. 

The specific device models I used

In some cases, multiple devices fed data to the same app or algorithm. For example, even if you have three Garmin watches linked to the same account, you only get one VO2max score that will display in the Garmin Connect app and on any of the watches. The watches will not disagree with each other in their scores.

In the past I have tested other devices of these brands, and never saw a significant difference from one device to another within the same brand. For example, I recall similar cardio fitness scores from the Fitbit app whether I was wearing the Charge 6 or the Pixel Watch 3. So I feel pretty confident reporting these scores per app rather than per device.

With that in mind, the list below includes the devices I used around the time of my VO2max lab test as the primary sources for each brand’s estimate. 

• Apple Watch: Series 10 (GPS + cellular, 42 mm)

• Coros: Pace 3 (Used less recently: Pace Pro)

• Fitbit: Fitbit Charge 6 (Used less recently: Pixel Watch 3)

• Garmin: Forerunner 265S, Forerunner 570 42 mm. (Used less recently: Vivoactive 6)

• Oura: Gen 3 (Used less recently: Gen 4)

• Suunto: Suunto Run

• Withings: Scanwatch 2

• Whoop: Whoop 4.0 

• Ultrahuman: Ring AIR

I made sure to get an updated VO2max estimate from each device within about a week of my VO2max lab test (either before or after the test, as convenient). The only exception was Whoop, which requires 14 days of recent sleep data to give you an up-to-date VO2max estimate. My last VO2max estimate from Whoop was three weeks prior to my VO2max lab test.

A widespread malware campaign is currently affecting millions of smart home devices, including TVs, streaming boxes, and tablets running Android software. A recent FBI alert warns consumers about the BADBOX 2.0 botnet, which spreads through the Internet of Things (IoT) and gives threat actors access to home networks to conduct malicious activity.

Here’s what you need to know to protect your system and devices from BADBOX 2.0.

How BADBOX 2.0 works

BADBOX 2.0 is a malware campaign that targets consumer devices, most of which are low-cost, “off-brand” smart home electronics—smart TVs, digital projectors, picture frames, and tablets, for example—running on Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Once infected, the devices are connected to the threat actors’ command-and-control servers and become part of a botnet.

According to a report from HUMAN’s Satori Threat Intelligence and Research team, attacks may then be carried out in a number of forms: programmatic ad and click fraud, which loads and clicks ads in the background to generate revenue; and residential proxy services, allowing for account takeover, fake account creation, one-time password theft, and malware distribution. For example, threat actors can route traffic through a victim’s home IP address to hide malicious activity or use stolen data in credential stuffing attacks.

The current threat is an evolution of the original BADBOX malware, first identified in 2023, that came pre-loaded on devices prior to purchase. BADBOX 2.0 can spread through malicious Android apps found on Google Play and third-party app stores. The malware can also be downloaded from attack servers and installed upon initial startup.

The scheme has affected more than a million devices around the world, all of which were manufactured in China and running AOSP. At this time, none of the devices known to be infected are particularly mainstream (i.e., not Play Protect certified Android devices), but they are still popular in many countries, and there’s nothing to preclude a spread to other models.

How to prevent a BADBOX 2.0 infection

If you have any of the devices known to be affected by BADBOX 2.0, you should certainly look for signs of malicious activity. According to the FBI notice, possible indicators include unexplained or suspicious internet traffic, the presence of suspicious app marketplaces, and Google Play Protect settings being disabled. You should also be wary of purchasing or connecting streaming devices sold as “unlocked,” Android devices that aren’t Play Protect certified, and IoT devices from brands you don’t recognize.

Other security best practices include keeping all operating systems up to date with patches and security fixes for known vulnerabilities and downloading apps only from trusted, official marketplaces (don’t fall for “free streaming” apps). You should also keep an eye on network traffic to catch anything suspicious and isolate any devices that may be compromised as quickly as possible.

The iPhone’s battery features are getting an upgrade in iOS 26. For years now, Android phones have prominently featured how long charging to full will take you. The info is available on the Lock Screen, and it’s incredibly handy. Finally, along with a new adaptive battery mode, Apple will offer this as well. These are just a few of the iOS 26 features that Apple is borrowing from the competition, and they’re all part of a newly redesigned Battery section in the Settings app.

iOS 26 is currently available as a developer beta. If you want to test it out, you are free to download and install it, but for stability’s sake, I generally recommend you wait until at least the Public beta that’s going to be out sometime in mid-July.

Time to charge

The first change is the easiest to spot, but only if you pay attention. On iOS 26, when you plug in your iPhone, you’ll see the regular charging indicator. But, for a second or two, Apple will flash how long it will take to charge your iPhone to 80% or 100% (depending on your max charge setting). This will be right above the clock, where the day and date usually are. It’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, unfortunately, because it’ll disappear in just a second or two.

The new Battery section in Settings

In iOS 26, when you head over to Settings > Battery, you’ll find a newly redesigned Battery screen. Up top, you’ll see a battery bar. If your iPhone is charging, you’ll see how long it will take to charge to 80%, and then to 100%.

Below, you’ll notice that your Battery charts are now displayed in a simple Weekly view, just like with Screen Time.

The new weekly charts are quite detailed, too. Apple will analyze and compare your battery usage across the week, telling you how your current usage compares with a typical day. Some days, you might use a lot more battery than you usually do, and the charts will take note of that. They’ll also tell you which apps are draining your battery the most.

For more detail, you can tap on the View All Battery Usage button to access a detailed interactive chart. Here, tap on any day to see more granular looks into your battery usage and charging history. You can scroll down to see how much juice each of your apps used, and how they compared with a weekly average. You can also choose a single app to see its battery history throughout the week. Quite cool.

Adaptive power mode

And finally, there’s the optional Adaptive Power Mode, found in Battery > Power Mode. This is Apple’s new battery saving feature, disabled by default, and it uses all your battery analysis data to make intelligent decisions on battery management. Say you’re having a heavier day than usual, and the chances of making it back home with 10% charge left are slim. In that case, your iPhone will start to make small tweaks like reducing performance slightly, reducing screen brightness, or taking more time to process some intensive tasks. Also, if this feature is enabled, your phone will automatically turn on low power mode when your battery reaches 20 percent.