Your morning resting heart rate is one of the most powerful wellness signals your body gives you each day. Here's how to track it consistently — in 60 seconds.
Your morning resting heart rate is one of the most honest signals you have: measured the same way each day, it quietly reflects fitness, stress and how well you slept. Pulse Rate makes the daily habit a 60-second reading on your iPhone. This guide explains what the number means and how to track it well.
The variation between heartbeats — your nervous system's report card.
Two metrics, one number. Why Pulse shows both — and which to watch.
Training-impulse: your weekly training load, in one chart.
Take your reading within 3 minutes of waking, while still lying down. This captures your true resting state before posture changes, caffeine, or morning activity affect your heart rate.
Place your fingertip gently over the rear camera. Pulse Rate will illuminate it with the flash and capture a clean signal — even a small fidget can add 3–5 bpm of artifact.
Log notes on sleep quality, alcohol, stress, or a late meal alongside your reading. In 2–3 weeks, clear patterns will emerge showing what affects your resting heart rate.
Resting HR changes slowly but meaningfully. A 5-bpm drop over 30 days of consistent aerobic exercise is a clear indicator your cardiovascular fitness is improving.
The same chart that lives on your iPhone's Progress screen — rebuilt so you know what you're looking at.
Outstanding score. Your key heart metrics are above normal.
Most healthy adults fall within this range.
Not necessarily alarming — but worth monitoring.
If this persists, please consult a healthcare professional.
TRIMP = duration × intensity. A 60-minute easy run scores about 70 TRIMP. A 30-minute interval session scores 110. Pulse adds them up daily and tells you when your week is too light, just right, or about to overcook you.
For most healthy adults resting heart rate sits roughly between 60 and 100 beats per minute, and well-trained endurance athletes are often lower. What matters most is your personal baseline and how it changes.
Right after you wake, before getting out of bed or having caffeine. A consistent time and posture each morning is what makes day-to-day comparison reliable.
An elevated morning reading versus your baseline often points to incomplete recovery, stress, or the onset of illness. Seeing it early lets you back off before it becomes a problem.
Pulse logs each morning reading, charts it against your baseline, and writes it into Apple Health so your resting-heart-rate history stays in one place.
You've already got the hardware — your iPhone. Pulse does the rest.
Free to download · Core tracking always free · iOS 15+