One number, every morning
Not a wall of charts. cowe rolls the night into a single readiness score you can read in two seconds and then get on with your day.
For Garmin switchers
The Garmin Body Battery equivalent for Apple Watch.
There is no Garmin Body Battery on Apple Watch — it records the same signals (HRV, resting heart rate, stress, sleep) but ships no single energy gauge, so the closest equivalent is a pay-once app like cowe. cowe reads the overnight HRV, resting heart rate and sleep your Apple Watch already records into one calm morning energy/readiness number — computed entirely on your device, with no separate band, no account and no subscription.
Lock the $15 founding price.
Recovery you own, on the Apple Watch you already have — pay once, no subscription. Join free now and lock $15 before it rises to $24.99 at launch.
One calm morning recovery score — computed on your own device from the signals your Apple Watch already records.
Is there a Body Battery equivalent for the Apple Watch?
Yes — cowe is the closest pay-once equivalent. If you came from Garmin, you probably loved one habit above all: glancing at a single number each morning to decide whether to push or pull back. Apple Watch records the raw ingredients for that number, but ships nothing that rolls them into one readiness figure. cowe is built to fill exactly that gap.
Your own baseline
The score is read against your personal trend — not a stranger's average — so "good" means good for you, the way a Garmin gauge learned your normal.
No second device
No watch to switch back to, no band, no ring. cowe lives on the Apple Watch and iPhone already on your wrist and in your pocket.
How is cowe different from a Garmin Body Battery?
The shape of the number is different, and so is where it lives. A Garmin Body Battery is an all-day gauge that fills with rest and drains with activity on a Garmin device. cowe is a once-a-day morning readiness score that lives entirely on the Apple hardware you already own. Here is what changes when you switch.
- Pay once, then own it
- Reads your own HRV, RHR and sleep
- Scored against your baseline
- 100% on-device
It uses Apple's metrics, not Garmin's
cowe reads what Apple Health already stores overnight. You keep the watch you switched to and stop wearing a second device just for a readiness gauge.
It's one morning read, not an all-day meter
Instead of a battery icon that ticks down through the day, cowe gives you a clear morning decision: how recovered are you today, and is the trend up or down?
It stays on your devices
No Connect-style cloud account. Every score is computed locally on your iPhone and Apple Watch, so your recovery history is yours alone.
It tells you when it isn't sure
One noisy night doesn't get over-read. While cowe is still learning your baseline, it says so plainly instead of pretending to be confident.
cowe is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Garmin Ltd. "Garmin" and "Body Battery" are trademarks of their respective owner, used here only for identification and comparison.
Garmin Body Battery vs cowe
Body Battery is built on Firstbeat analytics inside a Garmin device and lives in Garmin Connect, alongside Garmin's stress score and training readiness. cowe rebuilds the one habit that matters — a single morning number — on the Apple Watch you already own. Here is the head-to-head.
| Garmin Body Battery | cowe | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware required | A Garmin watch or band | The Apple Watch you already own — no extra device |
| How the number is built | Firstbeat analytics fold HRV, heart rate, stress and activity into an all-day gauge | Your overnight HRV, resting heart rate and sleep, scored against your own baseline |
| Subscription | Bundled with the device you buy | Pay once, then own it — no subscription |
| Where data lives | Synced to the Garmin Connect cloud account | On your iPhone and Apple Watch — on-device, no account, no cloud |
| One combined number | Yes — an all-day energy gauge that fills and drains | Yes — one calm morning readiness score, plus the trend |
Other Apple Watch options exist in this space — apps like Athlytic and Training Today also read your watch's HRV and heart rate to estimate recovery or training readiness. They are worth a look. cowe's wedge is narrow on purpose: pay once, computed on-device, no extra hardware, and one single number rather than a wall of metrics.
On the watch itself, watchOS 26 added a Sleep Score, Training Load and the Vitals app — Training Load tracks workout strain and Vitals flags nights that drift from your baseline (an outlier flag, not a score). Useful, but none of them is a Body-Battery-style single energy number folding HRV, resting heart rate and sleep against your baseline (per Apple's watchOS 26 release, September 2025; last checked June 2026).
Athlytic and Training Today are independent apps named here only for comparison; cowe is not affiliated with them. "Firstbeat", "Garmin", "Body Battery" and "Garmin Connect" are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. and its affiliates, used here only for identification.
What does cowe read to build the score?
The same three signals you trusted on Garmin, read from the watch you own. cowe reads your overnight heart-rate variability, resting heart rate and sleep — and weighs them against your own baseline, the way any good energy gauge eventually learns what normal looks like for you.
Heart-rate variability
The strongest single read on overnight strain. It's noisy night to night, so cowe follows the trend against your baseline instead of reacting to one morning.
Resting heart rate
Steadier than HRV and a useful counter-check. cowe reads it alongside the rest, against your personal trend rather than a population average.
Sleep
Duration and consistency anchor recovery. cowe treats the trend as directional — and tells you when it doesn't have enough nights to be sure.
Want the full breakdown? Read the recovery app for Apple Watch overview, or see exactly what your Apple Watch already tracks — both free, no signup.
Readiness, recovery — which number do I want?
If "Body Battery" was your morning ritual, you're really after a daily go/no-go signal from your own body. Different people search for it with different words, and cowe answers all of them with the same on-device score.
- Want the pillar overview first? Start with the recovery app for Apple Watch — what it is, how the score is built, and why pay-once matters.
- Call it a readiness score? See how cowe builds an Apple Watch readiness score — the same idea as Body Battery, framed as "am I ready today?"
- Prefer the word "recovery"? Read about the Apple Watch recovery score and how cowe weighs last night against your own history.
Garmin switcher questions
Do I have to keep wearing my Garmin?
No. cowe runs on the Apple Watch and iPhone you already own and reads the overnight metrics Apple Health stores — no second device on your wrist.
Is it an all-day battery or a morning score?
A morning score. cowe gives you one clear readiness read to start the day, plus the trend, rather than a gauge that drains all day.
Does my data sync to a cloud account?
No. There's no account and no Connect-style sync. Every score is computed on your devices and stays there — no cloud, no tracking.
How much does cowe cost?
A one-time $24.99 — no subscription, ever. Waitlist members lock the founding price of $15 before launch.
Is there a free Body Battery app for Apple Watch?
There is no free app that reproduces Garmin's Body Battery on Apple Watch. Several apps in the space — including Athlytic and Training Today — read your watch's HRV and heart rate to estimate recovery, but pricing and free tiers vary, so check each in the App Store. cowe takes the pay-once route: buy it once and own it, with no subscription.
Does Apple Watch have a built-in Body Battery equivalent?
No. watchOS 26 added a Sleep Score, Training Load (workout strain over 7 and 28 days) and the Vitals app, which flags nights that drift from your baseline — an outlier flag, not a score. None of them is a single energy number folding HRV, resting heart rate and sleep against your baseline (per Apple's watchOS 26 release, September 2025; last checked June 2026). cowe adds that one combined morning number.
How accurate is a Body Battery alternative on Apple Watch?
It reads the same underlying signals — HRV, resting heart rate and sleep — that Garmin uses, so the inputs are comparable; the gauge is only ever an estimate, not a medical reading. cowe leans on the trend against your own baseline rather than a single night, and it tells you plainly when it doesn't yet have enough nights to be confident.
Related guides & comparisons
Apple Watch recovery apps, explained
WHOOP alternative, no subscription
Oura alternative — no ring, no subscription
Athlytic alternative — one morning score
Bevel alternative — pay once
Training Today alternative
Gentler Streak alternative
HRV4Training alternative — automatic
Ultrahuman alternative — no ring
Fitbit Daily Readiness, for Apple Watch
WHOOP alternative for Apple Watch
Keep the morning number — on the Apple Watch you switched to.
One calm readiness score from your own HRV, resting heart rate and sleep, computed on-device. No account, no cloud, no subscription. Join the waitlist and lock the founding price.
- Pre-launch · watchOS + iOS
- No account, no cloud
- Pay once