For the past few years, my wrist wasn’t just tracking my runs. It was tracking my incentives.

Like many runners in Singapore, I participated in LumiHealth — Apple’s programme in partnership with the Health Promotion Board that rewarded users with vouchers for staying active. It was simple behavioural economics. Close your rings, hit your activity goals, and you earned small rewards. Over time, those rewards added up.

But more importantly, LumiHealth influenced something deeper: my choice of watch.

Now that LumiHealth has ceased, I’ve found myself asking a question I hadn’t fully confronted before:

Do I still need an Apple Watch? Or perhaps more accurately: am I now free to choose purely based on what works best for me?

The difference becomes obvious when incentives disappear

I am a runner. I currently use two watches: a Garmin and an Apple Watch Ultra.

The contrast between them is stark.

Garmin feels like a performance instrument. It provides deep physiological insights — training readiness, lactate threshold estimates, recovery time, VO₂ max trends, and detailed running dynamics. Its battery lasts about 13 days with three runs a week. Charging takes less than an hour.

The Apple Watch Ultra, despite being Apple’s most advanced wearable, lasts at most two days. The experience is polished, but from a running perspective, it often left me wanting more depth and autonomy.

Yet, LumiHealth anchored me to the Apple Watch ecosystem. It wasn’t just a watch anymore. It was a watch that paid you to stay healthy.

That incentive subtly reshaped behaviour.

Incentives can shape ecosystems more than features

LumiHealth wasn’t just a health programme. It was, intentionally or otherwise, an ecosystem accelerator.

It lowered the psychological cost of buying and using an Apple Watch. The vouchers justified the purchase. The programme created a feedback loop — use the watch more, earn more, stay within the ecosystem.

This wasn’t unique to Apple. It reflects a broader shift in technology: devices are no longer standalone products. They are gateways into ongoing service relationships.

The watch becomes the hardware anchor. The value increasingly comes from software, services, and subscriptions layered on top.

Apple Fitness+, Apple Health integrations, cloud analytics, and coaching services are all part of this direction.

The strategy is clear: recurring engagement, recurring revenue.

But users are also becoming more conscious of recurring costs

Recently, I did a personal financial review and terminated several subscriptions. Individually, they seemed harmless — a few dollars here, ten dollars there. But compounded over time, they became significant.

This is where the LumiHealth cessation feels symbolic.

Without the offsetting rewards, the Apple Watch becomes a pure cost-benefit decision again. The emotional and financial justification changes.

And when evaluated purely on function — battery life, training depth, reliability — purpose-built fitness watches like Garmin suddenly feel more compelling.

Not because Apple Watch is bad. But because it serves a different philosophy.

Apple Watch is designed to be a lifestyle companion.

Garmin is designed to be a performance tool.

Apple is unlikely to concede this space

As a tech reviewer, I am cautious about declaring any permanent shift.

Apple has been steadily strengthening its health capabilities. Features like heart rate variability tracking, sleep analysis, ECG, and advanced health monitoring show Apple’s long-term ambition. Apple Fitness continues to expand, positioning the company not just as a device maker, but as a health platform provider.

Apple’s advantage is not hardware specifications alone. It is ecosystem integration, user experience, and scale.

Garmin wins on depth and endurance.

Apple wins on ecosystem and accessibility.

Both serve different audiences — but the line is narrowing.

The real shift is not about watches. It is about freedom of choice.

LumiHealth’s cessation marks the removal of an external incentive layer.

Without it, users return to first principles: what do I actually need from my watch?

For runners focused on performance, data, and reliability, specialised devices may feel more aligned.

For users prioritising lifestyle integration, notifications, and ecosystem convenience, Apple Watch remains compelling.

For me, the end of LumiHealth feels like a quiet return of autonomy.

My watch is no longer tied to a reward programme.

It is tied to my purpose.

And that may be the most meaningful metric of all.