Ring it ... the activity app has proven to be one of the most popular features of the Apple Watch.

There has been recent uncomfirmed speculation that the next version of the Apple Watch would have an even greater sport and fitness focus and an improved water proof rating so that it could also track swimming as an exercise..

MacRumors reported last week that Apple had patented an application for monitoring a person’s heart rate and send an alert to medical professionals in case of emergency. The Apple Watch has a heart-rate sensor, and while Apple patents many technologies that do not come to market this could be a sign of a greater health and fitness focus to in future Watch generations.

Apple famously never reveals details of upcoming products.

In an exclusive Australian interview, Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams and head of the Apple Watch project did not talk about any future products but did talk about the importance of the fitness features in the Apple Watch.

“I think the concept of empowering people with their health data is a much bigger deal than anyone anticipated,” he said.

“We certainly see this as a journey and we’re just getting started. We’ve been so thrilled with the response. We see tremendous opportunity to do even more.”

Mr Williams’s comments follow his recent statements around the announcement that some US companies were offering their employees an Apple Watch for the bargain basement price of $25 so long as they met exercise goals for two years.

“We all live busy lives, but the truth is, if doctors could write one prescription for the world, it would be activity,” he said.

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Activity tracking was one of the core functions Apple spruiked when it launched the Apple Watch in April last year, but it seems that the Cupertino-based technology giant has been surprised just how popular that function has become.

While there are thousands of apps for the Apple Watch, the native activity app on the Apple Watch is only behind Messages as the most-used app on the device.

Eve Stansfield, a 20-year-old Brisbane university student, is an Apple Watch wearer who espouses the benefits of tracking her health and fitness on her wrist.

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Eve Stansfield uses the Apple Watch activity app to track calorie burn.Source:Supplied

Last July, when she weighed 134kg, she decided to become a fitter, healthier person.

When she lost 5kg she rewarded herself with the Apple Watch, choosing it other products because of the activity tracking app which challenges you to complete three rings by achieving a movement goal of a kilojoule target, doing 30 minutes of heart-rate elevating exercise a day and standing for at least one minute for 12 hours a day.

Ms Stansfield shares her training with 4100 Instagram followers (@evechantal), with many of her images showing her workout stats on her Apple Watch which she calls a key motivator.

As she heads towards a goal which she calls a “healthy” weight rather than a specific kilogram target, she uses the Watch in two key ways. The exercise app tracks her heart-rate and calorie burn and the MyFitnessPal app lets her track her daily food consumption.

Eve shares the benefits of her healthier lifestyle on Instagram.Source:Supplied

She goes to the gym every day but says the Watch also keeps her on tracking in taking healthier choices, like walking more through the day.

“It’s putting a number to the exercise that you’re doing. I find that really encouraging,” she said.

She has set her daily movement target at 3520 kilojoules (840 calories) and is further motivated by knowing she is on a streak of achieving her goal 94 days in a row.

Like many early adopters of first-generation gadgets, Ms Stransfield loves her Apple Watch but can see ways it could be improved.

“I know this is the first generation but I would love to see one of the later generations bringing in something that is waterproof so we can take it swimming,” she says.

“I would love to go swimming with my Apple Watch and record it as an exercise”.

Apple is expected next week to announce a March 21 event at its Cupertino headquarters, where it is set to reveal a new, smaller iPhone and perhaps unveil plans for its second generation Watch.

Apple has not released figures of Apple Watch sales but recent IDC figures shows where Apple now sits in the wearable market.

Fitbit, according to IDC, is the market leader with 21 per cent of shipments last year but Apple is close on its heels.

During the recent holiday quarter, Fitbit sold 8.1 million units was the most popular gift in the sector and Apple came in second with 4.1 million units.

Although the Apple Watch was not released on to the market until April, the IDC figures show it had nearly four times as many shipments in 2015 as both Garmin, the leading exercise watch maker, and Samsung which has released a swag of smartwatches in its race to beat Apple to market.

CCS Insight’s recently released market forecast foresees enormous growth for the wearable tech market, predicting the market will be worth $34 billion within four years.