Apple Watch has powerful apps that make it the ultimate device for a healthy life. Now with new notifications and the ECG app, it can provide you and your patients with important information concerning their heart health.
Apple Watch checks for unusually high or low heart rates in the background, which could be signs of a serious underlying condition. This could help you and your patients identify situations that may warrant further evaluation.
If a patient’s heart rate is above 120 bpm or below 40 bpm while they appear to have been inactive for 10 minutes, the user will receive a notification. Patients can adjust the threshold bpm or turn these notifications on or off. All heart rate notifications — along with date, time and heart rate — can be viewed in the Health app on iPhone.
The irregular rhythm notification occasionally checks for signs of irregular rhythms that may be suggestive of atrial fibrillation (AFib). This feature won’t detect all instances of AFib but may catch something that can provide your patients with an early indication that further evaluation may be warranted.
Irregular rhythm notifications use the optical heart sensor to detect the pulse wave at the wrist and look for variability in beat‑to‑beat intervals when the user is at rest. If the algorithm repeatedly detects an irregular rhythm suggestive of AFib, your patient will receive a notification and the date, time and beat‑to‑beat heart rate will be recorded in the Health app.
The irregular rhythm notification feature is cleared for users 22 years and older with no prior history of atrial fibrillation.
In 2017 and 2018, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine worked with Apple to conduct the Apple Heart Study on the detection of atrial fibrillation, a heartbeat irregularity that is a leading cause of stroke and hospitalisation. Over 400,000 Apple Watch users participated and helped validate the ability of wearable technology to aid in the early detection of this condition. The study led to the initial availability of the irregular rhythm notification. The feature was updated in early 2022 using advanced machine learning methods to improve the AFib identification algorithm.
With the ECG app on Apple Watch Series 4 or later,* patients who experience symptoms such as a rapid or skipped heartbeat, or receive the irregular rhythm notification, can capture an ECG and record their symptoms. This real‑world data can enable you to make more informed and timely decisions regarding further evaluation and care.
The ECG app uses the electrical heart sensor built into the Digital Crown and the back crystal of Apple Watch Series 4 or later* to record a single‑lead ECG similar to a Lead I ECG. The ECG app then provides a result of sinus rhythm, atrial fibrillation, atrial fibrillation with high heart rate or poor recording, and prompts the user to enter any symptoms such as rapid or pounding heartbeat, dizziness or fatigue. The waveform, results, date, time and any symptoms are recorded and can be exported from the Health app as a PDF to share with a clinician. If the patient notes symptoms that indicate a serious condition, they are prompted to immediately call emergency services.
This can be an addition to our growing armamentarium to identify AFib, which can be intermittent and asymptomatic.
Products that seek to provide deeper health insights, like Apple Watch, have the potential to be significant in new clinical-care models and shared decision-making between people and their healthcare providers.
Apple is democratising healthcare, providing on‑demand access to accurate sensors and software that can help consumers develop real healthcare literacy and inform how daily choices impact their health.
Mobility and cardiovascular fitness can be strong indicators of overall physical health and a predictor of long-term well-being. Apple Watch and iPhone can provide estimates of mobility metrics to give you and your patients a better understanding of how they impact mobility today, and provide tools to monitor these factors over time. Mobility metrics include Cardio Fitness (VO2 max), Six-Minute Walk Distance and other metrics used to measure walking quality (Walking Speed, Step Length, Double Support Time and Walking Asymmetry). These metrics can be utilised for research and app development with the user’s permission.
Learn more about how these metrics were developed and validated:
Using Apple Watch to estimate Cardio Fitness with VO2 max (PDF)
Using Apple Watch to estimate Six-Minute Walk Distance (PDF)
Measuring Walking Quality Through iPhone Mobility Metrics (PDF)
When a hard fall is detected with Apple Watch Series 4 or later, an alert appears and allows the user to easily call emergency services or dismiss the alert. If the user is unresponsive for about a minute, an emergency call will be placed automatically and a message will be sent to the user’s emergency contacts. All falls detected are recorded in the Health app. This feature is automatically enabled for users 55 years and older and can be turned on for anyone in the Apple Watch app on iPhone.
Medical ID allows paramedics and emergency-room clinicians to access critical medical information from a patient’s iPhone lock screen or Apple Watch without requiring a passcode, and without compromising patient privacy. Patients can list important information such as allergies, medications, conditions, organ-donor preferences and emergency contacts by setting up Medical ID in the Health app on iPhone.
The Medications experience on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch helps your patients track and manage the medication they take. Your patients can receive reminders to log scheduled medication, see medication adherence over time and review their active medication list.
Cycle Tracking on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch lets your patients track their menstrual cycle, log symptoms and receive notifications for upcoming periods and fertile windows. They can also receive notifications when their logged cycle shows signs of a possible cycle deviation, such as irregular or infrequent periods, which can be associated with an underlying medical condition.
Learn more about the research that informed cycle deviation notifications
When a user’s iPhone is locked with a passcode, Touch ID or Face ID, their health data in the Health app is encrypted on the device. If a user chooses to sync their health data with iCloud, it is encrypted while in transit and at rest.