Wonderful Apple Watch!

Bobby and I both did the iOS 14 updates on our watches, phones and ipads, and have not had any troubles at all, everything working great. Robin said that she had to completely reset her watch afterwards when she did the update, but otherwise okay.

The new Apple Watch series 6 has a blood oxygen sensor that can be used on demand, but also works in the background. It is supposed to be helpful to people who have heart failure, and since I never feel like I am getting enough oxygen, no matter how much I am breathing, this would be a real help for me.
It will show what happens to my oxygen level when I am exercising or sleeping, rather than just sitting at the doctor’s office with one of the sensors on my finger.
Apple is also partnering with researchers for new health studies on oxygen levels with asthma, heart failure, as well as corona virus.

Robin said she was ordering me a new one, and it should be here by the end of this month, so I will be able to report on how I like it once I start wearing it.

My Series 4 will go to my niece (we grew up like sisters, so I think of Joy as my sister and not as a niece), and she has heart problems; so having the fall alert and ECG app will be a good thing for her, too.

 

Healthline has an article on the medical features of the Apple Watch that you might be interested in.

 

Since Beth mentioned the [lack of] accuracy on the pulse sensor, and Yvonne mentioned the oximeter on the latest model, I thought I'd mention this.

There has been some concerns with oximeters in general because oximeters read O2 saturation levels by shining light through the skin (it's actually more complicated than that, but you get the point.) They are not as accurate if you are dark skinned for this and for other reasons.

O2 saturation is most overestimated at low saturation levels (where O2 levels really matters.) The darker you are, the greater the effect. Ink, nail polish and other substances on the skin have also been documented to affect readings in everyone. The degree of effect varies across different brands of clinical oximeters.

Here's an article in Boston Review just last month that emphasizes the social implications.
Here's an article published by The American Society of Anesthesiologists in 2005 that is more technical and analytical in nature (but it's still very readable.)

Cross-posted in Health & Wellness forum for those who wish to discuss further.

 

Apple has always been good at letting people know that the information from any of the watch applications is not to be considered as medically correct.
We know that an EKG from a watch is not going to be nearly as accurate as one from the sophisticated EKG machine at the doctor’s office.
However, having some idea of what your heart and body is actually doing, is a good thing and has been helpful to many people, including myself.

Since I wear my Apple Watch to bed to track my sleeping heart rate, and see how high or low it goes when I am sleeping, the watch helped me to realize that my heart rate was dropping down into the 40’s and high 30’s during the night.
When I asked my doctor about it, he had some tests done, and said that I needed the pacemaker to keep my heart from going to slow at night, or even when I was just resting. He said that my heart was just gradually slowing down, and would keep dropping lower without the pacemaker.

Now, even with the heart failure and a-fib under control, I still have times when I feel like I am just not getting enough oxygen when I breathe. When I am at the doctor’s office and the do the little finger sensor, my oxygen level is always around 98; so it looks fine; but all I am doing is sitting, and usually waiting for at least a half hour before the nurse comes in to check things.

I am hoping that with the new watch, it can monitor my overnight oxygen levels, and also when I am actually moving around and exercising, and this will give me a better idea of what is actually happening with my breathing.
Even if the watch is not totally accurate, it should give an overall picture of where my oxygen level stays.

 

Absolutely. If nothing else, the consumer-grade instruments will tell which way the trend is going for any of their measurements.

I had recently been looking to replace my pulse/oximeter (I've had it for nearly 40 years and it died on me) when I came across articles warning darker-skinned folks to not rely on them, even in a clinical setting. Your comment on this function on the Apple watch provided a place to attach them to.

 

I consider my watch as more of a wearable medical device than as a watch, and the fact that I can tell the time and make phone calls is actually just the frosting on the cake.
When I feel my heart getting erratic, I can look at the watch and see immediately what it is doing, and if there seems to be an ongoing issue, then I can call my doctor, and they can read the printout for the pacemaker and get precise information.

Last summer, I was out in the back yard and needed help , and since we both have watches, all I had to do was say “Hey Siri, call Robert” and he answered and came right out to help me.
If I passed out and fell, the watch would call for help automatically, and the GPS would tell them where to send the paramedics; plus it also would alert both Bobby and Robin that I needed help, and where I was .

I can’t begin to say how much safety and confidence I feel when I am wearing my Apple Watch, but I would never want to be without it, with my health problems.
This is an example of when my heart was being in a-fib that night. Where it went so low, is when my heart stopped beating and then the pacemaker kicks it back in rhythm, and then it overcompensated and went too fast.

 

Technology is literally a lifesaver, and gives so much freedom.

I think I mentioned that this thread has me looking for a watch phone to have as an "I've fallen down and I can't get up" device. I'm here on my property all by myself, and it's not convenient to have my cellphone strapped to my belt (it's gotten lost before as I work.) The long-term full-service costs between a 911 pendant and a watch phone are pretty close (adding a watch phone to an account costs $10/month), and a watch phone certainly provides a lot more functionality, as you demonstrated. My problem is that you gotta tether these to cell phones to set them up, and I have an Android phone. I've yet to find a non-Apple watch that has a one-touch 911 button. Switching everything over would be costly.

 

Getting an older iPhone would work if you just needed it for setting up the watch, and for updates. You can do all that with just whatever Wifi connection that you use already, so you would not have to get a whole separate phone line.
If you add the watch on your existing account for the $10, and then use the iPhone just on Wifi , then the monthly service fee would be all you had once you bought the equipment.
When our health and safety is at risk, then it is worth having as much protection as possible, and since you live alone, and no one to find you if something happened, an Apple Watch could very well be a lifesaver for you, too.
The first series that has the fall detection and cellular would be a series 4, which is what I have right now, and I am happy with it.

 

Thank you!

You are so smart. I am great at desktop applications, but there are areas of technology where I am truly blind. I'll have to check into that.

When it only costs $10 to use the phone as an autonomous calling device, and most "Help Pendants" cost $30/month for that limited function ($240/year spread), it's not long before getting a phone makes economical and functionality sense.

 

Because you can use the watch as a phone, it is a lot better bargain for the money than just a pendant that alerts someone if you fall and need help. It works just about anywhere you go, and is not dependent on having a home phone, which some of the pendants require to work, and then they only work when you are near that phone.

The watch also has an “emergency button”, so if you needed to summon help, and for some reason could not call 911 on the phone, then you can push the button, and it alerts for you.
(So , if you get kidnapped, you can secretly push the emergency button while the kidnappers think that you are passed out....)

There are bunches of health and activity apps that work with the phone and watch, and you can also be part of Apple’s research that works with places like Johns Hopkins University for the heart research.

 

I managed purchasing & inventory for a computer reseller in the late 80s and beyond. We carried over 55,000 products and dealt with over 650 vendors (including all the big guys.) The exponential growth in power and functionality is mind-boggling.

You jest of kidnapping, but I firmly believe one reason crime has dropped is that everyone has a phone and a camera on them at all times. No one can outrun that.

I might ask for your advice as I search for used Apple phones on EBay that will meet these requirements. One thing for certain, with a user base that upgrades frequently, the availability of second-hand products have got to be pretty good.