7 ms·

Is this specific to apple watch ? Are the other fitness trackers not suited for this ?

sterlind 6y ago
I think the Apple watch is (nearly) alone in being FDA-approved as a medical device, and I wouldn't trust anything that isn't. If I didn't need an iPhone to power it I'd buy one in a heartbeat just for health reasons.
- yosito 6y ago
  > I'd buy one in a heartbeat I see what you did there.
- BadOakOx 6y ago
  "FDA-cleared" not approved. There is a huge difference: https://www.cnet.com/news/fda-approved-vs-fda-cleared-whats-the-difference/ https://www.cnet.com/news/fda-approved-vs-fda-cleared-whats-...
- mosselman 6y ago
  What is wrong with an iPhone?
  - roschdal 6y ago
    Very expensive telephone.
    - sudhirj 6y ago
      Can get the SE, which is pretty midrange unless you’re comparing it to feature phones.
      - hexmiles 6y ago
        where i am the SE is 500€. Is a LOT more than the 180€ that i payed my xiaomi. I wouldn't really call it midrange... but i guess it depends where you live? Considering another 460€ for the watch it become very expensive. Also not long ago 500€ (here) was considered a notch under top of the line. edit: as a reference, feature phone extremely rarely surpass the 100€ on amazon and are generically around 50-60€. edit: fix grammar
        ChuckNorris89 6y ago
        Agreed, $500 might be entry level phone in US income money but in Europe(an most of the world) that's a lot of money.
        saiya-jin 6y ago
        Its not only about can-I-affort-it. Here in Switzerland, most of my IT colleagues have android phones 1-5 years old that were never top of the line and they are fine with them, including me. With salaries that could comfortably afford them latest top apple phones every generation if they wanted. But why would they do that? Phones are not secure by default, anybody thinking otherwise is naive and uneducated, Apple is not an exception. What else does an Apple phone offer to IT guy that rest doesn't? The answer for most of us, nothing. We just run an app XYZ. And those phones are just fine for that. SE being no exception to this, its still way pricier than Android counterparts. Like most of us, for most use cases we don't buy overpriced status things with decent quality, rather stuff that has good price/quality ratio, emphasis more on quality. Same with cars, kitchen, other electronics or generally home equipment, sport equipment and so on.
    - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
      While true for most people outside of highly skilled western income levels, if you can't afford an iPhone how can you afford the iWatch to go with it?
    - mosselman 6y ago
      You just pay with your data when you get something like xiaomi or basically any other phone. On top of that you get a very good phone and about 5-6 years of software updates. I don’t call €500 (SE) very expensive, though it is a lot of money all at once.
  - bhanhfo 6y ago
    No multi-user accounts possible (work/private separation) or something like Samsung Knox. This is stopping me from switching.
    - simonh 6y ago
      My company recently adopted SecureMail, SecureHub and the other Citrix mobile stuff, it seems to sandbox itself from the rest of the system pretty well. It controls which apps you can cut-n-paste between or share links to for example. I think it's uses MDM under the hood to manage data sharing and permissions.
    - BillinghamJ 6y ago
      They actually did just introduce support in iOS 13 for a type of MDM which does works roughly like the Google work profile thing.
  - ensignavenger 6y ago
    There is nothing like f-droid possible on the iPhone.
  - sterlind 6y ago
    nothing's wrong with them, it's just that I have an Android phone and don't want to get a new phone just for this.
- toxik 6y ago
  I have both but cannot wear the watch because it gives me a really bad rash. It’s apparently not uncommon.
  - sudhirj 6y ago
    On which part? Under the watch or the strap? I had a problem with the strap (I sweat a lot) so I got a Nike fabric strap - it breathes a lot, so no effect on my skin.
    - dijit 6y ago
      It should also be noted that there are two types of metal finish on the watch: the aluminium and the stainless steel.
  - Johnjonjoan 6y ago
    Your sweat could be getting a bit of a current going through it, are there charging contacts near the part of the watch that gives you the rash? Salty water (sweat) and electricity could well be making acid that's causing the rash. Sorry that this isn't really a solution but I find if I don't wear my fitness watch when exercising I don't get rashes.
    - dan1234 6y ago
      No, the Apple Watch uses wireless charging so there aren't any exposed contacts that I can see.
      - vermilingua 6y ago
        There are accessory contacts inside the strap latch. It's possible, though unlikely, that sweat is getting in there.
  - vmception 6y ago
    I had a fitbit back in 2014 and the irritation turned me off of all fitness trackers In 2019 I got an Apple Watch with stainless steel band and have not had any issues
sradman 6y ago
I think the “30 second finger ECG sampling” is unique to the Apple Watch. Most modern continuous trackers use optical heart rate (PPG) alone. Garmin includes a red light PPG that is used as a Pulse Oximeter during sleep to measure SpO2 and they also continuously monitor Heart Rate Variability (HRV) that they report as stress. Garmin also uses machine learning models to predict sleep stages with PPG data without an EEG. All of these consumer grade sensors are poor compared to the medical PPG, ECG, and EEG equivalents but they have the advantage of being ubiquitous and continuous. They offer the ability to collect a baseline for our health data that is supplemented with short samples during exceptional events.
- jsjohnst 6y ago
  > I think the “30 second finger ECG sampling” is unique to the Apple Watch. Check out AliveCor. They had an Apple watch band that provided similar functionality before Apple offered it directly.
jsjohnst 6y ago
Apple Watch is the only mainstream fitness tracker watch that does ECGs to my knowledge (but I’ve honestly not looked extensively), but AliveCor had a product on the market before Apple offering a similar function on Apple Watch (via a watch band w/ sensor), so Apple’s marketing claims of being first are dubious at best. I prefer the Apple Watch version over AliveCor’s by far, but it’s certainly not the only option, let alone the first. My main beef with AliveCor is the fact that the sensor can pop out of the watch band and when it does and you don’t notice, you’re out $200 (as in my case). It also isn’t as good a user experience, but that’s not a blocking factor to me in this case, just the triviality of losing an expensive sensor which is barely held in by a piece of flexible material.
- Foivos 6y ago
  Withings move ECG is another popular fitness tracker with ECG functionality sold €130. https://www.withings.com/no/en/move-ecg https://www.withings.com/no/en/move-ecg
  - jsjohnst 6y ago
    > Withings move ECG is another popular fitness tracker with ECG functionality Hadn’t heard about that one, thanks for sharing. Might work for a family member who won’t wear anything but an analog watch.
- robotnikman 6y ago
  Apparently the newest Galaxy Gear watch has the ECG functionality but its not enabled. Last i've heard the waiting to be greenlighted by the FDA to enable it. Would be great for those of us with an Android phone to have similar options to choose from

I think the Apple watch is (nearly) alone in being FDA-approved as a medical device, and I wouldn't trust anything that isn't. If I didn't need an iPhone to power it I'd buy one in a heartbeat just for health reasons.

yosito 6y ago
> I'd buy one in a heartbeat I see what you did there.
BadOakOx 6y ago
"FDA-cleared" not approved. There is a huge difference: https://www.cnet.com/news/fda-approved-vs-fda-cleared-whats-the-difference/ https://www.cnet.com/news/fda-approved-vs-fda-cleared-whats-...
mosselman 6y ago
What is wrong with an iPhone?
- roschdal 6y ago
  Very expensive telephone.
  - sudhirj 6y ago
    Can get the SE, which is pretty midrange unless you’re comparing it to feature phones.
    - hexmiles 6y ago
      where i am the SE is 500€. Is a LOT more than the 180€ that i payed my xiaomi. I wouldn't really call it midrange... but i guess it depends where you live? Considering another 460€ for the watch it become very expensive. Also not long ago 500€ (here) was considered a notch under top of the line. edit: as a reference, feature phone extremely rarely surpass the 100€ on amazon and are generically around 50-60€. edit: fix grammar
      - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
        Agreed, $500 might be entry level phone in US income money but in Europe(an most of the world) that's a lot of money.
        saiya-jin 6y ago
        Its not only about can-I-affort-it. Here in Switzerland, most of my IT colleagues have android phones 1-5 years old that were never top of the line and they are fine with them, including me. With salaries that could comfortably afford them latest top apple phones every generation if they wanted. But why would they do that? Phones are not secure by default, anybody thinking otherwise is naive and uneducated, Apple is not an exception. What else does an Apple phone offer to IT guy that rest doesn't? The answer for most of us, nothing. We just run an app XYZ. And those phones are just fine for that. SE being no exception to this, its still way pricier than Android counterparts. Like most of us, for most use cases we don't buy overpriced status things with decent quality, rather stuff that has good price/quality ratio, emphasis more on quality. Same with cars, kitchen, other electronics or generally home equipment, sport equipment and so on.
  - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
    While true for most people outside of highly skilled western income levels, if you can't afford an iPhone how can you afford the iWatch to go with it?
  - mosselman 6y ago
    You just pay with your data when you get something like xiaomi or basically any other phone. On top of that you get a very good phone and about 5-6 years of software updates. I don’t call €500 (SE) very expensive, though it is a lot of money all at once.
- bhanhfo 6y ago
  No multi-user accounts possible (work/private separation) or something like Samsung Knox. This is stopping me from switching.
  - simonh 6y ago
    My company recently adopted SecureMail, SecureHub and the other Citrix mobile stuff, it seems to sandbox itself from the rest of the system pretty well. It controls which apps you can cut-n-paste between or share links to for example. I think it's uses MDM under the hood to manage data sharing and permissions.
  - BillinghamJ 6y ago
    They actually did just introduce support in iOS 13 for a type of MDM which does works roughly like the Google work profile thing.
- ensignavenger 6y ago
  There is nothing like f-droid possible on the iPhone.
- sterlind 6y ago
  nothing's wrong with them, it's just that I have an Android phone and don't want to get a new phone just for this.
toxik 6y ago
I have both but cannot wear the watch because it gives me a really bad rash. It’s apparently not uncommon.
- sudhirj 6y ago
  On which part? Under the watch or the strap? I had a problem with the strap (I sweat a lot) so I got a Nike fabric strap - it breathes a lot, so no effect on my skin.
  - dijit 6y ago
    It should also be noted that there are two types of metal finish on the watch: the aluminium and the stainless steel.
- Johnjonjoan 6y ago
  Your sweat could be getting a bit of a current going through it, are there charging contacts near the part of the watch that gives you the rash? Salty water (sweat) and electricity could well be making acid that's causing the rash. Sorry that this isn't really a solution but I find if I don't wear my fitness watch when exercising I don't get rashes.
  - dan1234 6y ago
    No, the Apple Watch uses wireless charging so there aren't any exposed contacts that I can see.
    - vermilingua 6y ago
      There are accessory contacts inside the strap latch. It's possible, though unlikely, that sweat is getting in there.
- vmception 6y ago
  I had a fitbit back in 2014 and the irritation turned me off of all fitness trackers In 2019 I got an Apple Watch with stainless steel band and have not had any issues

sradman 6y ago

I think the “30 second finger ECG sampling” is unique to the Apple Watch. Most modern continuous trackers use optical heart rate (PPG) alone. Garmin includes a red light PPG that is used as a Pulse Oximeter during sleep to measure SpO2 and they also continuously monitor Heart Rate Variability (HRV) that they report as stress. Garmin also uses machine learning models to predict sleep stages with PPG data without an EEG. All of these consumer grade sensors are poor compared to the medical PPG, ECG, and EEG equivalents but they have the advantage of being ubiquitous and continuous. They offer the ability to collect a baseline for our health data that is supplemented with short samples during exceptional events.

jsjohnst 6y ago
> I think the “30 second finger ECG sampling” is unique to the Apple Watch. Check out AliveCor. They had an Apple watch band that provided similar functionality before Apple offered it directly.

jsjohnst 6y ago

Apple Watch is the only mainstream fitness tracker watch that does ECGs to my knowledge (but I’ve honestly not looked extensively), but AliveCor had a product on the market before Apple offering a similar function on Apple Watch (via a watch band w/ sensor), so Apple’s marketing claims of being first are dubious at best. I prefer the Apple Watch version over AliveCor’s by far, but it’s certainly not the only option, let alone the first. My main beef with AliveCor is the fact that the sensor can pop out of the watch band and when it does and you don’t notice, you’re out $200 (as in my case). It also isn’t as good a user experience, but that’s not a blocking factor to me in this case, just the triviality of losing an expensive sensor which is barely held in by a piece of flexible material.

Foivos 6y ago
Withings move ECG is another popular fitness tracker with ECG functionality sold €130. https://www.withings.com/no/en/move-ecg https://www.withings.com/no/en/move-ecg
- jsjohnst 6y ago
  > Withings move ECG is another popular fitness tracker with ECG functionality Hadn’t heard about that one, thanks for sharing. Might work for a family member who won’t wear anything but an analog watch.
robotnikman 6y ago
Apparently the newest Galaxy Gear watch has the ECG functionality but its not enabled. Last i've heard the waiting to be greenlighted by the FDA to enable it. Would be great for those of us with an Android phone to have similar options to choose from