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> You can see why Dexcom seems to ramping up their marketing now I'm not convinced this is really going to matter. I'd love to be able to measure how much diff

> You can see why Dexcom seems to ramping up their marketing now I'm not convinced this is really going to matter. I'd love to be able to measure how much different foods affect my blood sugar. But because I don't have diabetes and am not at high risk for diabetes (based on my A1C), the Dexcom is absurdly expensive as just a toy to satisfy my curiosity. But if I could buy a $19 thigh strap for my iPhone to do this then I'd jump on that in a heart beat.

insane_dreamer 4y ago
Do you know whether Apple is planning on making the glucode detection on the watch suitable for patients with diabetes or will it be more of a "non-medical informational" feature.
- eep_social 4y ago
  I don’t know but my experience with other medical devices in this space supports your supposition that this will not be certified for medical use. My understanding is that it’s a “safety” concern (read: liability). Because it would be providing “medical” advice the requirements around design are skewed to ensure that it doesn’t kill people rather than being permissive about the user experience [1]. Out of context, this seems sensible (therac anyone?) In practice this means that sensors like the Dexcom or Medtronic have “features” like alerts that cannot be silenced until the device is calibrated with blood. This makes sense from a safety perspective but is not particularly forgivable at 3am when the thing refuses to stop beeping until you feed it blood. I would guess that Apple will try, but they may find that their desired UX may not be compatible with the requirements imposed by the FDA process. [1] This personal anecdote is old. I hope things have improved.
v8xi 4y ago
For $19 you might be able to get the elastic band, but this is Apple we're talking about...
- epicureanideal 4y ago
  The PR/marketing win of the decade would be to sell this specific feature for cost.

insane_dreamer 4y ago

Do you know whether Apple is planning on making the glucode detection on the watch suitable for patients with diabetes or will it be more of a "non-medical informational" feature.

eep_social 4y ago
I don’t know but my experience with other medical devices in this space supports your supposition that this will not be certified for medical use. My understanding is that it’s a “safety” concern (read: liability). Because it would be providing “medical” advice the requirements around design are skewed to ensure that it doesn’t kill people rather than being permissive about the user experience [1]. Out of context, this seems sensible (therac anyone?) In practice this means that sensors like the Dexcom or Medtronic have “features” like alerts that cannot be silenced until the device is calibrated with blood. This makes sense from a safety perspective but is not particularly forgivable at 3am when the thing refuses to stop beeping until you feed it blood. I would guess that Apple will try, but they may find that their desired UX may not be compatible with the requirements imposed by the FDA process. [1] This personal anecdote is old. I hope things have improved.

v8xi 4y ago

For $19 you might be able to get the elastic band, but this is Apple we're talking about...

epicureanideal 4y ago
The PR/marketing win of the decade would be to sell this specific feature for cost.