My husband is in the hospital right now and will be getting a defibrillator implanted. The doctor told him that if it triggers because of tachycardia he will feel the jolt as it shocks him to a normal rhythm. He unfortunately got the paddles the other day and said it's a huge jolt. The doctor said he would have no warning if the implant needed to shock him and I worry that he would be driving or something. I have an Apple Watch and showed my husband how the heart rate function works. I think I'd like him to get the Apple Watch 2 but I wonder if there is an app than could alert him with a tap on the wrist if his pulse rate goes over about 170 or so. That way he can start actively monitoring his heart and may get warning before a jolt occurs.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apps Any apps that give alerts for heart rate?
- Thread starter MSampson
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I don't think HeartWatch will cut it. The problem is that the watch isn't constantly monitoring your heart rate. HeartWatch (or any similar program) would only be able to tell you that, sometime in the last ten or twelve minutes, your heart rate exceeded a preset parameter.
unless the watch is in an activity mode, it only tracks your heartrate every 10 minutes (and not even that if your arm is moving or you are in motion). Even in an activity it's only 10 seconds, and it's not that reliable.
There are lots of fitness-oriented watches that have customizable alert levels, but again, only during an 'activity' not continuously. I suspect this is one area where technology isn't quite there at least not for multi-purpose devices. There are probably more expensive devices that are designed to specifically do this, however.
There are lots of fitness-oriented watches that have customizable alert levels, but again, only during an 'activity' not continuously. I suspect this is one area where technology isn't quite there at least not for multi-purpose devices. There are probably more expensive devices that are designed to specifically do this, however.
I'm not looking for something to track it constantly, just using the 10 minute checks that are already done and sending an alert if it's high. Heartwatch looks like it will work fine. When I first searched for that something called ProPulse came up that may work too. Anyone use that one?
With respect, the reviews seem to indicate that Heartwatch does not notify in the event of tachycardia, and I'm damned if I can tell what PulsePro does beyond grabbing the existing HR readings in the Health app and graphing them. It certainly doesn't appear as if it will notify me of anything. Presumably I'll be able to tell if I'm in afib by high heart rates, which it will only catch if I'm in afib for longer than ten minutes at a time. The main attraction seems to be that you can monitor *other* people's heart rates. (It also has an interesting bug - you can't see the EULA, you can only accept it.)