Apple Executives Discuss Apple Watch's Life-Saving Health Features in New Interview

[MacRumors]

Following the introduction of the Apple Watch Series 10 and watchOS 11's new sleep apnea detection feature last month, Apple executives Jeff Williams, Dr. Sumbul Desai, and Jay Blahnik sat down for an interview with The Independent's David Phelan. The discussion is focused on the Apple Watch's health features.

Williams, who leads the Apple Watch engineering teams, said that Apple was inspired to add more health features to the Apple Watch after CEO Tim Cook received emails from customers who said the Apple Watch potentially saved their lives.

"So, we realized, wow, we have this opportunity – and even more, a responsibility," said Williams. "So, we began to look for opportunities. That's when we started pulling on threads and adding additional sensors and features like irregular rhythm, atrial fibrillation alerts, and all the way through to something like sleep apnea."

Williams added that his own sleep apnea diagnosis and subsequent usage of a CPAP machine to treat the condition provided him with "a new lease of life."

"It was less about pushing any personal agendas – we don't really do that at Apple – but it certainly helps to have experience in terms of being able to reinforce and encourage the team that there's such an opportunity to help people," said Williams. "Everybody in the team is just really inspired by this mission of trying to help people with their health."

Dr. Desai suggested that watchOS 11's new Vitals app that analyzes important health metrics during sleep could eventually work during the daytime too:

"If we could push, over time, to get that type of information during the day, well, we always pull on the thread to see what else we can do," she said.

Blahnik, who leads the teams behind Apple Fitness+ and other fitness technologies at Apple, emphasized the Apple Watch's utility for health and fitness.

"It's easy to forget, but 10 years ago, you didn't really know how far you were running unless you happened to have measured the distance in your car, say," he said. "GPS on the wrist was not a common thing. How measuring your activity adds up to something over your life and your longevity is a big deal."

The full interview can be read at The Independent.

Article Link: Apple Executives Discuss Apple Watch's Life-Saving Health Features in New Interview

 

[jz0309]

Good to get more usage out of existing sensors, but:
. Bring blood oxygen back
. Give us blood pressure (trends)
. give us blood glucose (trends)

Apple will not make the AW a medical device, that’s fine.

and lastly, start educating health professionals to actually look at th’e data users collect

 

[JosephAW]

Surprised there is not a “drowning” feature, basically if your arm is still for a minute and it detected the watch is under 2.5ft of water and heart rate has stopped or is extremely rapid and no response to alerts that something serious is going on.
It might not stop all drownings like in bathtubs when someone is intoxicated but possibly help people who have drowned in their pool and an alert goes out to your contacts immediately that are nearby, even your neighbor and all Apple devices sound an alert on a screen or speakers.

 

[Radeon85]

I love the automatic sleep tracking in OS 11, so much better than having to turn it on manually each time. Only problem I have though is while the automatic sleep tracking works well it never automatically measure your wrist temperature when sleeping for some reason. If you want to measure that you have to manually pick sleep mode each time.

If the watch detects I'm sleeping and measures my heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels and provides me with surprisingly accurate auto sleep tracking times, why the hell does it not automatically keep an eye on my wrist temperature the moment the watch automatically enters sleep mode.

Surely they can add the ability for the watch to do this as it seems like a very stupid oversight.

 

[c84216]

Got to say, the vitals function has already came in handy. Wear my S9 to sleep every night and had an alert I saw on Wednesday morning -- as I was preparing to go to work -- saying my body temperature and respiration rate had been significantly out of normal range overnight. I felt a little funny with a bit of a stuffy nose and scratchy throat. Before I left, I decided to take a COVID test before going into the office just to rule that out.

... and that sucker came back positive faster than you could say hello. Later on Wednesday, I got knocked to my butt and I've been laid up the rest of the week. But it stopped me from exposing everyone in my office to COVID when my symptoms weren't bad enough for me to second guess what was going on or to stay home (aka when you are at your most infectious). It also let me start Paxlovid right at the onset of the illness, rather than well into it like the last time I had COVID. I fully attribute being able to start Paxlovid so early to why I am so much better today, two days later.

Its a small thing compared to what the watch can do but still no less important to me.

 

[coffeemilktea]

Every time Apple execs make a huge deal about all of the health and fitness functionality of the Apple Watch, I always wonder if I'm missing something.

I just use mine to see the time, send texts, and check social media notifications.

 

[BarrettF77]

10 years ago you used a Garmin forerunner or some other device. Apple is going on about only what they have been able to do. I feel like they are trying too hard to convince us of why these are so great as though they spend years slaving over this but really the series 9 is the same watch mostly. This year was very iterative and Apple has been advertising based on future software which is sad.

Don’t advertise on launch day with things that are not available to everyone please Apple. Do better than this and your very caring AI ads with people lying about if they have read or done things. It’s not a good look.

 

[axantas]

Surprised there is not a “drowning” feature, basically if your arm is still for a minute and it detected the watch is under 2.5ft of water and heart rate has stopped or is extremely rapid and no response to alerts that something serious is going on.
It might not stop all drownings like in bathtubs when someone is intoxicated but possibly help people who have drowned in their pool and an alert goes out to your contacts immediately that are nearby, even your neighbor and all Apple devices sound an alert on a screen or speakers.

If this happens to you in the bathtub and you manage to "drown" your wrist not more than a few centimeters, then it might work. Otherwise you are out of luck, as onle very low frequencies are able to penetrate water. Try it out: Put your watch in a tight container (an empty glass of jam for instance) and try test the connection to your phone....

It is technically impossible.

 

[Crowbot]

Good to get more usage out of existing sensors, but:
. Bring blood oxygen back
. Give us blood pressure (trends)
. give us blood glucose (trends)

Apple will not make the AW a medical device, that’s fine.

and lastly, start educating health professionals to actually look at th’e data users collect

Apple could probably write their own algorithm for the O2 sensor if they wanted to. Blood pressure would be harder. I've worked with wrist BP devices and they all were marginally accurate. I don't think Apple could solve the inherent problems. And, from what I've seen, those penny sized glucose skin sensors can Bluetooth to the watch or phone. Not much point in building it into the watch.

Apple's health monitoring functions should be seen as screening devices, at best. They may be able to tell you when things are off and need follow-up. But they aren't, and likely never will be, "medical devices".

 

[parameter]

Not much point in building it into the watch.

Actually there is a huge point and it would be a game changer for diabetics. I use one of the major CGM sensors (glucose sensor). They are great but have many downsides as well.

Most of all, they are not just skin contact. There is a little needle that goes into your body as well on each sensor. Also each sensor only lasts depending on the brand, for about 7-10 days max. Then you have to remove that sensor and "inject" a new one using the tool that comes with each sensor.
Each sensor is also expensive and insurance coverage is spotty depending on many factors.

So if Apple IS able to ever get even general glucose measurements from just the watch alone and no needle, it would still be useful. If they even could offer semi-close ballpark type numbers then a user could get a notification and then do a normal finger stick even to verify.

It would be a super big game changer! Live changing.

 

[lkrupp]

Good to get more usage out of existing sensors, but:
. Bring blood oxygen back
. Give us blood pressure (trends)
. give us blood glucose (trends)

Apple will not make the AW a medical device, that’s fine.

and lastly, start educating health professionals to actually look at th’e data users collect

Blood pressure and blood sugar are the two most difficult features to implement, especially noninvasive glucose measuring. Still on the drawing board for everyone. Don’t believe the ads from cheap knockoff watches that claim to have it. They don’t.

 

[TechnoTiger3000]

The Apple Watch is my favorite product they’ve made. I’m like a little data raccoon, always on the hunt for more metrics and new ways to interpret them. Excited to see how AI pattern detection might make the health insights even more valuable—the vitals tracking is a great addition imo.

 

[Simmias]

For old or sickly people, these features will definitely save lives. For normal healthy adults though, monitoring vitals is kind of pointless. Unless I'm experiencing some type of symptoms or heath issues, I don't really need to constantly monitor my vitals. That's what you do when someone is admitted to the hospital. If something is trending downward with my health, there will be plenty of signs besides my watch telling me so.

Bottom line: these features are great for others, but not really helpful for me or other healthy adults.

 

[TechnoTiger3000]

For old or sickly people, these features will definitely save lives. For normal healthy adults though, monitoring vitals is kind of pointless. Unless I'm experiencing some type of symptoms or heath issues, I don't really need to constantly monitor my vitals. That's what you do when someone is admitted to the hospital. If something is trending downward with my health, there will be plenty of signs besides my watch telling me so.

Bottom line: these features are great for others, but not really helpful for me or other healthy adults.

You’re missing the HUGE group of people who use it for hiking, exercise, sports, and staying active overall.

 

[Simmias]

You’re missing the HUGE group of people who use it for hiking, exercise, sports, and staying active overall.

We're talking about different things - health vs. fitness. I frequently use and enjoy the fitness features of Apple Watch and love Apple Watch overall. The article is about the health features of Apple Watch, which haven't proven very useful or interesting to me personally.

 

[antonrg]

It would be great if the Apple Watch learned how to track sleep better, especially naps and also stopped with random gaps in tracking sleep at night. It's not as precise and I use the Series 10.

 

[satchmo]

Unless your health requires monitoring of your blood oxygen levels, well... then you're on your own.

Because we're still fighting it out in court.

 

[zzmd]

Sleep apnea app Substandard without Sp02. Pay masimo license rights for the few years left on the patent.

 

[antonrg]

Unless your health requires monitoring of your blood oxygen levels, well... then you're on your own.

Because we're still fighting it out in court.

THANKFULLY we have it in France, but hopefully you guys get it back too. It's a neat feature.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Surprised there is not a “drowning” feature, basically if your arm is still for a minute and it detected the watch is under 2.5ft of water and heart rate has stopped or is extremely rapid and no response to alerts that something serious is going on.
It might not stop all drownings like in bathtubs when someone is intoxicated but possibly help people who have drowned in their pool and an alert goes out to your contacts immediately that are nearby, even your neighbor and all Apple devices sound an alert on a screen or speakers.

it could send up a bat signal but with the apple logo

 

[victorvictoria]

Just a thought exercise: the more medical and health metrics Apple incorporates, the more potential liabilities, both health-related and legal, arise for both users and Apple Inc. Not convinced that tracking brain waves with only a wrist monitor can be accurate enough to produce a medically valid result similar to using traditional means in a sleep lab.

 

[Crowbot]

Actually there is a huge point and it would be a game changer for diabetics. I use one of the major CGM sensors (glucose sensor). They are great but have many downsides as well.

Most of all, they are not just skin contact. There is a little needle that goes into your body as well on each sensor. Also each sensor only lasts depending on the brand, for about 7-10 days max. Then you have to remove that sensor and "inject" a new one using the tool that comes with each sensor.
Each sensor is also expensive and insurance coverage is spotty depending on many factors.

So if Apple IS able to ever get even general glucose measurements from just the watch alone and no needle, it would still be useful. If they even could offer semi-close ballpark type numbers then a user could get a notification and then do a normal finger stick even to verify.

It would be a super big game changer! Live changing.

I understand how the current sensors work and see your point about the downsides. But the only other way to do it would be purely optical. I'm sure Apple is pouring Megabucks into research but it's a huge hurdle to make it reliable across the spectrum of patients. I wish them well.

 

[Crowbot]

Just a thought exercise: the more medical and health metrics Apple incorporates, the more potential liabilities, both health-related and legal, arise for both users and Apple Inc. Not convinced that tracking brain waves with only a wrist monitor can be accurate enough to produce a medically valid result similar to using traditional means in a sleep lab.

I think Apple is shooting for the things that most commonly affect us. High BP, glucose, blood Ox (sleep apnea). Brainwaves are a long way off.

 

[victorvictoria]

I think Apple is shooting for the things that most commonly affect us. High BP, glucose, blood Ox (sleep apnea). Brainwaves are a long way off.

So how do you suppose their "Sleep" app measures the duration and type of sleep you experience? True, I have no idea how they analyze brain waves from the wrist, but brain waves the only indicator of sleep metrics. They aslo haven't implemented hypertension or glucose monitoring because they can't. But bad or no results in any of these apps could result in harm to the wearer, and lawsuits against Apple. I use all the health related apps, but I also have regular full checkups, and visit my doctor if I see anything on the watch.

 

[svish]

Good article. So many health features on the watch. Wonder what all new sensors and health related features will be available in the coming years.