Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Explains How Hypertension Alerts Work on Apple Watch

they dont have to explain. Its basically an early, inaccurate blood pressure sensor. They advertise it this way so they dont get sued because of inaccurate measurements.

They will use it to sell more apple watch, dont get sued and they will use user data to develop future sensors better. Lol. Welcome to beta testing by paying the company instead of getting paid. The modern age of savage capitalism.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: citysnaps and Innovati0n
no reason a series 6,7,8 can’t have this feature either. Especially the Ultra 1 which I have. Basically the same sensors… all a money grab
 
Happy that Apple has not restricted its availability to the new watches only. The feature is not yet available in my country. Expecting it to launch soon after getting required clearance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mganu
I already know I have hypertension as it feels like my head is going to explode or my skin is going to burst sometimes. I need to win the lottery and all my cares will go away I think.
 
macduke said:
But I call bullcrap on that because a lot of us who have been diagnosed are managing it. I would love to know if it suddenly detects that my blood pressure is out of whack so I can talk to my doctor about adjusting my prescription. I get a yearly physical examination which covers that, but that one measurement is not always indicative of everyday activity. For that reason I bypassed the question and said I was undiagnosed so hopefully it will let me know if there are issues.

I used to take three measurements at a time about once per month with my Qardio Arm monitor, but at some point in the past year I had to log back in to the app and it wouldn't connect. Their website is a weird ghost town now with the store and support pages being completely busted and no message as to what's going on anywhere that I can find.
Click to expand...
The watch doesn’t take your blood pressure, it infers you may have hypertension. If you already have the issue you might want to get a blood pressure monitor.
 
  • Like
Reactions: azhava, BugeyeSTI, citysnaps and 1 other person
Rachid Vàzquez said:
"Apple Explains How Hypertension Alerts Work on Apple Watch" : no explanation 🤣
Click to expand...
Apple explained but did not provide details.

“Your Apple Watch can analyze data collected by the optical heart sensor and notify you if it detects a pattern of hypertension.”

What that means is Apple scientists and biostatisticians used the collected heart-related data from the past X years. Then using classic statistical analyses like a logistic regression or a newer machine learning method, they used the data to predict group membership — having hypertension or not.

The group membership data comes from collaborative studies with various universities or the data that people are sharing with Apple that would include whether or not they have hypertension.

It’s possible that they’ve already published some of the methods, although I have not looked.
 
  • Love
Reactions: citysnaps
Digitalweddings said:
Apple warns that not all people with hypertension will receive a notification, and the feature is not meant to diagnose, treat, or aid in the management of hypertension.

So basicly useless, same as the sleep apnea and body temperature “detection”. Smoke and mirrors marketing. Reminds me of the emojis every year. We need real ground breaking innovation and accurate health sensors, and one would like to think that Aplle would lead in this field, but they are not. It will surely come one day. My older Apple watch is the only Apple product that I have no intention to upgrade anytime soon.
Click to expand...

No not useless. It’s to indicate there may be a problem and you should get it checked by a doctor. It could save lives.
 
  • Like
Reactions: neuropsychguy and citysnaps
macduke said:
But I call bullcrap on that because a lot of us who have been diagnosed are managing it. I would love to know if it suddenly detects that my blood pressure is out of whack so I can talk to my doctor about adjusting my prescription. I get a yearly physical examination which covers that, but that one measurement is not always indicative of everyday activity. For that reason I bypassed the question and said I was undiagnosed so hopefully it will let me know if there are issues.

I used to take three measurements at a time about once per month with my Qardio Arm monitor, but at some point in the past year I had to log back in to the app and it wouldn't connect. Their website is a weird ghost town now with the store and support pages being completely busted and no message as to what's going on anywhere that I can find.
Click to expand...
You can call bullcrap on it all you want, but it won’t change the fact that my statement is correct.
 
Digitalweddings said:
Apple warns that not all people with hypertension will receive a notification, and the feature is not meant to diagnose, treat, or aid in the management of hypertension.

So basicly useless, same as the sleep apnea and body temperature “detection”. Smoke and mirrors marketing. Reminds me of the emojis every year. We need real ground breaking innovation and accurate health sensors, and one would like to think that Aplle would lead in this field, but they are not. It will surely come one day. My older Apple watch is the only Apple product that I have no intention to upgrade anytime soon.
Click to expand...

Not useless. This is a standard notice when it comes to ANYTHING tech/health related. NOTHING is 100% accurate. That's why models and tests have room for error. These tools are beneficial for those that are unaware of hypertension and can get notification to check on it and take steps to alleviate it. Personally, I wish I had it sooner. I lived for years with high blood pressure and not a single doctor told me it was an issue until mine spiked super high and resulted in an emergency room visit. In the end it wan't that high (to me it was). After that, steps were taken to begin medicine to normalize my BP. Things have been much better since.

So yeah, for some it may not work, some may already be aware. It's for those that aren't and should probably know. Just becasue you don't see a benefit, doesn't mean there is none for someone else.
 
segfaultdotorg said:
This is an extremely radical departure for Apple. Normally, features like satellite SOS and the 80% charge limit require you to buy a new device instead of continuing to use your old device, despite the old device being 100% hardware capable of implementing the new feature.

ETA: "Older devices" meaning the iWatch 9 or newer, which is only two years old.
Click to expand...
It's not a departure. Apple adds features all the time to older devices -- many through new versions of iOS.

However, some particular features are limited to having specific hardware that older devices do not always have. That blog post and the previous post do not confirm that older iPhones are 100% capable of the satellite SOS features.

The author stated: "In technical terms it is my understanding that the Globalstar constellation has long had an extra 10 megabits-per-second of Block 53 bandwidth that has gone generally unused but available to a specific Qualcomm chipset. This strongly implies that such satellite capability wouldn’t be limited to the iPhone 14 but has probably been there all along for any phones using that chipset. I might argue that any iPhone could be satellite-upgraded with only a firmware change, which of course is totally under Apple’s control."

That's not confirming iPhones are 100% capable of satellite SOS features, that's guessing that they might be. However, even if the chipsets used allow connectivity, for the feature to work, antennas need to be designed in a specific way.

Take those blog posts with a huge grain of salt. The author stated (this is in 2022): "Apple will shortly enter the satellite business by acquiring GlobalStar and its 24 satellites."

Apple did not. Apple is still just partnering with them, although has invested >1 billion with them.
 
I was under the impression this was going to be for people with hypertension already too. And it would monitor throughout the day for any drastic spikes in blood pressure if I forgot to take my meds, etc. The way they’re doing it is disappointing and basically pointless for me.
 
My guess is that Apple will combine readings from the Watch with BP measurements from an external cuff, data being from BT or manually entered, to try to develop a way to give on watch BP (range?) readings depending on how sensitive the Watch sensors are.
 
dukebound85 said:
yet I would like to see if any medication is working without the anxiety associated with getting dedicated readings done
Click to expand...
But it's not taking actual blood pressure readings. It's apparently correlating data from the existing sensors with studies to postulate that you may have hypertension and should get checked. And that's after 30 days of data collection, not any on-the-spot reading. It's not like the ECG, Heart Rate or Blood Oxygen functions where you can take a reading any time you want to, because the watch isn't capable of that.
 
Octavius8 said:
S6 sensors are basically the same as s9, why not support it?. Oh, sure,planned obsolescence to make us buy a "new bit the same" device.
AW is lagging in functions tremendously: no NFC for simple doors, no body-battery index, etc. the experience is ok, just feels stuck in the last 5 years. This indicator of trend is a little lame to be honest.
Click to expand...


It uses the neural engine.
 
This appears to be similar to the stability notification you receive when your phone detects the potential for falls.

I recall receiving those notifications and becoming furious, leading me to turn them off. I was incredulous that Apple could inform me of my impending fall or instability. However, approximately six to eight months later, my lower limbs would periodically swell, making walking extremely challenging. After two years of trial and error, my doctor and I discovered that my hypertension medication was the root cause of all my issues. Once we adjusted my medication, I felt like myself again. (For those curious, I was taking Amlodipine.)

I imagine many individuals will experience a similar situation, receiving a hypertension notification and subsequently going into denial, resulting in anger towards Apple. However, instead of dismissing the notification, it’s crucial to consult a doctor to ensure that you don’t have a hypertension issue. The last thing you want is to be burdened with taking blood pressure medications that can have numerous side effects.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Howard2k and BrianM_CAN
Caviar_X said:
So I’ve been diagnosed so apple is saying don’t buy it?
Click to expand...

If you tell it you've been diagnosed with hypertension, it won't enable the feature. I suppose they figure if you have been diagnosed with hypertension, there's no use in repeatedly telling you that.
 
Entilzha said:
This is still not meant for you, sadly. These readings aren’t accurate to the point of actual measurements and are not as reliable as an actual blood pressure cuff.
Click to expand...

Yep. Get a bluetooth cuff. I've seen them as low as $20. Apple has added an option in the Health app to give you a daily reminder to take your blood pressure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrianM_CAN
available in 153 countries (out of 195)
Canada isn't on the list - verified when I went to enable it and can't. (yet, likely requires Health Canada approval which will take a while)
as others have mentioned not in Japan either.
I'm too lazy right now to go through the lists to see the other 40 countries it isn't enabled in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Howard2k
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back