Australian Law is one of the most strict in the world for approving almost anything.
Our strict requirements for electronic devices for example stop all of the homekit smoke detectors from being approved.
We are just a really Nanny State country.
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Apple Watch ECG Feature Likely Coming Soon to Japan and Brazil
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Australian Law is one of the most strict in the world for approving almost anything.
Our strict requirements for electronic devices for example stop all of the homekit smoke detectors from being approved.
We are just a really Nanny State country.
Confirmed? It doesn’t show Japan on the list of watch features posted above for ECG.
I tried to setup the ECG app on my JP series 4 watch and it said “The app is not available in your region.”
(Japan)
Hopefully Apple can turn on the feature sometime soon for JP.
Haha, you had me going there for a minute. Look at you guys pretending Australia is a real country. Next you're going to claim Narnia and Canada are real places too!
I think for medical devices, Australia generally mirrors EU regulations and therefore is relatively straightforward once you get it in the EU. Not only that, Australia and New Zealand regulations are closely harmonized.
It does sound like there's some old fart doctor-civil servant who's holding things up in Australia.
My watch is at 6.2.6 and my iphone is at 13.5.1 and it says that its not available in my region. Is your iphone also japanese?
Apple has included an ECG function in new Apple Watch models since 2018, providing users in select territories with the ability to measure the electrical activity of their heart. Apple now appears to be ready to extend the ECG feature to Brazil and Japan, based on recent government filings.
According to MacOtakara, Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) recently updated its list of registered foreign manufacturers to include Apple as a "certified entity." Apple's inclusion in the list makes no mention of the ECG function, but it's more than likely that Apple's certification relates to the feature found in Apple Watch Series 4 and 5 models.
Apple was registered on March 25, 2020, which 9to5Mac notes was the same day the Brazilian government announced approval of Apple's ECG app. Apple will likely now issue an update to Apple Watch users in the two countries to enable the electrocardiogram feature and irregular heart notifications on their devices.
Apple routinely has to gain approval from government health agencies before marketing the Apple Watch's ECG feature in different countries. Apple won U.S. FDA clearance to promote the function when the Apple Watch Series 4 launched in 2018.
Saudi Arabia was the last country to gain ECG functionality and irregular heart rhythm notifications with the release of watchOS 6.2.5 in May.
Article Link: Apple Watch ECG Feature Likely Coming Soon to Japan and Brazil
It arrived in Brazil in the last update!
I’m running iOS 13.5, my iPhone is bought in Singapore. It came as a surprise last night that I was given the option to install ECG app onto Apple Watch. Not too sure what is the difference that I was able to do so.
Do you really need it? The feature is rarely mentioned in AW forum section. It looks like nobody uses it anyways.How about Australia? I think we are going to be lucky to ever get this feature. Maybe by Apple Watch-27, Australia might get our Apple Watch-4 features enabled.
I guess I need to buy an iPhone in Singapore then. I absolutely hate the fact Apple Japan forces my current iPhone to make a shutter sound every time I shoot photos, despite my having the phone muted. The stupid red tape we need to deal with here in Japan is utterly unacceptable. Bad people do bad things. That should not be allowed to ruin my phone experience.
To all the people discussing the Australian government dragging their feet...
To date Apple has not applied for approval with the relevant body in Australia. Perhaps there have been closed door discussions, but it appears that it is Apple, not the government who is the reason it’s not yet available here.
To date Apple has not applied for approval with the relevant body in Australia. Perhaps there have been closed door discussions, but it appears that it is Apple, not the government who is the reason it’s not yet available here.
I honestly don’t care what they want or don’t want me to do. Clearly, neither I nor any normal person is going to do something so foolish as that. And even though there’s a small problem here in Japan with such things, who is to say there’s not such a similar problem in other countries where they don’t have such draconian restrictions? If I want to shut off the sound of my phone, regardless of reason, I want the power to do that.
Freedom. It’s a simple as that. Ditto for functions that check my heart and keep me living.
Australia's government is ruled by scared old people who support coal mining and big oil, hate renewable energy and feel Electric Cars are evil. It's just bloody outrageous that they can stifle health tech innovation as well. Maybe if Apple donated to the LNP and Scott Morrisons campaign funds we might have a chance! (not sarcasm)
Perhaps Seriously Australian Government?
These things will always have some element of error.
But better a false positive and someone get a checkup than sitting there, unused because someone won't sign off on this.
How many people have been saved because their watch told them something might be up and they saw a doctor? Plenty.
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Current mob are too busy rorting the system for themselves, their families and their mates.
When not letting infected COVID cruise ships into the country to unload without even basic checks and precautions undertaken.
Not having ECG function is just another example of them not getting technology benefits.
We have a COVID tracking app built on the Singapore code that had known issues.
No word yet if they will swap over to the Apple/Google API instead.
Possibly because flat earthers say we don’t exist. This is the only reason I can come up with.
I don’t understand why they can’t even slap a heap of disclosures around it to protect themselves legally if that is the concern. NZ havemany similar laws and set up to us in Australia. Why can’t they just get on with it??? So frustrating.
I don’t understand why they can’t even slap a heap of disclosures around it to protect themselves legally if that is the concern. NZ havemany similar laws and set up to us in Australia. Why can’t they just get on with it??? So frustrating.
Seriously? How weird is that. I had to buy my HomePod mail order from Dick Smith in Australia because Apple still doesn't sell it here in NZ. Yet I got ECG in the last ECG rollout update. Go figure...
EDIT - my S4 Stainless Steele Apple Watch was bought in Australia. Apple seems to use Geo-location for feature enablement. I had problems adding my UK credit cards to Apple Pay. Had to wait for a trip there to add them.
The activation for ECG is verified by checking whether the iPhone is currently connected to a cellular network in one of the activated countries (using the cell phone tower's country code identifier), and that the Watch hardware region code is from an activated region. No GPS is used, and the hardware region code of the Watch doesn't need to match the country code identifier of the cell tower.
Australia and NZ happen to share a single hardware region code ("X") for Apple Watch, so any Watch bought in Australia can already be activated by taking it to any other country that has ECG approved and connecting the paired iPhone to the local phone network (even by just using international roaming).
e.g. buy a Watch in Australia and activate ECG in Hong Kong. Buy a Watch in Canada and activate it in the USA. Buy a Watch from NZ and activate it in Hong Kong.
Bought my Series 5 in Japan, but not there at the moment. Still in a country that doesn’t support this most wanted function. Maybe when I’m back in Japan I can activate it.
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Ok for all the people going boo Australia.
Apple has not applied for this to be registered as a medical device
as someone who has worked in that field here it takes a long time to get approval as authorities here need certainty that there won’t be any blowback by consumers if things go wrong
this has nothing to do with either political party but a very conservative and measured approach to certify any medical device. We don’t take **** like this lightly in australia
so blame Apple for not applying to have it registered.
Also it might not be a viable product that works as an accurate ecg and thus they can’t prove that it works to be certified.
I’d rather our measured and sensible approach than just approving things without proper testing
Apple has not applied for this to be registered as a medical device
as someone who has worked in that field here it takes a long time to get approval as authorities here need certainty that there won’t be any blowback by consumers if things go wrong
this has nothing to do with either political party but a very conservative and measured approach to certify any medical device. We don’t take **** like this lightly in australia
so blame Apple for not applying to have it registered.
Also it might not be a viable product that works as an accurate ecg and thus they can’t prove that it works to be certified.
I’d rather our measured and sensible approach than just approving things without proper testing
To Brazil? Why ? They don’t need healthcare, their president told us everyone is going to die sooner or later. 😆
Maybe you should ask Australian regulators about that 🤷🏻♂️
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And you have proofs about your claims, right?
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So basically all of Europe and US approved it (and called it accurate) but you are saying Australia is saying otherwise...
Pretty credible...
I still don’t get it why Apple is complicating this for what seems to me no apparent reason. Withings ECG watch for example works everywhere in the world and there are several other ECG watches available... Why only Apple requires government approvals?
Unfortunately, not strictly correct based on my experience - international roaming in the UK Jan 2020 - ECG functionality did not work.