Apple Watch ECG Feature Receives Final Medical Approval in Japan

[MacLC]

It wouldn't matter where a Japanese market model was activated. The ECG app will not work until the official firmware enabling it is released.

It is possible to buy overseas models here in Japan. I did for my previous Series 2. I purchased it while on a trip home in the USA. The downside of that was that I lost all ability to use Apple Pay locally here in Japan, no SUICA transit support, etc.

Thanks. I live in Japan, too. I got a Series 5 when I finally got fed up of my utterly inaccurate Fitbit.***

It's been great so far but there's no way the ECG has been active. My friend's a doctor who also happens to be an iOS developer on the side. He tried and couldn't get ECG to work on his Series 4. I'm pretty sure if it worked, he'd have been able to make it work. The previous comment you replied to had me confused and you clarified it nicely.


***Using Fitbit made me think I had a hormone imbalance and a sleep problem due to its inaccuracies. I was gaining weight even though I meticulously counted calories and keeping what I thought was a 600 calorie deficit. Then a friend loaned me his Apple Watch. My world changed. I wore both and realized I had a caloric surplus because Fitbit grossly overestimated my caloric burn.
Among other things, Fitbit would show exaggerated caloric burn and several extra flights of stairs climbed when I road a train/subway to work, but failed to measure the stairs I climbed to get to my third floor office (when not taking the elevator). It showed me burning up to 8 calories a minute by shuffling my feet, but only 30 calories burned during an hour of weight lifting. The worst part was that Fitbit offers expensive fitness coaching and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's planned. The more people trust Fitbit, the more they doubt themselves. Then to fix themselves they pay loads of money for Fitbit trainers, ultimately becoming dependent on them to help save themselves. It almost seems like narcissistic gaslighting.

 

[Malus120]

****ing. Finally. I bought my Series 4 in the US so i've been using ECG since pretty much day one but I can't wait to... switch over... to a JP model for proper cellular support without loosing ECG. It's such a great feature and its ridiculous that it took so long but... if there's one thing Japan loves its needless bureaucracy.

 

[MrMaxwell]

C’mon Apple...Australia is waiting! Even New Zealand has been activated!

 

[Roniniku]

Just curious: Is your Apple ID set/linked to another country?

Japanese App Store, region and ID. Wondering if they turned it on last June when Apple got on the approved device list here. Only saw it by chance a while back. Doesn’t show on yours?

 

[Roniniku]

I bought my series 4 here in Japan two years ago and since the ECG app has only just been approved and the firmware update enabling it hasn't been released yet the only way this is true is if the Apple Watch you purchased here in Japan is an overseas model.

As for the news, finally! It's been a long wait.

Bought directly from Apple, activated at my place in Saitama. Japanese ID and region. Not sure why it’s showing on mine and not others but I’m fine with it.

 

[citysnaps]

Still waiting in AUSTRALIA!!!!! APPLE!!!!!!

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT!!!!!
[automerge]1599487712[/automerge]

C’mon Apple...Australia is waiting! Even New Zealand has been activated!

See above.

 

[Roniniku]

Thank god! Ive been waiting for this feature for so long.



I have a jp iphone and jp series 5 and every time i try to activate it (just check a few seconds ago) it says this feature isnt available in my region.

I did nothing to “try to activate it”. One day it wasn’t there and the next it was. Go chat to the guys at the Apple store. They’ve sold iPhones out of the Ginza location that were flashed with Italian and Chinese software packages.

 

[smbu2000]

Still not available for me as well here in Japan on my JP XS Max using my JP series 4 AW.
JP AppleID/region, etc.

Good news. I wonder if I’ll end up upgrading to a series 6 before it’s actually available on my series 4, heh.

 

[Roniniku]

Note the model number showing a Japanese model. Mine is actually a series 4, not 5. Who knows why mine has it, but it does. My iPhone is a JP model 7...activated here, most recent firmware on phone and watch, bought from Apple Japan same as the watch, JP region/store, set to English, on DoCoMo(not that that should make a difference), nothing jailbroken or fiddled with...one day around January, just noticed it was there. Not much more I can tell you. Good luck with yours.

 

[jumpman5678]

My 55B8 updated just fine, but my 65C8 tells me I need to update the app before using it, so I try and screen flashes and that’s it. It doesn’t actually do anything.

 

[jlocker]

I need to upgrade my Apple Watch 0, the original model is still working but the battery is starting to go. I originally thought was a Apple Watch a good investment. And it has been a great investment, would like to have a lot more features which it has on the new Apple Watch 6. Time to use my $100 Apple gift card that I have not used in 4 years waiting for a product that I could use it on. But I am also thinking about new over the ears Apple headphones and Apple tags

 

[nitramluap]

Are you sure? Bicycle Helmets introduced into Australia/NZ with CE approval have to get Australian approval as well, and often takes 18 months. Pro cycling races have to get exemptions when hosting international events.

Oh, don’t get me started on bloody bicycle helmets, the useless ‘testing’ and our insane laws around them!!

It’s a totally different issue, largely to protect locally produced ones. A friend of mine wanted to import some very nice (and high quality) Danish bicycle helmets and had to fork out about $20,000 *per helmet size* to have them tested & ‘approved for use‘ in Australia. The cops know to check for the mostly pointless sticker so they can justify slapping you with an arcane fine.

Motorcycle helmets that are approved in Europe & the USA *are* automatically approved in Australia. It’s all about politics, business & money sadly.

 

[oliversl]

Too sad this feature is only available in certain 1st world countries

 

[BootLoxes]

I did nothing to “try to activate it”. One day it wasn’t there and the next it was. Go chat to the guys at the Apple store. They’ve sold iPhones out of the Ginza location that were flashed with Italian and Chinese software packages.

Checked again this morning. Both watch and phone are jp models and up to date in software.

Also if a phone is flashed with chinese and italian firmwares then they arent true japanese models.

 

[Led-zep]

Oh god here comes the anti Australian Govt comments

Sigh. This is apples fault. They haven’t applied for any approvals whatsoever so the fault rests on their shoulders

You want ecg in Australia, I do too, but the onus is on Apple to go through this process as does every other brand who gets things certified

I’m in the industry and Australia’s process is thorough for a reason to protect consumers, I’d rather that then just approve everything with minimal testing

Eg I worked with a brand who has rolled out baby products that are medically certified via the TGA so I know this process very well

If Apple truly believes their ecg can be proven and certified as a medical device they are the ones that need to apply and show this -> they haven’t so clearly their legal team knows they can’t prove their claims true or pass our rigorous testing process

 

[wbeasley]

?Australia anyone.

The Smart Country lags again. NZ had this years ago...

Our Health Ministers and CMOs too busy playing COVID politics to approve anything like this ;(

 

[bLackjackj]

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT!!!!!

Guys, Its NOT the Australian governemnt!!!

How can the TGA approve something they haven't yet received a request for??? The TGA have already stated numerous times that Apple has yet to approach them! 🙄

 

[Waughy]

C’mon Apple...Australia is waiting! Even New Zealand has been activated!

There was someone on Gumtree offering to enable it after NZ got it. I got mine done, very simple and quick. Only downside was I ended up with some things in my wallet that weren't mine, and a bunch of activity awards that i didn't earn. The wallet was easy to clean up, and I don't track awards, so it didn't bother me that much, as I had ECG working. It's also tied to my account, not the watch, so if I get another one it should work with it too.

 

[citysnaps]

Guys, Its NOT the Australian governemnt!!!

How can the TGA approve something they haven't yet received a request for??? The TGA have already stated numerous times that Apple has yet to approach them! 🙄

Assuming that's true...Are you thinking Apple is just not interested in pursuing the Australian market? And is instead all in with New Zealand?

 

[tivoboy]

Delete

 

[Roniniku]

Checked again this morning. Both watch and phone are jp models and up to date in software.

Also if a phone is flashed with chinese and italian firmwares then they arent true japanese models.

That's the point. Almost all iPhones arrive in Japan "clean" and have software flashed onto them and are packaged in Chiba. This is obviously supposed to be with the Japanese software package but it has happened where software from other countries has been loaded. I assume this would also change the model number designation. Who knows.

 

[insomniac86]

Assuming that's true...Are you thinking Apple is just not interested in pursuing the Australian market? And is instead all in with New Zealand?

Perhaps the truth is that the Apple Watch’s ECG function is more gimmicky and would fail the review process. Apple wouldn’t want the media attention that there ECG isn’t up to scratch hence they did not want to apply for the review process.

 

[bLackjackj]

There was someone on Gumtree offering to enable it after NZ got it. I got mine done, very simple and quick. Only downside was I ended up with some things in my wallet that weren't mine, and a bunch of activity awards that i didn't earn. The wallet was easy to clean up, and I don't track awards, so it didn't bother me that much, as I had ECG working. It's also tied to my account, not the watch, so if I get another one it should work with it too.

Its VERY easy to get the ECG onto the watch, but is it cellular?

 

[Ubuntu]

I live in Japan, have a series 5 I bought here and the ECG app has been live since at least around the new year. It might have just gained official approval but it's been turned on for months.

Indeed, I bought my watch in Japan so couldn’t use the ECG app in the UK until some months ago all of a sudden.

 

[PSeg90]

The ECG only works like half the time for me. All the other times it stops and tells me that I wasn't completely still for the full 30 seconds. Has there been any update to the ECG feature at all since it was initially released?