Call it what you will, I believe that that specific sensor is still years away.
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Apple Watch Likely to Gain Blood Pressure, Blood Glucose, and Blood Alcohol Monitoring
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I currently have the Apple Watch Series 4, and would definitely upgrade should they add the ability to monitor blood pressure, and that it’s shown to be reasonably accurate, on par with what is measured in a doctor’s office.
We are going to try the "knock some common sense" into corporate safety first and see how that goes. Many of us older folks are on BP pills, have blood sugar issues, etc... I think the benefits of the health benefits of the watch are tremendous. Driving a car to work is far more dangerous than wearing a watch at my place of employment.
Blood alcohol content sounds like a legal/PR nightmare.
They can put up all the disclaimers they like about it being an estimate, but some idiot is gonna get caught drunk driving and use it as an excuse at the first opportunity: My Apple Watch said I was ok to drive!
To the media outlets and public at large, it doesn't matter if they're lying or not.
They can put up all the disclaimers they like about it being an estimate, but some idiot is gonna get caught drunk driving and use it as an excuse at the first opportunity: My Apple Watch said I was ok to drive!
To the media outlets and public at large, it doesn't matter if they're lying or not.
Infrared light sees all, apparently.
Nemaura:
So, 1) no peer review, 2) sample group of just 25 (apparently no one without diabetes was invited at all?), 3) deviations of about 30% in about 90% of the cases.
Diamontech:
"A total of 59 healthy persons and 41 diabetics between the age of 18 to over 70 years participated in the study. The participants were asked to attend the measurement fasting, with a low blood glucose level. During the test period, blood glucose was increased with a glucose-containing drink for healthy volunteers. For diabetes patients, the usual increase in blood glucose after a meal was used. This ensured that measurement results were available for both, low and high blood glucose levels. DiaMonTech's non-invasive measurement delivered accurate measurements over the entire measuring range from about 50 mg/dL to over 350 mg/dL."
So, 1) no peer review, 2) small sample group, 3) extremely specific scenario.
…it's a start, I guess.
Siri: Your blood alcohol is 0.12 percent and it’s 3AM. Are you sure you want to make that call right now? Perhaps you should sleep it off.
FALSE. Samsung's Watch 4 being released this summer will have these same features.
If Samsung makes full use of it's spectrometer this time then the Watch 4 will be able to do even more.
Ha thats a feature where maybe I prefer not to know 😂
I suspect the first iteration of this will be measure something like 'over this day/week, your mean blood alcohol/glucose was X/Y'. That would remove any ability to use it to judge whether you could drive a car, or adjust your insulin, but still might give people data on how much the eat/drink over a day/week.
Don't forget the inevitable slew of lawsuits from the many patent holders and medical equipment companies who will see this as Apple invading their market space.
Lawyers all over East Texas will be ordering extra supplies of legal pads ASAP.
I've been a Type 1 since the age of one. In seventh grade, I "invented" the watch that could measure my blood sugar. Mind you, I had absolutely no idea how something like that could be done. But if Apple brings this to the market, I'm totally claiming credit for the idea. ;-) As for how long ago that was, I'm 48 now.
Kidding aside, I'm keenly interested. FDA approval won't be needed for blood glucose readings as long as they don't market it as a "replacement for finger pricking" blood tests. They can offer all sorts of legal "outs" by saying things such as, "Owners are discouraged from using this watch to treat their diabetes. Please continue to follow your doctor's advice." This, again, just for blood glucose testing. Not sure how it applies to the others.
My challenge at this point is my awful spatial awareness. I've destroyed countless numbers of watches because I think my arm is past the corner I've just walked around (or the cabinet I've just walked around, or...) and BAM! I smack my watch into the aforementioned wall, cabinet, etc. I wear a Casio G-Shock now, and have for several years. If I screw up and hit a wall with it, it goes through the wall. I'd just hate to buy an expensive Apple watch and nuke it due to my clumsiness.
Kidding aside, I'm keenly interested. FDA approval won't be needed for blood glucose readings as long as they don't market it as a "replacement for finger pricking" blood tests. They can offer all sorts of legal "outs" by saying things such as, "Owners are discouraged from using this watch to treat their diabetes. Please continue to follow your doctor's advice." This, again, just for blood glucose testing. Not sure how it applies to the others.
My challenge at this point is my awful spatial awareness. I've destroyed countless numbers of watches because I think my arm is past the corner I've just walked around (or the cabinet I've just walked around, or...) and BAM! I smack my watch into the aforementioned wall, cabinet, etc. I wear a Casio G-Shock now, and have for several years. If I screw up and hit a wall with it, it goes through the wall. I'd just hate to buy an expensive Apple watch and nuke it due to my clumsiness.
You mean like the O2 sensor, which is medically useless but which is still a popular selling feature?
I don't drink alcoholic beverages, but I'll go back to my teen years self and happily test it LOL.
FDA and the rest of the world's regulatory bodies. Australia only just got ECG on the last update.
Maybe. Could be good enough as a “hey, you might be diabetic” measure.
I do not believe they have a functional blood glucose sensor in a watch. The entire industry has been looking for a non invasive blood glucose monitor for diabetics for devices that cost north of $5000. There is no way Apple has that ready for a watch in 2021 or 2022 or 2023.
Blood pressure would have to work with a modified strap or such. I can't see this as a regular feature of the watch for 2021 either although it would be quite useful for many people. more useful that a O2 or a Glucose sensor.
Blood alcohol would be more of a gimmick. I could see them adding it to the sensors but in terms of true benefit for health it's limited.
Also, I think it would be hilarious when the police takes your watch in a traffic stop and arrests you for a DUI. I think the people who would need a blood alcohol sensor are exactly the one's who would disable it.
Blood pressure would have to work with a modified strap or such. I can't see this as a regular feature of the watch for 2021 either although it would be quite useful for many people. more useful that a O2 or a Glucose sensor.
Blood alcohol would be more of a gimmick. I could see them adding it to the sensors but in terms of true benefit for health it's limited.
Also, I think it would be hilarious when the police takes your watch in a traffic stop and arrests you for a DUI. I think the people who would need a blood alcohol sensor are exactly the one's who would disable it.
I just hope these features get enabled internationally. Right now, a series 6 AW in my country is not much different than the older watches since many of the health features are not enabled. I know there are regulations, and some countries like mine are ridiculously behind in this.
Yes correct, but it shows that the sensor evolution is able to do the job. There are also some other medical companies that work on such devices. I think Apple showed that they have the expertise to put sensors with high accuracy into their Apple Watch. Other brands like Samsung or FitBit have also good working ECGs, but the one inside the Apple Watch is considered to be one of the best or actually the best (in smartwatches). I have a strong belief that we can see the realization of these rumors within the next few years.
Blood Pressure: Quite possible Apple has this in place for 2021. Could be done with the Apple Watch strap tightening. We've already seen filings for this on MacRumors.
Blood Alcohol: Could be done by breathing onto a sensor rather than infra red.
Blood Glucose: The trickier one which would need infrared. Even if they have this ready now it could take another 2 years going through FDA/global regulation.
Blood Alcohol: Could be done by breathing onto a sensor rather than infra red.
Blood Glucose: The trickier one which would need infrared. Even if they have this ready now it could take another 2 years going through FDA/global regulation.
It already started in some countries, I got a Apple watch 6 from my health insurance, I did pay for it but I will get the money back if I do exercise.
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I mean, I’m not close to my heart stopping on a frequent basis, but the heart rate monitor is still nice for tracking. And besides, I would wager that most people have no ideas what their blood alcohol level is after a few drinks, so this would be novel data for them. Plus you could monitor the after effects on your health, like quality of sleep for the next few nights, and the effect it has on exercise.
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i'm so getting this for my grandpa, if true. honestly i've been waiting for a while for this to happen, but it still hasn't. there was some article here a little while back, where they were talking about apple possibly working on separate devices that would sync up with the apple watch to do this — i think this would be an ideal scenario, 'cause honestly, a band that would take your blood pressure would be quite fragile and cost an arm and a leg...