Apple Watch Users Report Vitals App Detecting Illness Before Symptoms Appear

[antonrg]

You should have a goal to nomally your sleep, the AW can help you with that. You can also set different schedules for different days of the week.

Yes, I have a goal, and I normally stick to it. But, sometimes I would take a nap (rare ,but it happens) or I could sleep in and wake up much later (also rarely happens), and on both occasions AW failed miserably at detecting that. And I'm using a Series 10, which makes it even worse since it's their latest and greatest etc.

 

[spazzcat]

This is nothing new, the Whoops were detecting covid infections before you knew it. This was published long ago, it's just tracking your data and saying when out of range, apple just cloned whoop.

While it is nothing new there are a lot more AW users than Whoops users.

 

[kagharaht]

To me the Apple Watch is true innovation. I can't wait for more amazing health, wellness and safety features added to it. For me that is key. I don't care about emoji garbage, but then again that's just me vs 99% of the planet. LOL

 

[spazzcat]

Yeah, lack of oximetry really hampers any health app that Apple is promoting at this time. My advice pay the licensing fee. They’re only four years left on Massimo’s patent so pony up the money and let’s go..

If they thought they were going to lose the case they would pay the licensing fees, the other issue is Apple feels their fees are too high.

 

[RodThePlod]

That's great. Now I'll only need to start wearing my AW while I sleep - something I'm a little reluctant to do.

I need to give this another go. I don't normally sleep with my Watch (Series 7), but when the iOS 18/WatchOS upgrades came out last month, I thought I'd give it a go. The Vitals app showed that things were good (for the four or five days I tried it).

But wearing the Watch at night just felt way too uncomfortable to me - my wrist felt warm all the time, and I kept getting the urge to pull the watch off! Which is weird because I wear it all day with no issues...

I'd like to get some insight into my health metrics, though, so I'll give it another try. If that fails, then I guess I'll hold out until I upgrade to a thinner/lighter Watch (Series 10 or the next one...).

 

[spazzcat]

Yes, I have a goal, and I normally stick to it. But, sometimes I would take a nap (rare ,but it happens) or I could sleep in and wake up much later (also rarely happens), and on both occasions AW failed miserably at detecting that. And I'm using a Series 10, which makes it even worse since it's their latest and greatest etc.

There's a really good chance there are way too many patents around auto sleep detection, and Apple just doesn't want to go down that road.

 

[centauratlas]

I’m sick of Apple not bringing back the O2 function. Pay up and settle it in court. Customers want the feature. And I held off on upgrades as a result.

But it’s great to see of true these features working as they do. My series 9 is fun to watch what it’s detecting.

At least some of Masimo's patent's expire in 2028. Hopefully Apple can bring it back before then. I didn't upgrade mine either since it is working fine with the O2. I'm keeping Apple Care on it so that if it needs a new battery, it will be covered.

 

[BrentT]

That's great. Now I'll only need to start wearing my AW while I sleep - something I'm a little reluctant to do.
I think Apple should make this available for everyone as the wrist temperature will also deviate during the day and not only at night. Is this something to collect additional data or am I wrong?

I don't like the feel of my watch for some reason when I am trying to fall asleep. I can't explain why but I find it distracting. My routine is to put the watch on the charger while I sleep because I don't want to be putting it on the charger while I am awake.

 

[centauratlas]

Has there been any news on the blood oxygen sensor support? It seems so odd Apple wouldn't try to appeal this case, or license the patents involved.

I wonder if not enough users have been clamoring for this and the ban hasn't affected sales, so Apple might just be letting it go. Pretty sad if so.

Hi,
They have appealed and there is a parallel court case from what I've read. I'll find a link:

The Legal Dispute Over Apple Watch's Blood Oxygen Sensor Technology | Allen, Dyer, Doppelt + Gilchrist, PA

A significant legal battle has unfolded between Apple and Massimo Corporation regarding patented pulse oximetry technology. Read more here!

allendyer.com

Here’s Apple’s 916-page appeal over the Apple Watch ban

Somehow, CAD drawings are involved.

www.theverge.com

 

[RodThePlod]

I don't like the feel of my watch for some reason when I am trying to fall asleep. I can't explain why but I find it distracting. My routine is to put the watch on the charger while I sleep because I don't want to be putting it on the charger while I am awake.

I found the same. It feels warm, and it's like I'm super-concious of it all of a sudden, even thought I've been wearing it all day!

 

[PerfectChaos]

I’ve known this for a while. There have been multiple times my resting heart rate was higher than normal, and then the next day I realize I’m sick. Pretty cool!

 

[bookcase]

I wore my S9 overnight once. I could get over feeling the alien object around my wrist, which I didn't like, but it was a giant flashlight every time I turned over. Clearly, I need to read the directions on how to prevent this. But I'm also not sure of the point: I already know I'm not a great sleeper, so what would I do with that information?

 

[sflagel]

This is an interesting option but when are you supposed to charge your watch? I need it charged and ready to go for the day first thing in the morning.

Charge it while you shower and get ready. That’s enough.

 

[suchnerve]

Well we are in the worst Covid wave in two years, so…

 

[Craiger]

Vitals started showing something for me two days after I had very obvious symptoms of a head cold.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

That's great. Now I'll only need to start wearing my AW while I sleep - something I'm a little reluctant to do.
I think Apple should make this available for everyone as the wrist temperature will also deviate during the day and not only at night. Is this something to collect additional data or am I wrong?

That might be pretty difficult. It's possible while sleeping because the environment and your activity is consistent, ie you're in your bedroom and you're relatively inactive.

But once you're out of bed, your temperature and heart rate can jump around a lot. For example, if you get into a car, your arm might be resting in the sun causing your temp to appear higher and possibly for a long time, but how would the watch differentiate that?

 

[Apleeseed84]

Is this part of the sleep apnea detection? If so, I am 100% diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea, but my series 10 shows nothing of it.

The detection is only for those who don’t know they have it, if we already have sleep apnea, there’s no point, the app literally reminds us about it. I tried using it but was told it wasn’t worth it

 

[spazzcat]

This is an interesting option but when are you supposed to charge your watch? I need it charged and ready to go for the day first thing in the morning.

It takes about an hour to charge your watch.

 

[Radeon85]

The wrist temperature feature is very handy for the flu, when I had a regular cold in Dec 2022 the watch detected that my wrist temperature was increasing daily and I could see it going up for about two days before the symptoms even started show which was pretty cool. As I got better after a few days you could see the wrist temperature going down daily until it was normal again.

 

[jz0309]

Good to hear, though always sceptical when it comes to Reddit but I’m sure we’ll see more coming…
I look at mine every morning to see the trends

 

[Square-Eyes]

Yes, I have a goal, and I normally stick to it. But, sometimes I would take a nap (rare ,but it happens) or I could sleep in and wake up much later (also rarely happens), and on both occasions AW failed miserably at detecting that. And I'm using a Series 10, which makes it even worse since it's their latest and greatest etc.

Also the failure to distinguish between trying to get to sleep (awake and still), and actually sleeping. I would like to know when I actually fall asleep.

 

[TonyC28]

"My watch knew I wasn't 100% after my COVID and flu jabs as all three vitals (Wrist Temperature, Heart Rate and Respiratory Rate) were outliers and that's how I knew I was not well, amazing tbh."

Unfortunately, the Apple Watch provides no evidence that differences in wrist temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate are due to the Covid vaccination ... heart rate and respiratory rate are things that are influenced by everything and nothing, 24/7. Unless you have a serious disease, you should rely on your common sense and not on the recordings of a measuring device (Apple Watch).

It seems that an Apple Watch is a wonderful motivator for hypochondriacs. 😂

We don’t have to ignore available data though, do we? I’ve been wearing an Apple Watch every day since it was released. I have gotten a warning about my heart rate/rhythm (I can’t recall the exact alert) exactly one time, and it was within 12 hours or so of getting a vaccine to prevent a commonly known illness. Sometimes I believe in coincidences, sometimes I don’t.

 

[sflagel]

If you take Zinc just at the onset of a Cold, you really reduce the symptoms and shorten it. So getting a warning before you can feel the Cold can be a Godsent for sufferers like me.

 

[DailySlow]

Looking at a Gonzo watch I use sparingly - hey, and at least 10 days battery life. Anyway - blood oxygen reads away...Apple needs to settle this right away. FYI info this is synced maybe once a day from an app and then the app is shut down so stuff doesn't bleed out to destinations unknown. No contact/messages or phone calls are turned on but I need that health data - steps, blood O2, sleep.

 

[robertosh]

"I started using Vitals when it first came out on the beta and since then I've gotten sick about twice. Both times it knew a couple days in advance and I hadn't felt anything wrong."

Maybe was sick because of the app being Beta?