Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
'Dear Apple'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It's Japan. It's slightly smaller than California with 3 times the population and they probably have amazing coverage for most of the island. I guess the only other option would be he got within bluetooth range but couldn't find it due to the blizzard and then initiated an SOS(I don't own a iWatch but I believe you can do that)
Have you tracked down a single one, and proven that it's not true? I don't think you have.
Yeah, but no one's forcing any of these companies to make ads about how much good they're doing.
Doing good only for the people who can afford their products, no less.
Let's not be silly, Apple isn't doing these commercials to save anyone's life, they're doing them because they think it'll sell more Watches.
I'm glad for any life saved.
The only thing I take issue with is the self-aggrandising manner in which Apple uses this to sell more products. Not to mention, the actual saving was done be medical professionals, not Apple.
It's truly staggering to see how many people are falling for a multinational corporation doing obvious emotional manipulation in their ads.
I guess whether it’s fantastic or not depends on your country and culture in it. To me and my peers this seems quite tacky and a tad too cheesy but to each their own. It’s great some people benefitted from this tech, but the video is way too over produced and it looks like some cheap soap opera.
I’m one of the many people even in this thread that sent an email like this to apple. My dad has a bad heart. We found out about that for the first time through the watch that started giving Afib notifications. The doctors told us it was very serious and he got an emergency treatment. Since then he’s been rushed to the hospital three times because of watch notifications and had surgery then and there three times.
These kind of stories are real and numerous. They just have to pick some. Why would they fake them when there are obviously so many real ones? Occam’s razor suggests these are real.
This. I absolutely hate it. Buy an Apple Watch or you may not be here next week. I cringe every year in this segment.
My Apple Watch save my life three years ago.
I was at home working in front of the computer when the watch gave me an alert that my heart rate was low. It kept giving me these alerts and I eventually checked my ECG. The watch said that the ECG didn't look normal and recommended that I seek help.
It turned out I had an AV block. After a week in hospital I was fitted with a pacemaker.
The interesting thing is that I had absolutely no symptoms, I was feeling fine. When at the hospital my heart rate went as low as 24 BPM during the night, at that time the hospital staff woke me up to check that I was okay. I was, and I still didn't have any symptoms.
My doctor said that if this hadn't been discovered I would probably have died in my sleep within two weeks. I also checked the Heart Rate Variability in Apple Health, it had statistics about the stability of my heart rate since many years back. I could clearly see that everything was fine until the day when I got the first alert from the watch. This means that my AV block came very suddenly.
Now I feel fine. The pacemaker is doing its thing and I can see from the statistics from the pacemaker that my AV block has improved a lot.
Anyway, that's my story. I've been thinking about sending Apple an email about it but haven't done so.
The image below shows the graph of the HRV. It clearly shows the difference before the AV block, during the block, and after the pacemaker had been fitted.
I was at home working in front of the computer when the watch gave me an alert that my heart rate was low. It kept giving me these alerts and I eventually checked my ECG. The watch said that the ECG didn't look normal and recommended that I seek help.
It turned out I had an AV block. After a week in hospital I was fitted with a pacemaker.
The interesting thing is that I had absolutely no symptoms, I was feeling fine. When at the hospital my heart rate went as low as 24 BPM during the night, at that time the hospital staff woke me up to check that I was okay. I was, and I still didn't have any symptoms.
My doctor said that if this hadn't been discovered I would probably have died in my sleep within two weeks. I also checked the Heart Rate Variability in Apple Health, it had statistics about the stability of my heart rate since many years back. I could clearly see that everything was fine until the day when I got the first alert from the watch. This means that my AV block came very suddenly.
Now I feel fine. The pacemaker is doing its thing and I can see from the statistics from the pacemaker that my AV block has improved a lot.
Anyway, that's my story. I've been thinking about sending Apple an email about it but haven't done so.
The image below shows the graph of the HRV. It clearly shows the difference before the AV block, during the block, and after the pacemaker had been fitted.
I’ve been climbing mountains in Japan for few years now (but obviously never in winter!). Sometimes you know the nearest town is close, you can see it from the top of the mountain. But going there could take almost half a day when the weather is good. However, you may have a rather good network connection even there. It’s not uncommon.
Close to here, the mountain is 1800 m high, but I know of at least 2 antenna towers close to its bottom: at the top the network connection is not great, but it works. And it is not a ski resort, it’s a rather wild area. And almost every year there is a rescue operation to rescue someone who could not get back before it gets dark…
So, for me, this story is easy to believe.
As an ER nurse, I see these stories in real time. For example one cold windy winter an elderly lady slipped on the ice in a parking lot. There wasn't anyone around her to help. Her Apple Watch detected the fall and called an ambulance. I have also seen patients that are alerted about a rapid heart rate and they are not feeling any symptoms. They come to the ER and are in A-Fib. Sometimes patients experience palpitations and they record the ECG on their watch. Then they come in and their heart is in a normal rhythm, but they have recorded the event for the doctor to evaluate. Sometimes people's AppleWatch alerts them of possible a-fib and they don't feel anything. They come in and their heart rate at rest is in the 150's-160's in a-fib.
This device isn't BS. It is real
This device isn't BS. It is real
A few years ago I was just sitting on the couch watching TV and my watch alerted me that my heart rate was over 120. The next time I went to my dr I showed her the alerts I had been getting and she referred me to a cardiologist that had me wear a pendant over a weekend that recorded the heart stuff. After that showed my rate up then I had to start taking meds to get it down along with BP medication and blood thinner. So I reckon that's one instance of it potentially saving my life. The second thing came after the AppleWatch 10 I got last year showed signs of sleep apnea. Once again I shared the results with my doctor and off I go to pick up an at home sleep study and here I am now just waking up and peeling my CPAP mask off my face and with WatchOS 26 beta I have a sleep score of 93🤗
I have MS and some other health issues, and I live alone (with my dog). One of several reasons I initially got an Apple Watch was as a non-embarrassing alternative to the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” device.
Because I’m under 65, or whatever the cutoff is, I had to opt in to Fall Detection, which has worked beautifully for me. Luckily, I’ve always been able to cancel the emergency calls before the timer, but it has triggered with every fall.
I wear it while sleeping and while showering—we all know the bathroom is a deathtrap!—so I just charge it on the fly.
i still find my AW10 thinks I've fallen over too often while gardening if it gets jolted and not a fall.
but probably better to err on the side of overly cautious and asking if you are OK.
but probably better to err on the side of overly cautious and asking if you are OK.
Tim Cook has a public email? That kinda surprises me idk why.
i would love to see more extended stories. these are brilliant. apple should do an apple tv show about this
The Apple Watch genuinely saves lives. I got my mom one for fall detection since she's getting around that age (and has always been clumsy, honestly).
Though, if Tim reallly wanted to make a difference, he'd release an app to make AW work on Android. Kill the market for Galaxy/Pixel/whatever watches and save more lives in one fell swoop.
Though, if Tim reallly wanted to make a difference, he'd release an app to make AW work on Android. Kill the market for Galaxy/Pixel/whatever watches and save more lives in one fell swoop.
Do people contact the companies who make medical devices, implements, drugs and thank them?
This is hideous parasocial behaviour. Where you know so much about the company, you treat it as a friend, a person. But to the company you are just a number, a customer, a no one. They don’t care about you, not really.
These devices and services have tremendous value, but please don’t forget what Apple is. It’s a company.
This is hideous parasocial behaviour. Where you know so much about the company, you treat it as a friend, a person. But to the company you are just a number, a customer, a no one. They don’t care about you, not really.
These devices and services have tremendous value, but please don’t forget what Apple is. It’s a company.