Been yearning for an Apple watch for awhile now (means giving up my Pixel), only to find out today that it doesn't even have the ability to take your body temp! Seriously?? Seems like the MOST basic feature of a biometric device if you ask me
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.
No body temp sensor!
- Thread starter hoodafoo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I’m no medical professional, but I don’t think the wrist is the best place for a body temperature reading?
yep, historically it's been your behind, armpits and the new touches ones use your forehead (if it's not in the sun).
AW can get quite warm to hot when exposed to sun so there would be a lot of false readings ...
Do any smart watches have this feature? Not heard of it myself.
I am a medical doctor and can confirm that you are very much correct about this!
Can you share with us the details of any other smartwatch that measures body temperature ?...... the best that Garmin offer is an estimate based on heart rate during physical activity which is not a true reading and I would suggest of very limited value
I'm sure they can do research to find correlation between the temperature on your wrist and your body temp or hold your watch against your forehead and throw in some legalese like they do with ALL their other sensor claims and say "this product is not meant to be used in place of a REAL medical device"
You guys who are laughing have been programmed (in this case, by Apple) to believe that because the capability is not offered in the product that it's not important because knowing how much oxygen is in my blood is a lot more useful 🙄
You guys who are laughing have been programmed (in this case, by Apple) to believe that because the capability is not offered in the product that it's not important because knowing how much oxygen is in my blood is a lot more useful 🙄
Damn, you really woke up and chose fighting today.
People laughing (at you?) simply know that what's in your head is something that just isn't simple enough in real life; because if it was Apple would already be doing it, and they'd also include the about 19 other sensors that other people think that Apple easily could put in a watch (without sacrificing any other functionality).
Why were you even so dreamy eyed set on an Apple Watch if you didn't even know what it could and couldn't do?
I'm sure its doable if one can think a little outside the box or "think different" 
but its probably not trivial to get it right. There are bunch of wearables out there that claim to do things that they cant actually do eg I bought ASUS watch for my mom bc the claim was it can measure blood pressure but its so inaccurate its useless and I get it most people would just track pressure raising and falling and not rely on exact figures and its not a medical device and yadayadayada but in the end its just marketing bs selling useless features.
but its probably not trivial to get it right. There are bunch of wearables out there that claim to do things that they cant actually do eg I bought ASUS watch for my mom bc the claim was it can measure blood pressure but its so inaccurate its useless and I get it most people would just track pressure raising and falling and not rely on exact figures and its not a medical device and yadayadayada but in the end its just marketing bs selling useless features.I couldn't help but give it a thunk, because it's a fun problem; and I could definitely see it the temp thing done with a surprisingly high degree of accuracy (but you'd still have to present it as higher/lower than normal, so no digits).I'm sure its doable if one can think a little outside the box or "think different"
But I'm still absolutely baffled by how anyone could assume it such a normal thing that they get angry when confronted with reality. Like, seriously, every experience that we have in life tells us that short of penetration you have to go for the forehead to get an idea of a person's core temperature.
Im certainly not laughing ..... but did ask you a simple question to show me another device that has this ? I'd be really interested to see it
Perhaps that's the problem its all about what YOU think rather than considering the bigger picture. Im quite sure that if it was that easy during the current times of detecting Covid symptoms (for fever etc) then Apple, Garmin, samsung etc would have implemented this feature pretty quick as it would potentially be a game changer if it was wholly accurate.
Holding the watch against my forehead, not my cup of tea.
I never said it’s unimportant, I just don’t see how they could make it happen and have it be accurate. As said above, the watch does get warmer when you’re outside in the sun, and when updating. I think it’d be a bigger pain to get inaccurate readings than not having the sensor there in the first place.
Actually, there possibly is a thermometer capability that is linked to the Barometer and used to assist with calibration of it. It would be totally useless to use it for body temperature measurement but I have seen watches with Barometers that allow you to display ambient temperature, the catch being that you have to take them off and attach them to your pack or something for 15 mins before trusting the reading.
If you really want a good Apple device to measure temperature then an enhanced AirPod Pro design with a sensor in that would seem to be a more practical place to add the feature.
If you really want a good Apple device to measure temperature then an enhanced AirPod Pro design with a sensor in that would seem to be a more practical place to add the feature.
I have an Oura ring as well as an AW6. The ring does take your temp, but only at night while you're sleeping and it only gives you a number based on your average, like -0.3 or +1.1. Meaning your body temp either dropped during the night (a key metric to measure your bodies recovery from exercise) or elevated based on what it has determined is your average. It does not say what the actual temp is.
you're holding it wrongHolding the watch against my forehead, not my cup of tea.
Are you suggesting that the actual medical field hasn’t already thought of finding that correlation? It’s an extremely obvious idea...so perhaps that has been looked into over the last 100 years of “modern” medicine and no correlation has been found?
But hey, a tech company can just throw money at stuff and produce magic right? That’s why we’re completely solar powered and have 2000 mile range batteries in EV’s right? 🙄
The temperature of your limbs relative to your body's core temperature is not a fixed relationship. It would be of no value to measure a temperature on your wrist because it would be significantly inaccurate.
Your expectation of basic biometric features for a smartwatch are way off.. I'd love to have an accurate blood pressure measurement but not having that feature didn't stop me from getting the watch. What it does do out ways what it can't do in my opinion.
So is that how you do things? You wait for someone else to do it to give yourself permission to do it yourself? Nice..
What kind of accuracy do they claim with their other sensors? You think it's 100%?Holding the watch against my forehead, not my cup of tea.
I never said it’s unimportant, I just don’t see how they could make it happen and have it be accurate. As said above, the watch does get warmer when you’re outside in the sun, and when updating. I think it’d be a bigger pain to get inaccurate readings than not having the sensor there in the first place.