- So after a few months of waiting,
Apple has finally enabled the ECG feature
on the Apple Watch Series 4.
Which is something I've been really looking forward to
and super excited about
since I got the watch when it came out
so I wanted to give you a very quick overview
of what the ECG functionality is,
how it works, and how well it works,
at least in my experience with it so far.
So the main point of note is that the Apple Watch Series 4
is now the first direct to consumer device
with ECG functionality.
Which basically just means that it measures the rhythm
of your heart and your heartbeat
and it's a little bit different
than just measuring your beats per minute
which the Apple Watch has done since version one
and lots of other different fitness trackers
and devices do as well,
and in order to enable the functionality
you need to make sure that your watch
and you iPhone are updated to the most recent versions
of iOS and watchOS and once you do that
and you open up the ECG app on your watch for the first time
or the ECG portion of the Apple Health app
for the first time,
you're gonna be bombarded with a bunch of legal
and informational notices.
The legal notices really make it clear
that this is not meant to be a diagnostic feature,
it's not meant to replace a visit to a doctor,
it's not meant to override a doctor's opinion,
it's just a monitoring tool.
And then the information that they give you
just explains what an ECG is,
how to interpret what it's looking for,
and clearly I'm not a medical expert
but the ECG in the watch puts your heart rhythm
into two categories, either sinus rhythm
or AFib and sinus rhythm is normal,
AFib means there's an irregularity
and you should see your doctor to see what that is.
And the Apple Watch has always monitored
your heart rate regularly but to do the ECG functionality
it's actually really simple.
There's now a new ECG icon, you just open it up
and then you just place your finger
on the crown of the watch for 30 seconds,
it monitors your heart and then gives you the results
and also sends them to your iPhone to store and to analyze.
So it's a really simple, really fluid easy to use feature
as you're using the ECG function
you'll also notice that it warns you right on the screen
that Apple watch never checks for heart attacks
so I guess that means
if you think that you're having a heart attack,
don't open an app on your watch,
instead call the ambulance
because you're having a heart attack.
And another cool feature is that this lets you
communicate with your doctor more effectively
because it allows you to export the information
from your iPhone as a PDF that you can share
with you physicians so it's not the thing
where the doctor only has the results
that they have when you're in the office with them,
but they can see throughout your daily life
normally over a long period of time
what your health is like
and that's a great way to get more accurate information
and probably better health treatment.
So all in all, the ECG functionality
was one of the main features
that set the Apple Watch Series 4
apart from the previous versions
and until now it wasn't available.
So now that it is available to me
it makes it really clear that the Apple Watch Series 4
is definitely an A plus, must get device
and if you're trying to decide
should I get the Series 4 or the Series 3
'cause it's a little cheaper now,
I would definitely lean towards the Series 4
because in the several months that I've been using it
I'm super impressed with it.
Just a couple other side notes,
the longest that I've worn the watch continuously so far
is 22 hours and by the end of that period
it was at 50% battery,
which I think is incredible.
I also wanna give credit to Blackcat71
who asked a question on my Apple Watch Series 4 review video
where he asked if this update
improved the raise to speak functionality
which honestly I hadn't even been using
because it was so unreliable
and with this update the raise to speak function
does work a lot more reliably.
The whole point with that
is you don't have to push any buttons
or use any trigger words,
you just raise the watch, ask Siri a question
and she's supposed to respond right away.
What's the weather?
- [Siri] Nice weather coming up today.
Up to 71 degrees.
- There you go.
And it seems to work pretty well.
Tell me a joke.
- [Siri] What did Apple Watch do after a good meal?
It back four seconds.
- Her jokes a mostly Apple Watch based
but maybe they'll broaden that with the future update.
So the raise to speak functionality does actually work now
and you can use it.
The only downside is it's still Siri
and Siri is really limited.
So to wrap up I think this is a clear picture
of where Apple is trying to position the Apple Watch
in the market and where they're trying to dominate
the health-based, wearable, technological device area
and I think that that's really smart
and I also think that they're doing an incredible job of it
and again this is the first direct to consumer device
that has ECG functionality.
I'm sure we will see more coming out from other companies
and other devices but I think it's a really cool way
to kind of look ahead and see where things are going.
I recently stumbled across an old saying
that said something like, good health is a crown
that only the sick can see.
I think that that is really true
because we've all had some kind of sickness and injury
in our lives and whether that's been really serious
or just something like a cold or the flu,
if you have good health you tend to take it for granted
and it's not until something goes wrong
that you really start to appreciate how great it is
to just be healthy and anything you can do
to help maintain and protect that health
I think is a really valuable investment
and the fact that it's just one feature
added on top of a device that already does a whole bunch
of other useful stuff is really really cool.
So I hope this is a helpful look at this feature
that a lot of us have been waiting for for a long time,
let me know if you have any questions
about the ECG functionality of the Apple Watch Series 4
and until then, I will see you next time.
(playful music)