Roger Fingas
The Apple Watch can, and does, save lives. Apple has shared a pair of stories about how it has done so on YouTube.
The first video is over 4 minutes long and tells the stories of several people — namely a man with blood clots, a kitesurfer who used his Watch to call his son, a 13-year-old rushed to the hospital for a spiking heart rate, and a mother who called 911 when she and her child were trapped in a car crash. The second is only a minute and 31 seconds, but focuses exclusively on Michael Jackson, a person with cerebral palsy whose Watch indirectly alerted him to sepsis.
Both clips were released on the same day as watchOS 5.1.2, which adds long-promised electrocardiogram features for the Apple Watch Series 4. By opening the ECG app and holding a finger on the digital crown, users can check for signs of atrial fibrillation. For now the app is only available in the U.S., but it should come elsewhere with regulatory approval.
All Watches from the Series 1 onward now have access to irregular rhythm notifications, which depend only on having an optical heart rate sensor.
Apple privately provided clips of from its "Real Stories" marketing to CBS ahead of time to support an interview with COO Jeff Williams.
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3 Comments
What a wonderful gift Apple has given these people (and the rest of us). Android will undoubtably copy these features at some point, but without Apple that might never have happened ... since there’s no profit in it.
Apple should also share real stories of people received hand physiotherapy and surgery after using iPhone iPad and Apple Watch.
These are real stories and meaningful. Even the second one on sepsis -- which is a deceptively serious condition where the body begins to run out of control as it responds to an assault (mostly infection).
But there is another side to the Apple Watch -- where, by encouraging and supporting exercise and activity, it may be helping many, many thousands avoid such health emergencies to begin with. Basically: if you live the Standard American Lifestyle you are probably going to eventually contract one of the Standard American Diseases: Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, etc.... The Apple Watch is helping people avoid those debilitating conditions.