Health Canada has cleared the ECG app and irregular heart rhythm notifications on the Apple Watch Series 4, suggesting that both features will make their much-anticipated debut in Canada in the near future.
As spotted by the blog iPhone in Canada and confirmed by MacRumors, Health Canada issued active licenses for both features on May 16. The regulatory agency classifies the Apple Watch Series 4 as a Class II medical device, placing it in a "low-to-medium risk" category alongside the likes of contact lenses.
To view the licenses, navigate to the Health Canada search page and search for Apple based on company name.
With clearance from Health Canada, Apple could expand the ECG app to Canada in either watchOS 5.3 or watchOS 6, the latter of which should be unveiled at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference next month.
Apple Watch Series 4 users can generate an ECG waveform in just 30 seconds by placing their finger on the Digital Crown.
Electrodes built into the Digital Crown and the back crystal work together with the ECG app to read your heart's electrical signals. Simply touch the Digital Crown to generate an ECG waveform in just 30 seconds. The ECG app can indicate whether your heart rhythm shows signs of atrial fibrillation — a serious form of irregular heart rhythm — or sinus rhythm, which means your heart is beating in a normal pattern.
Health Canada indicated several times via twitter replies, and as recently as in March 2019, that it had not received an application from Apple. So unless that's a lie, who knows.
Not necessarily a lie at all, but as in most bureaucracies, sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. The PR folks who are hired to manage the Twitter account are unlikely to be aware of confidential regulatory filings, I would think.
At some point in the decades to come, maybe people will stop believing everything they read on the Internet :eek: But probably not. As long as it confirms their own opinion, many are eager to believe anything they read. If it’s the truth—but they don’t like it—it’s “fake news”.
I'm 46 and pending surgery for a major heart condition. This is one of the reasons I decided to spring for the 4 when I did. The heart rate monitor, EKG, and fall detection were major selling points for me. I mean, I love the tech (Apple pay, using the watch for texts, the info you can get from the on screen complications, etc) but this was what put me over the edge.
It's not the same as a doctor visit, but a 1 lead EKG every day is still more monitoring than my condition would get short of being held in a hospital environment. And if I go down, I know someone is coming as it reports my location) to my wife, and a friend. I use the app to list my medical condition and medications (my heart is half of it, my liver is the other). These were big selling points.
Sometimes I get tachycardia, and usually it passes. It's nice to be able to check and inform my cardiologist of what happened along with a current BP reading. This way, I know I'm not gonna plotz before I get surgery.
Sometimes I get tachycardia, and usually it passes. It's nice to be able to check and inform my cardiologist of what happened along with a current BP reading. This way, I know I'm not gonna plotz before I get surgery.
Plus you can export a PDF of your ECG reading to show your doctor. I know it's nowhere near as good as the readouts from a doctor's office but it's a heck of a lot better than having nothing but your verbal description of how you felt.
Apple CEO Tim Cook "secretly" signed an agreement worth more than $275 billion with Chinese officials, promising that Apple would help to develop China's economy and technological capabilities, The Information reports.
In an extensive paywalled report based on interviews and purported internal Apple documents, The Information revealed that Tim Cook personally forged a five-year agreement...
Apple is working on five new Macs for launch in 2022, including a new version of the entry-level MacBook Pro, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that he expects Apple to launch five new Macs in 2022, including: A high-end iMac with Apple silicon to sit above the 24-inch iMac in the lineup
A significant MacBook Air...
Apple is planning an entire revamp of its Apple Watch lineup for 2022, including an update to the Apple Watch SE and a new Apple Watch with a rugged design aimed at sports athletes, according to respected Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman.
Writing in the latest installment of his Power On newsletter, Gurman said that for 2022, alongside the Apple Watch Series 8, Apple is planning an update to ...
Tuesday December 7, 2021 9:12 pm PST by Juli Clover
With the launch of iOS 15.2, Apple is adding a new "Parts and Service History" section to the Settings app that will let users see the service history of their iPhones and confirm that components used for repairs are genuine.
As outlined in a new support document, iPhone users who have iOS 15.2 or later installed can go to Settings > General > About to access Parts and Service History. The...
Tuesday December 7, 2021 10:25 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today provided the release candidate version of iOS 15.2 to developers for testing purposes, and in the release notes, Apple says that the new Apple Music Voice Plan is set to launch alongside the update.
Introduced in October, the Voice Plan is a new tier for Apple Music that is priced more affordably than a standard Apple Music plan. It's $4.99 instead of $9.99, and is designed...
Tuesday December 7, 2021 10:48 am PST by Juli Clover
macOS Monterey 12.1, which is set to be released to the public in the near future, addresses several significant bugs that Mac users have been complaining about for weeks.
According to Apple's release notes, it fixes a bug that could cause the trackpad to become unresponsive to taps or clicks. We reported on the Tap to Click bug earlier this month after receiving dozens of complaints from Mac...
Monday December 6, 2021 2:02 pm PST by Juli Clover
The SD card reader slot on the new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models is not functioning as expected with some SD cards, according to multiple reports on the MacRumors forums.
In a long complaint thread, MacRumors readers have detailed the issues that they're having with some SD cards, and there seems to be little consistency between reports and affected SD cards. Some SD cards crash and...
Amazon today has Apple's AirPods Pro with MagSafe Charging Case for $169.99 and delivery before Christmas Day, down from an original price of $249.00. This is $10 off from the rock bottom $159.99 price tag we tracked on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and still a great deal for anyone shopping this holiday season.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and...
Tuesday December 7, 2021 9:37 am PST by Juli Clover
Razer today announced the launch of the Razer Phone Cooler Chroma, a MagSafe-compatible fan that's designed to attach to the back of an iPhone.
While there's a MagSafe version for the iPhone 12 and 13 models, there's also a second version with a clamp design that's meant for Android phones and that would also work with non-MagSafe iPhones.
Razer says that the Phone Cooler Chroma has a...
Top Rated Comments
At some point in the decades to come, maybe people will stop believing everything they read on the Internet :eek: But probably not. As long as it confirms their own opinion, many are eager to believe anything they read. If it’s the truth—but they don’t like it—it’s “fake news”.
It's not the same as a doctor visit, but a 1 lead EKG every day is still more monitoring than my condition would get short of being held in a hospital environment. And if I go down, I know someone is coming as it reports my location) to my wife, and a friend. I use the app to list my medical condition and medications (my heart is half of it, my liver is the other). These were big selling points.
Sometimes I get tachycardia, and usually it passes. It's nice to be able to check and inform my cardiologist of what happened along with a current BP reading. This way, I know I'm not gonna plotz before I get surgery.