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.
Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development.
Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag.
Timing
Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false.
The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
Wednesday November 13, 2024 2:09 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 next month, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well....
Monday November 18, 2024 1:07 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
In a research note with Hong Kong-based investment bank Haitong today, obtained by MacRumors, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said he agrees with a recent rumor claiming that the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" will be around 6mm thick.
"We agreed with the recent chatter of an 6mm thickness ultra-slim design of the iPhone 17 Slim model," he wrote.
If that measurement proves to be accurate, there would be ...
Sunday November 17, 2024 12:33 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
It appears that Apple is discontinuing the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter that it released alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016.
The adapter was recently listed as "sold out" on Apple's online store in the U.S. and most other countries, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The adapter remains available from Apple in only a handful of countries, such as...
Sunday November 17, 2024 5:27 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Between around 2009 and 2011, it was repeatedly rumored that Apple would be releasing a TV, but that obviously never happened.
Now, a decade-and-a-half later, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the idea is back on the table.
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman briefly mentioned that Apple has been "evaluating" the "idea of making an Apple-branded TV set." He did not provide any further...
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.
