Apple watch wireless radios - health effects

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Level 1

4 points

Apple watch wireless radios - health effects

Hi all - I am using Apple Watch and love it. One concern that keeps bothering me is having active bluetooth (and wifi?) wireless radios on my body 16 hours a day, and the possible health impacts of such exposure. I know that cell phone studies (and cell phones have more powerful radios) are inconclusive, but you don't keep cell phones at your body (or at least have an option not to) 16 hours a day.

Question: how frequently and how much Apple Watch radio is active during normal use? My understanding it has to be active pretty much all the time, so it can receive notifications, phone calls, from iPhone, etc?

Any other data on any possible Apple Watch radiation/health effects? The closest info I've found was at

http://www.iphonetricks.org/apple-watch-sar-values-for-rf-exposure/

As a suggestion, a low radio mode, i.e. data synced to watch once an hour and/or the radio is active only when you interact with the watch, would be most welcome, even if it means no realtime notifications.

Posted on Sep 11, 2015 2:28 PM

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Answer 1

Jonathan UK

Level 10

164,357 points

Sep 11, 2015 3:43 PM in response to sdobr

Hi

Should you wish to temporarily disable both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on Apple Watch, you can enable Airplane Mode (swipe up on the watch face, swipe to the Settings glance, then tap the Airplane Mode button).

You can send your suggestion (regarding a low radio mode) to Apple here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html

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Answer 2

nick101

Level 5

5,160 points

Sep 12, 2015 11:27 AM in response to sdobr

This has come up before. I've linked to the most useful previous thread, in case it helps you (by "most useful" I mean most information and least abuse 🙂

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7083850

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

158,106 points

Sep 11, 2015 3:01 PM in response to sdobr

I wouldn't characterize the many cell phone studies as "inconclusive" at all. To date, despite numerous studies by several different countries, after decades of cell phone use, no adverse health effects resulting from their use has ever been determined. That's about as conclusive as any study is likely to get.

Having the various Watch radios on your wrist all the time isn't much different from having a cell phone on your person most of the time, as millions of people do, and it's fairly well established that the greatest danger from SAR would be to sensitive organs in your head. As voice calls become supplanted by text messaging, that concern is arguably less than it had been in the past.

Anyone than those living in extremely remote areas routinely expose themselves to electromagnetic radiation in various forms and in far greater amounts than what the Watch is capable of generating. That is not to say some people are not more sensitive to it than others, but those cases are quite rare.

In other words, an Apple Watch should be far down your list of things to worry about.

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Answer 4

deggie

Level 10

167,659 points

Sep 12, 2015 3:18 AM in response to sdobr

WiFi and Bluetooth issues non-ionizing radiation unlike a cell phone radio which is why there is no SARS rating. There is no reputable study showing Bluetooth or WiFi to be harmful.

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