How accurate is the heart rate monitor

Hope this thread isn’t too old.

Julie - I’m intrigued by the Apple product “in my purse” - is there a secret Apple self protection stun gun app that’s still in beta? Maybe a key chain fob that emits a disabling non-lethal beam? (To be serious - it might not be a half bad idea).

On the serious side - I just got my first watch. My main purpose starting out is to be doing post-radiation damage cardiac rehab and I am already seeing some changes/improvement in resting HR and better pacing of activity.

What I would love is a way to eliminate the HR outliers - which I know are generally artifact related to fit - without having to tediously go through the summaries in the Health app to delete them. They distort the overall picture of my progress (and I have determined it is not because of PVCs or missed beats). I’m still a long way from a resting HR below 90 - and impossible during a workout.

Being able to set ”ignore above/below x” would be helpful - or recording them as a “null” so they’re not included in the summaries (but still serve as flags to follow up on if something like missed beats or SVT is the cause) should not be difficult to program.

Patti in AZ

Consumer Resports tested the heart rate sensor against their highest-rated dedicated heart rate monitor and found "no significant differences" between their readings.

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/04/27/apple-watch-performs-well-in-consumer-re ports-tests/

Apple advises that, if you experience inconsistent readings, you connect your watch wirelessly to an external heart rate monitor (eg a Bluetooth chest strap). Inconsistent readings are possible for a number of reasons including wrist tattoos, poor fit, cold weather and irregular movements - see the link below for more details:

Your heart rate: Your heart rate. What it means, and where on Apple Watch you’ll find it. - Apple Support

Note also that Apple Watch, the heart rate sensor and the included Apple Watch apps are not medical devices and are intended for fitness purposes only. They are not designed or intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.

Had an opportunity, yesterday to wear my Apple Watch (OS2.0) during a Dr. supervised nuclear stress test. The purpose of the test is to elevate your heart rate to diagnose cardiac related problems. I was able to see the watch display as well as the test display monitor. For the most part the Apple Watch tracked with the test monitor. The only difference I saw was a lag in reporting an upward heart rate and some variations (reading slightly loer) at the upper range - over 120 bps.

All in all I think that the sensor is accurate - and a good tool for monitoring your exercise level.

I've found it to be accurate most of the time, but not as consistent as my Scosche Rhythm+.

What is the maximum heart rate you've seen it measure accurately? My workouts often include stretches above 140 BPM (maximum today was 170) and after a certain point it's just plain wrong.

julie78787 wrote:

What is the maximum heart rate you've seen it measure accurately? My workouts often include stretches above 140 BPM (maximum today was 170) and after a certain point it's just plain wrong.

My workouts routinely include long stretches at over 150. I've had not problems. If you're watch is consistently giving wrong information during a workout, you should have Apple evaluate it. You may have a hardware issue.

It's not consistently wrong. It's also hard to watch it be wrong when I'm trying to break a sweat. Mostly I know it screwed up because I look at the heartrate readings after a workout and see measurements in the 40s and 50s mixed in with measurements that are much more plausible.

I did have a chance on Thursday to observe what I think was it getting screwed up. I was taking a break in the middle of a workout and the Workout app seemed to freeze about the same time it was reporting my heartrate was in the 50s. It eventually fixed itself, but I was too busy with a workout to screw around with it.

Still sounds like having Apple look at it would be worth it.

I'm an engineer. We analyze problems before we just give up and have a kid at a Genius Bar tell us everything is working okay. That way we can tell them everything isn't working okay ...

Most likely I'll get it checked out later today. I don't expect all (or even most ...) of the problems to be fixed by Genius Bar Kid.

julie78787 wrote:

I'm an engineer. We analyze problems before we just give up and have a kid at a Genius Bar tell us everything is working okay. That way we can tell them everything isn't working okay ...`

The fact that your an engineer, while very nice for you, is quite possibly irrelevant. What kind of engineer are you? What experience do you have in building, programming and maintaining small consumer electronics? I have a close friend who's an engineer. He works with satellite transmission encryption. He's very smart and his job pays very well. When he has a problem with his Apple devices, he doesn't waste his time "researching" anecdotes on a consumer support forum. He takes his device to Apple, where he is not condescending to the people who work there.

Given enough time, I could make an entire Watch, including all the programming. And writing any communications stacks which connect the Watch to another device, like an iPhone. It would be a little on the large side, because I'm not an entire company, but there's nothing in a Watch that's magic. It really is just a bunch of hardware and software in a little metal box. And there is enough software in the device that I'd be dead from old age before I wrote it all, but it really just isn't magic.

And speaking of condescending, I'm not the only person having problems with the Watch. Dismissing my complaints is sort of the dictionary definition of "condescending". If you don't like me trying to find out how many other people are having how many other problems, feel free to not respond.

julie78787 wrote:

And speaking of condescending, I'm not the only person having problems with the Watch. Dismissing my complaints is sort of the dictionary definition of "condescending". If you don't like me trying to find out how many other people are having how many other problems, feel free to not respond.

No one is dismissing your complaints. I think you have a real hardware problem with your watch which you should have looked at. If you'd rather do other things, have at it.

Meg -

You may well be right, though I highly doubt it. 35+ years working in high tech, including working with, designing, and manufacturing embedded devices, tells me that it's a software bug. I've also spent that 35+ years working in the field (software engineering ...) where "reboot your gadget" or "reinstall your software" are common solutions to software problems that never get fully investigated or resolved.

There are many dozens of threads in this forum all related to errors in the various fitness apps. If they are all caused by hardware problems (very doubtful - Apple makes very high quality hardware and I have Apple products in half a dozen rooms in my house, plus on my wrist and in my purse, and this would be my very first Apple hardware problem ...), Apple has a serious hardware quality assurance or design issue. It is far more likely that this is a software bug, just like people who work at standing desks who don't get "Stand" hour credits.

Please, if I am causing you personal angst, just don't hit the "Reply" button. No one is making you do that.

julie78787 wrote:

Please, if I am causing you personal angst, just don't hit the "Reply" button. No one is making you do that.

Not at all. More like mild amusement. Just don't understand why a smart person wouldn't do the logical thing. But, really, you're under no obligation to explain yourself to me, or try to impress me.

Best of luck.

Meg -

Because for some people, trying to fully investigate and understand problems is the logical thing to do. Some people ask "Why?" Other people are perfectly content to never know why.

Vive la différence!