Apple Watch

Malcolm Owen, AppleInsider:

A nursing student in Australia is encouraging Apple Watch owners to enable heart rate notifications, after the wearable device detected symptoms of a thyroid condition months before being diagnosed.

And:

“Instead of me waiting for the symptoms to get really bad, I could have gone to the doctor back in October, when there was this dramatic drop in a matter of days,” Lauren adds, alongside a screenshot of a graph from the Health app. “It dramatically dropped, which means my cardiovascular system wasn’t working as well as it once was.”

The drop also correlated with other symptoms, including fatigue, a sensitivity to heat, gaining weight, dry skin, and increased irritability. In December, she was diagnosed with thyroid hemiagenesis, and is undergoing treatment.

Here’s a link to Lauren’s video. Sound on.

A few years ago, I had a long conversation with a cardiologist about the future of Apple Watch and the patterns that indicate various health conditions. I walked away from that conversation feeling that the potential for Apple Watch as diagnostic tool is massive, far beyond the benefits we already see, especially as more sensors are developed and integrated with Apple’s Health infrastructure. Lauren’s video made me feel this even more strongly.

If you like the Apple Watch braided loop look, check out the new Unity loop, part of Apple’s celebration of Black History Month.

Available today.

Apple:

Over the past 15 years, Apple customers have played a critical role in (RED)’s fight to end AIDS through support to the Global Fund, which provides critical access to healthcare services in communities most in need in sub-Saharan Africa. As COVID-19 continues to impact communities around the world, including those living with HIV, the fight to end global pandemics is more urgent than ever.

And:

Since 2006, Apple customers have helped raise nearly $270 million to fund prevention, testing, and counseling services for people impacted by HIV/AIDS. Apple-supported grants have enabled care and support services for over 11 million people, provided over 192 million HIV tests, and allowed over 13.8 million people access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatments. In 2020 alone, Apple’s support for (RED) helped prevent over 145,000 HIV-positive mothers from passing the virus on to their babies.

Props to Apple for this ongoing work and support.

Follow the headline link to read more about Apple’s efforts here, and about their PRODUCT(RED) products.

Open this link on your iPhone, then scroll down to the Apple Watch Faces section to view and add any of the new Apple Watch faces to your collection.

Victoria Song, The Verge:

Starting with watchOS 8, Apple introduced a new accessibility feature called Assistive Touch. The cool thing about this feature is that it allows you to control the watch via gestures and your arm movements. Meaning, now you don’t even need to touch the Apple Watch screen to use it.

And:

Using on-device machine learning, the feature makes use of the watch’s accelerometer, gyroscope, and optical heart rate sensor to read how your muscles and tendons move. The result is that the watch can tell when you’re pinching your fingers or clenching your fists. You can also enable a motion-based cursor that works like a mini-mouse when you tilt your arm.

Great post, love the animated GIFs that show various gestures at work.

You’ve no doubt launched the Find My app on your iPhone, but have you ever jumped through the Find My hoops on your Apple Watch? Watch the video below for the how-to. Good to know how this works.

Joe Rossignol, MacRumors:

Last month, FCC filings revealed that Apple Watch Series 7 models are equipped with a new module that enables 60.5GHz wireless data transfer. This module is not advertised on Apple’s website and is likely for Apple’s internal use only.

And:

It’s also worth noting that Series 7 models feature IP6X-rated dust resistance, so perhaps the diagnostic port’s removal helped with that to some degree.

Interesting. Surprised that Apple would get rid of that port. A sign that they might be willing to remove other ports?

John Gruber:

At a glance, all Apple Watches — from the original “Series 0” in 2015 to the new Series 7 models shipping this week — have more or less looked the same. Unlike any other product Apple has ever made, they really nailed the basic shape and look, the gestalt, on the first try. It was birthed as an iconic design.

This review is a joy to read, full of details that stem from someone who has lived with the Apple Watch since inception.

Worth the read, for the insight and for the prose. One highlight:

The knock on Series 7 is that there’s nothing new but a bigger display. But it’s a much bigger display. It’s the one new thing that everyone will notice, and it’s very noticeable. Nothing new but a bigger display is enough to establish Series 7 as a landmark new design.

Well said.

Apple:

Apple today announced Apple Watch Series 7, featuring the largest and most advanced Apple Watch display ever — and a reengineered Always-On Retina display with significantly more screen area and thinner borders — will be available to order beginning Friday, October 8, at 5 a.m. PDT and available in stores starting Friday, October 15.

Given the steadily slipping shipping dates of the iPhone Pro (as of this writing, the iPhone I ordered shows a delivery date of November 4-11), and the fact that Series 7 pre-orders have already been pushed back more than 3 weeks (the announcement was September 14th), if you want a Series 7, I’d get on it as soon as the doors open.

From the footnotes:

Customers can buy Apple Watch (GPS + Cellular) directly from apple.com/store or at an Apple Store and get $100 back when they activate it with T-Mobile/Sprint or Verizon.

Good to know.

Mothership, covering an accident that happened in Singapore:

The motorcyclist, named Muhammad Fitri, fell off his bike after colliding with a van at Ang Mo Kio.

While lying on the ground, he saw the vehicle drive off before losing consciousness, he told Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao.

And:

Fitri said that his Apple’s smart watch detected a hard fall and promptly sent a message to his emergency contacts, which included his girlfriend. The smart watch also called for an ambulance.

And:

Fitri could have missed the golden hour of rescue if not for the smart watch’s function.

Another great Apple Watch rescue story.

Start off with this tweet:

https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/1437975564841803779

This prompted a lot of speculation about just how much changed from the Series 6 to the Series 7.

From the headline linked post from Sami Fathi, MacRumors:

As noted by Steve Troughton-Smith, the CPU in the S7 chip carries the same t8301 identifier as the CPU in the previous S6 chip, which explains why Apple’s performance claims are unchanged relative to the S6.

Much is the same, the primary difference being the slightly larger screen, which would explain the slightly heavier weights of the various Series 7 models.

Also:

With the ‌Apple Watch Series 7‌, Apple includes faster charging, claiming that it can charge to 80% in just 45 minutes and that 8 minutes of fast charging will provide sufficient battery life for 8 hours of sleep tracking. To support the new fast charging, Apple will be offering a new 1-meter USB-C magnetic fast charging cable.

And:

On the connectivity front, the Series 7 includes the same Bluetooth 5.0 protocol as the Series 6, but, unlike the Series 6, the new ‌Apple Watch Series 7‌ also has built-in support for Beidou, China’s satellite navigation system.

The fast charging strikes me as the biggest improvement, which will make charging after a night of sleep monitoring much more practical.

And the satellite nav support in China (and there’s a U1 chip too) is an interesting wrinkle.

UPDATE: Read this post, Apple refutes FlickType developer’s account of App Store issues.

Tom Maxwell, Input:

Apple today held its California Streaming keynote, during which it unveiled the iPhone 13 as well as updated versions of the Apple Watch and iPad mini. But one, seemingly minor product announcement has caused a stir in the developer community: the new full software keyboard that Apple is adding to the Apple Watch.

And:

It was just last month that Kosta Eleftheriou, the developer of FlickType, announced that his swipe-based keyboard for the blind would be pulled off the App Store over objections by Apple.

And:

A separate version for the Apple Watch would remain, but then Apple pulled that one as well, telling Eleftheriou that keyboards aren’t allowed on the Apple Watch.

Now Apple has announced its own, nearly-identical keyboard for the Apple Watch.

Here’s the tweet from FlickType developer Kosta Eleftheriou, who has already filed suit against Apple.

https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1437845736951992321

I’m mystified by this decision by Apple, especially given the ratcheted up scrutiny they are under. Did they think no one would make the connection? Or did they not care about that, Sherlock business as usual?

Nikkei Asia:

Manufacturers of Apple Watch 7, as the device is expected to be called, began small-scale production last week but encountered critical challenges in reaching satisfactory production performance, multiple people familiar with the situation said.

And:

Three sources said the current disappointing production quality could be attributed to the complexity of design, which is significantly different from that of previous generations of the watch, and the assemblers found issues when putting together electronics modules, components and displays.

And (SPOILER RUMOR ahead):

The next Apple Watch will come with new features such as blood pressure measurement, they said, which means production involves fitting a greater number of components into a similar size body.

Interesting that an assembly issue popped up this late in the process, as if the assemblers were not prepared for how this generation of Apple Watch goes together.

Assuming this is not a major hurdle requiring back-to-the-drawing-board retooling, this seems more likely to impact the availability date, rather than the announcement date.

Ben Feuerherd, New York Post:

A New York robbery crew that targeted drug runners hit the jackpot late last year, netting $500,000 in cash after tracking a targeted criminal’s car — with a hidden Apple Watch, new court documents show.

The seven-person crew based in the Hudson Valley pulled off the major score in January 2020 after their alleged leader, 30-year-old Darren Lindsay, bought an Apple Watch and linked it to his AT&T account.

And:

The thieves put the watch underneath the bumper of a car that belonged to a drug-runner they suspected was flush with cash, the documents say.

The suspects then tailed their mark, who was not identified, from Orange County to a hotel parking lot in Hartford, Conn., the feds said.

This is eerily similar to this story, where an iPhone was used as a tracking device.

Shaking my head.

Hartley Charlton, MacRumors:

Rockley Photonics, an Apple supplier, has today unveiled an advanced digital sensor system that is likely to come to the Apple Watch to enable a wide range of new health tracking features.

And:

The company today revealed a full-stack, “clinic-on-the-wrist” digital health sensor system, enabling wearable devices to monitor multiple biomarkers, including core body temperature, blood pressure, body hydration, alcohol, lactate, and glucose trends, and more.

The technology uses a miniaturized chip solution with optical sensors that provide continuous, non-invasive monitoring of various biomarkers, in an attempt to overcome many of the challenges associated with wearable health monitoring and avoid the need for invasive sensors that must perforate the skin.

Apple is Rockley Photonics’ biggest customer. Not too much of a stretch to imagine these new sensors making their way into a future Apple Watch.

Neil Cybart:

Last week, Apple quietly unveiled one of the more remarkable pieces of technology that has been developed in the past few years. AssistiveTouch allows one to control an Apple Watch without actually touching the device. Instead, a series of hand and finger gestures can be used to control everything from answering a call to ending a workout.

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the video showing this off:

Back to Neil:

When Apple unveiled the iPhone in January 2007, Steve Jobs famously said that the iPhone was “literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone.” He ended up being mostly correct. It took the competition a number of years, and a whole lot of copying, to catch up with what Apple had just unveiled.

With wearables, my suspicion is Apple’s lead is longer than five years.

Read the article for the specifics, but Neil makes a solid case. Between Apple’s investments in custom silicon and their ecosystem that let devices play off each other, Apple has built a seemingly insurmountable lead in wearables.

This is one of those non-obvious things that is so well worth knowing. If you’ve never used your Apple Watch to take a picture, take a few minutes and give it a try.

Great little step-by-step how-to, well laid out.

Apple:

Apple today announced powerful software features designed for people with mobility, vision, hearing, and cognitive disabilities.

And:

Later this year, with software updates across all of Apple’s operating systems, people with limb differences will be able to navigate Apple Watch using AssistiveTouch; iPad will support third-party eye-tracking hardware for easier control; and for blind and low vision communities, Apple’s industry-leading VoiceOver screen reader will get even smarter using on-device intelligence to explore objects within images. In support of neurodiversity, Apple is introducing new background sounds to help minimize distractions, and for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, Made for iPhone (MFi) will soon support new bi-directional hearing aids.

Apple is also launching a new service on Thursday, May 20, called SignTime. This enables customers to communicate with AppleCare and Retail Customer Care by using American Sign Language (ASL) in the US, British Sign Language (BSL) in the UK, or French Sign Language (LSF) in France, right in their web browsers.

At the top of that quote is a reference to AssitiveTouch. This is amazing stuff. Check out the video below, and imagine the possibilities. Some brilliant work here.

William Gallagher, AppleInsider:

As part of Apple’s series of health partnerships, the company is working with the University of Washington and the Seattle Flu Study. If accepted onto the coronavirus study program, participants will be provided with an Apple Watch.

Live in the Seattle area? Here’s where you can sign up for the study.