How to use the Apple Watch ECG app

The Apple Watch’s electrocardiogram (EKG) feature is an exciting addition to the latest models. The Apple Watch EKG app can provide far more accurate heart rate readings than typical optical sensors and can even identify potential arrhythmias.

But how accurate is the EKG on the Apple Watch? How do you access it? And what do you do with this information? Read on and we’ll examine the answers.

What does the EKG record?

An electrocardiogram measures electrical signals from the heart to identify signs of atrial fibrillation. This is an irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke or heart disease.

Your heart is a muscle, just like your biceps or hamstrings. Like these other muscles, the heart needs an electrical impulse to trigger contractions. In this way, an EKG can measure the time and strength of the heart rate, which leads to a far more accurate reading than would be possible with an optical monitor.

The Apple Watch EKG app looks for irregularities between the rhythms of the upper and lower ventricles. These should ideally be synchronous, which is known as “sinus rhythm”.

Continue reading: What is an EKG and why is it important?

Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition that can cause an irregular and possibly fast heart rate. Your resting heart rate may be over 100 beats per minute. This can cause other symptoms such as dizziness, shortness of breath, and tiredness. This, in turn, is caused by abnormal electrical impulses that cause rapid contractions and prevent the heart from relaxing properly between beats.

There are also different types of atrial fibrillation:

• Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: episodes that come and go
• Persistent atrial fibrillation: lasting at least seven days
• Prolonged atrial fibrillation: lasting a year or more
• Permanent atrial fibrillation

This is where it comes in handy to have a device that can potentially display these symptoms. Because atrial fibrillation can come and go, a doctor may not notice any symptoms during a visit. With the Apple Watch EKG app, you can test yourself whenever you feel uncomfortable.

The Apple Watch may also be able to identify other forms of tachycardia, such as: B. Atrial Flutter. Atrial flutter is similar to atrial fibrillation, but has a more organized / less chaotic waveform.

How does the EKG work on the Apple Watch?

Thanks to the electrical heart rate monitor on the back of the device and in the Digital Crown, the Apple Watch can deliver an EKG “similar to an EKG with a lead”. This is compared to the 12-lead EKG that doctors offer. The latter records signals from different angles across the heart to provide 12 separate waveforms.

It is important not to confuse the Apple Watch with a medical device. The Apple Watch ECG app should not be used to diagnose a condition. Apple would very much like to point out that it cannot detect heart attacks, blood clots, or strokes. However, these precautionary measures have not stopped many health professionals from voicing their concerns about its function. The problem isn’t with the EKG app itself, but the potential for users to place too much emphasis on their readings.

The best way to imagine the Apple Watch EKG app is to give you a hint to see a doctor. If you are feeling strange and your watch is confirming your concern, it is worth getting checked out. However, if you are feeling weird and you don’t see this reflected in the app, then you should still get checked.

How to set up the EKG Apple Watch app

To use EKG on Apple Watch, you first need to set it up in the Health app. This process installs the app on your device and gives it the necessary permissions.

Open Health and scroll down the Summary screen until you find the appropriate widget. Click on “Set up ECG app”. Follow the steps on the screen. This includes adding your age. Unfortunately, the Apple Watch EKG app is not intended for anyone under the age of 22.

Some may not have the EKG widget on the summary screen. You have to scroll down and go Heart> Electrocardiograms (ECG)> Set up the ECG app in these cases. Once you’ve completed all of the required steps, the Apple Watch EKG app will be installed and ready to use at any time.

Note that the feature is only available for Apple Watch Series 4 and above.

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How to take an EKG measurement on Apple Watch

Once everything is set up, you can always take an EKG measurement by opening the app from your watch. Apple recommends doing this “when you experience symptoms such as a fast or skipped heartbeat”. In other words, if you’re feeling weird, it’s worth trying. This means that the EKG does not take regular measurements like the optical sensor. You must therefore actively take a measurement if you want one.

Once the app starts up, be sure to put the arm you wear with your watch on a table or your own leg. Try to move as little as possible. Hold one finger of your other hand against the digital crown and wait for the app to signal that the process is complete. This should take 30 seconds.

The Apple Watch EKG app shows you the type of your heart rhythm. You can also add symptoms underneath if you wish.

Open the Health app and go to to view the current heart rate graph that was recorded along with previous recordings Summary> Heart> Electrocardiogram (EKG).

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Once you’ve taken your EKG, you’ll get one of five results:

• Sinus Rhythm: This is a healthy pattern between 50 and 100 BPM and is considered normal.
• Atrial fibrillation: This is an irregular and possibly high pattern.
• Low or high heart rate: This is a heart rate below 50 BPM or above 120 BPM.
• Inconclusive: This means that the recording cannot be classified.
• Bad recording: Only with ECG version 2 does this mean that the quality of the recording was insufficient to provide a classification.

Of course, “atrial fibrillation” is what to look out for. If that’s your result, evaluate how you are feeling and book a doctor visit.

Remember that many things can affect your heart rate, such as: B. exercise, emotional stress or alcohol consumption. If you’ve just exercised, your heart rate is likely to be high. The best time to read is when you are otherwise calm.

The Apple Watch EKG app is a potentially useful and fascinating tool provided it is used properly and knows exactly what it is and what it cannot do. Even to get a more accurate heart rate measurement, the EKG app is helpful to many.

Of course, the Apple Watch is not the only smartwatch with EKG functions. Others are the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 and Watch Active 2, Fitbit Sense and Withings ScanWatch.