It’s finally here, as Australians with an Apple Watch get support for the electrocardiography technology that’s been built into Apple’s wearable for the past few years.
There’s an update to Apple products this morning, and that means many of the products Apple makes are getting updates of sorts.
Owners of the iPhone are getting iOS 14.5, which includes some neato features such as support for the AirTags set to be released this week, while iPadOS owners also get AirTag support, and they both get new emojis and a change to transparency tracking, a choice of default Siri voice, and a new podcast page and Apple News+ tab.
Anyone with an Apple TV bought in the past few years will also see tvOS 14.5 rolling out, which gets more game controller support, plus the ability to tune the colour of your TV using an iPhone.
And let’s not forget watchOS, which gets a change or two, including the worldwide ability to unlock an iPhone while wearing an Apple Watch if you’re wearing a mask, a feature that works in a similar way to how it unlocks a Mac computer when you’re nearby and wearing it.
But Australians are getting one other feature with the watchOS 7.4 roll-out: support for ECG.
It’s been a long time coming, but with the government’s health authority, the Therapeautic Goods Administration, finally approving Apple’s request on an electrocardiograph to work in its wearable, the latest watchOS update switches it on.
It means from this week, Australians with an Apple Watch Series 4, Apple Watch Series 5, or the current Apple Watch Series 6 will gain support for the tracking of your heart’s electrical activity, complete with irregular heart notifications, handy if something is wrong.
It’s still not a medical-grade ECG, but the point now is that much like with the Withings ScanWatch, Apple Watch owners in Australia can now get a clue as to what’s going on simply from their wrists.
Now we just need Fitbit to get approval for its ECG in the Fitbit Sense, and for Samsung to get approval for its ECG locally, as well, and that should be every heart-friendly wearable working here.
