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You can trace the state of health tech today to a single gadget: the Apple Watch Series 4.
Back in 2018, smartwatches and fitness bands focused on a handful of things: step count, heart rate, some light sleep monitoring, and activity logging. As a result, they were much more focused on fitness rather than overall health. Handy if you were trying to increase activity levels or lose a few pounds, but not a device that could “save your life.” That all changed with the Series 4, which introduced FDA-cleared atrial fibrillation detection — something that had never been done before on any consumer wearable. Not everyone was a fan of the feature. Critics cautioned that it wasn’t as accurate as a traditional 12-lead EKG, and many doctors weren’t sure how to interpret such novel wearable data.
Nevertheless, this sort of FDA-cleared digital screening feature is now the hallmark of what’s considered advanced consumer health tech. Every year, there are several stories of how Apple Watches have improved or saved lives — something that spurred rivals to pursue similar features on their own devices. Eight years after the Series 4 debuted, wearables can send an array of notifications relating to illness, sleep apnea, hypertension, and even fertility windows. And though there’s debate about such features causing health anxiety, wearable makers are racing to discover relationships between new biomarkers and enhanced longevity — hence why so many newer devices are zeroing in on recovery metrics, metabolism, and, for some reason, bodily fluids.
Given that The Verge is spending this entire week reflecting on 50 years of Apple products, we’d be remiss if we didn’t look at Apple’s role in defining this space — and what’s evolved in its wake. So, I sat down with Deidre Caldbeck, senior director of Apple Watch and health product marketing, to talk about how the company approaches developing health features and what that means for the Apple Watch’s future.
This is the Series 10, but we have over a decade of original Apple Watch photography. For this package, strap in for a mini visual tour of our best shots. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Back in 2016, my first Apple Watch was the Series 2. As a wearables reviewer, I’ve tested every single iteration since. One thing has always been crystal clear about Apple’s approach in this space. The Watch isn’t meant to be a niche object for a small group of health nuts. The vision is a health gadget that works for everyone. (So long as you have an iPhone.)
“We really wanted to make the features on Apple Watch as inclusive and intuitive as possible. Of course, technologies have advanced, and people’s interest in health and fitness has changed over the years, but we’ve really tried to maintain that primary objective: building features that can really impact as many people as possible,” says Caldbeck.
According to Caldbeck, while the Apple Watch has always had an optical heart rate sensor, it was primarily used to track workouts. But as more people started wearing the Watch, Caldbeck says the company got feedback from users saying they wanted more context into their heart health that would perhaps explain some anomalies in their measurements. With the Series 3, the company delivered high and low heart rate notifications. But the major shift, she says, really came with the Series 4. That was when the Apple Watch got its first significant redesign, with a bigger display and a revamped, more modern UI. The addition of the EKG then helped to shift the device toward being a more holistic health tool than simply a fitness tracker.
The black Ultra 2 spurred many an existential crisis among original Ultra owners about whether upgrading for color alone was enough. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
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