Apple iWatch 5 Health Features

The Apple iWatch 5 has features that have saved peoples’ lives, including fall detection, the ability to call 911 on your behalf, the ability not notify selected contacts if you use the SOS feature, and it can work in tandem with the Health app on iPhones to allow further functionality, such as storing your medical information and making it available to first responders in a situation where you are incapacitated.

This article provides a short visual overview of some of these features and options in the Apple iWatch 5.

Note: Each version of the iWatch introduces new features, but some of these functions may be available in earlier versions of the iWatch. (For example, this article does not touch upon the electrocardiogram feature in the iWatch 5, but you can use it to measure the heart rate pattern and possibly get a warning about arrhythmia.)

In general, for an iPhone user, some of the functions in an iWatch will be familiar. You can choose various functions by tapping on the screen, dragging your finger around, or using one of the two buttons on the side, including one that rotates (similar to a traditional analog watch, but in this case you can scroll through options).

The watch does have a “face” that can be displayed continually or only when you tap it, and you can choose from a variety of backgrounds, and what kind of information you might like to display.

For example, the above “face” looks like a static image, but it is in fact dynamic, showing a view of the earth at the moment in time you are looking, and you can scroll to see the way that the sun casts light over the earth at different times of day.

And if you press on the “crown”, on the side of the watch, you can select an app to use, such as the one featured in this watch in the center (they can be re-arranged), which can provide heart information. Tapping and dragging on this screen allows you to scroll through various apps. You can control the notifications or turn them off entirely.

In the heart rate app, among other things, if you wear the app overnight or throughout the day, it can display your heart rate.

There is also an Activity app which can track your steps, and integrate with the Health/Activity app on an iPhone.

Some of the more interesting features include the SOS function.

You can trigger SOS in an emergency situation or in an accident in your home or elsewhere, by holding the side button. (Some of these functions rely on an iphone being within range, such as the ability to call 911.)

People have already credited the iPhone with saving their lives from fall detection, which may be especially helpful for senior citizens, or hikers.

The screen above also shows the option of storing a digital medical ID on the phone, which can also be controlled/enabled/disabled on an iphone, and include custom information that you may choose to make available to medical personnel.

And you have full control over what devices can use the data and share data.

In short, there are a number of interesting features that appear to have already saved peoples’ lives, and the Apple iWatch and other similar devices are likely to include further related features in the future, including the potential to measure oxygen levels in the blood (especially relevant for COVID-19), as well as the potential for artificial intelligence to monitor data, analyze it, and potentially be able to warn the owner of some kind of condition they may not have been aware of.