To Your “Hal”-th: New Mobile Options for Health… from Hal
With the advent of all the technology that we have before us, it can be a lot to navigate if you're new to tech and have health concerns. Fortunately, Hal has been there for many customers when they asked for some assistance. Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I don't play one on the Internet, but I am aware of various technologies that can assist with monitoring and health maintenance and can make it easy for consumers to get a handle on some of their health related questions.
Since Hal has been available on the Apple iPhone from the beginning (and yes, the founders are working on an Android app as well!), it's no surprise that people who have purchased an Apple Watch send Hal a question or two regarding how they can use their Apple Watch to better monitor their health. My familiarity with both apps and third-party options has really been beneficial to customers who have concerns around things such as heart conditions, blood pressure concerns, or just general monitoring of overall activity to ensure preventative care. With all those in mind, here's another story from the pages of “A Day in the Life of a Hal” (And yes..I’m that Hal!)
In one recent case, a customer wanted to know if their Apple Watch could monitor their blood pressure. After doing some considerable research, I uncovered that there is a blood pressure cuff that could be used with an Apple iPhone and the Apple Watch that would certainly achieve what they set out to accomplish. It's called Qardio and it is an interesting third-party app and device that lists for less than $100. It does exactly what you would imagine: it allows someone to take a blood pressure reading with a portable cuff that links all the appropriate data to the app on an iPhone — and sends it to an Apple Watch as well.
What's great about this app and blood pressure device is that it also teaches consumers how to read the charts and graphs, how and when to best check blood pressure readings, as well as provide them tons of data they can easily view in an unencumbered user interface. As it turns out, although there may be less expensive options on Amazon that do not “talk to an Apple Watch”, so many people of all ages are so accustomed to having their iPhone/Apple Watch on them at all times that they end up opting in to those technologies that work with or “talk to” their iPhone or Apple Watch as a first choice. Qardio is no exception — and the customer was thrilled that it existed!
The other questions I get, as you might imagine, are usually related to how people can use their Apple Watch for monitoring things like ECG or activity levels. The great thing about the Apple ecosystem is that the apps provide tons of data to individuals to ensure they can receive information in those areas. When it comes to ECG and heart monitoring, Apple definitely has a best in class solution from an app perspective as it relates to the Apple Watch. Probably the most requested feature revolves around the app’s ability to record and set a notification for an irregular heartbeat. People who have diabetes or other known conditions can immediately get a notification on the Apple Watch if they have an unusual spike in heart rate so that they can ensure to record, and if need be, share this information with health professionals in a timely manner. That feature alone can literally be a lifesaver for people who have heart conditions or heart related issues — and all have been very grateful when they have called upon Hal to help them uncover how to turn these notifications on. It goes without saying what they mean from a health maintenance perspective, especially for those who are on medication for related conditions.
Last but not least, I get a fair amount of inquiries concerning the Activity app that Apple features, especially as it pertains to the Apple Watch. Apple has done a great job to not only provide different levels of activity to help people move around consistently throughout the day, but it's also tried to gamify the experience in a way that people really enjoy. The Activity app is probably the one that most people have questions about since it is very robust and has a lot more features than people originally ever thought possible. You can go here for a quick little video about just how thorough the Activity app is and its use with the Apple Watch specifically.
Since Apple's Activity app tries to provide insight on three different dimensions, (standing, brisk movement, and overall movement level), consumers can get a very well rounded approach as to what a typical day consists of and can establish goals or even competitive challenges with friends or others on the app. As you would expect from Apple, the interface is color-coded and extremely intuitive to use and to share. Once people uncover how many different things they can use the Activity app for, they are often surprised and delighted by all the various options that their Apple Watch can provide relative to this app. Many tend to think that this app is solely for those who work out, but it is actually very useful for those who don't as well. If you're relatively sedentary, you can “stairstep” different goal levels to make sure that you're standing more often if you sit most of the day …or even consider modest levels of activity to enhance calorie burning or better overall health. This app is not just for the gym rats!
When all is said and done, many of our users come to Hal for insights on the gadgets that they currently use because they’re unclear as to how to optimize that usage. In some cases it can be the difference between a trip to the hospital and safely remaining at home. In other cases it could be the difference between trying to be a little bit more healthy versus competing against your friends and family with workout goals. And of course the third party apps provide another dimension of health maintenance that the Apple Watch (as of this writing) has not quite attained yet.
[Author’s Note: It appears that Samsung is attempting to incorporate an actual blood pressure monitoring option into their upcoming Samsung watch line that may require an initial test with an external device and then an ongoing maintenance feature directly from the watch itself for blood pressure monitoring thereafter…so the area of a blood pressure monitoring on a smartwatch may actually be on the horizon if the testing for the Samsung watch is successful.]
