Apple Watch Heart Rate Monitoring Issues Explained

The Apple Watch has just gotten its very first update almost a couple of weeks ago, but it has already gotten some backlash for some malfunctioning issues since the update was rolled out. 9to5Mac has pointed out that the update has caused the Cupertino-based tech giant’s wearable device to give some erratic readings of the user’s heart rate.

The tech was initially supposed to record the user’s heart rate every 10 minutes. However, since the update, the device started to read the cardio data at longer and more irregular intervals. Users were quick to complain that the update was paved the way for a bug, but Apple Support has confirmed that the changes were actually intentional.

The Apple Watch will still be monitoring the user’s heart rate every 10 minutes, but it will purposely neglect to do so if the user is moving. However, during movement, users can still track their heart rates by manually doing so through the unit’s Heart Rate Glance feature. Once this feature is operational, the device can still monitor heart rates during exercise, according to CNET.

The original version of the device’s heart rate monitoring feature worked regardless if the user was moving or not. This could also be Apple’s move to improve the accuracy of their readings – since majority of today’s wearable health trackers fell short of accuracy once compared to an actual EKG machine.

Sadly, there has been no information to actually explain these changes and what brought them, but it is assumed that it was because Apple had to cut down features that could easily cause the smartwatch to drain its battery life. With a less frequent automatic functioning for the sensor, the unit’s battery life can be prolonged.

This assumption also ended up angering some of the device’s avid users, particularly because they claim to having noticed no battery issues with the original feature’s regular heart rate monitoring that automatically functioned every 10 minutes.

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