I think he wants to keep an eye on his heart rate, and he’s intrigued by answering his bluetooth equipped, but non Apple phone on his wrist.

He complains about the small numbers on his current FitBit being hard to see.

I haven’t kept up with iWatches, so I need your recommendation. Cost is of little consideration.

Make sure you know the proper nomenclature, "Apple Watch". An updated version will be introduced next month. Can you/he wait?

An article I found about using Apple Watch with non-Apple phone.
[9to5mac.com]

For EKG he needs to get the AppleWatch Series 5. The Series 4 and newer has fall detection.

My 85 year old mother bought an Apple Watch 5 with internal cell phone. Primarily for fall detection. She wears it faithfully, charges it each night.

The AW 4 has an on-demand EKG function. It doesn’t continuously monitor one’s heart, nor does it check for heart attack. It also has fall detection, which can trigger if you hit something hard enough with the hand, thereby mimicking the g it would see in a fall.

I wear mine at night. The sleep app I use uses movement and heartbeat to determine when you are asleep, not the most accurate as I’ve had it claim I was asleep while I was reading (I wear it on my non dominant hand).

CBelt, the most hazardous conditions for someone with balance issues is when they lie down/get up, and in slippery conditions such as the shower. I charge mine while I am eating breakfast and when I’m showering. The rocks in my head (ears) are most affected by change in attitude (look up, down, turn the head sideways, that kind of thing; standing from a sitting position can be problematic as well) and although the watch is waterproof-ish I haven’t intentionally gotten it soaked. I say “ish” because I’m hard on watches.

I understand the AW 5 has a “continuous on” function so you can see the watch face without relying on raising it and/or tapping the watch face to turn it on. I haven’t been keeping up with this much so I could be wrong. I’m hoping the 6 has a pulse-ox function but we’ll see when it gets released, hopefully soon.

Diana,
Agreed. Mom cbelt3 is more at risk when she's stampeding around on her e-bike or working on the farm. She is by no means slowing down at ALL. One tough lady. Sharp as a tack.

Me, I'm 23 years younger and use my Apple Watch 4 for sleep tracking, and have the fall detection enabled for those times when I do something stupid like fall off a ladder like I did earlier this year. Gravity keeps trying to kill me...

No, no -- gravity loves you, that's why it keeps trying to pull you so close!

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cbelt3
Diana,
Agreed. Mom cbelt3 is more at risk when she's stampeding around on her e-bike or working on the farm. She is by no means slowing down at ALL. One tough lady. Sharp as a tack.

Me, I'm 23 years younger and use my Apple Watch 4 for sleep tracking, and have the fall detection enabled for those times when I do something stupid like fall off a ladder like I did earlier this year. Gravity keeps trying to kill me...

.....the new one is supposedly coming out soon [ the September event or the October event ]......so if price doesn't matter, wait for the new one......

---

_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

cbelt3,

I have the larger Apple watch 4. It has called 911 twice and sent out an SOS notice once all because of mis-interpreted speech. It does not have to be my speech. It also thought I fell when I banged my golf club on the cart tire to knock off a clump of dirt.

That watch can be your worst enemy by crying wolf.

Also, the EKG and heart records are not "interesting" to my doctor.

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Ed (modelamac)

I think I will just put an OUT OF ORDER
sticker on my head and call it a day.

Too many buttons!

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NewtonMP2100
.....the new one is supposedly coming out soon [ the September event or the October event ]......so if price doesn't matter, wait for the new one......

Even if price matters, what until the event. There's rumors of a low cost watch and the current models may be offered at a significant discount.

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modelamac
Also, the EKG and heart records are not "interesting" to my doctor.

I showed mine to my neurologist although he said it was probably nothing, referred me to a cardiologist. The cardiologist, who didn’t know the AW did EKG, was impressed at how clear the tracing was, and set me up for a week-long heart monitor test. I now take meds and see the cardiologist on a regular basis. So, YMMV here.

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modelamac
Also, the EKG and heart records are not "interesting" to my doctor.

That may be because your doctor believes the Apple Watch provides unreliable or inaccurate data. If so, he/she is wrong.