Health Canada Approves Apple Watch ECG App and Irregular Heart Rate Notifications

Health Canada has granted Apple a license for the ECG app and irregular heart rate notifications feature on the Apple Watch Series 4.

Both licenses were approved on May 16th and now appear in Health Canada's Active license list.

The Apple Watch is classified as a Class II medical device alongside other long term, portable ECG recorders. "An active diagnostic device, including any dedicated software, that supplies energy for the purpose of imaging or monitoring physiological processes is classified as Class II."

The ECG app can capture heart rhythm on demand in a moment when users experience symptoms such as a rapid or skipped heart beat and help provide clinically important data to physicians. The irregular rhythm notification feature on Apple Watch occasionally checks heart rhythm in the background and sends a notification if an irregular heart rhythm that appears to be atrial fibrillation (AFib) is identified.

It's likely that Apple will launch the new features in Canada alongside a software update. The first beta of watchOS 5.3 was seeded to developers on May 15th and we'll be watching to see if the new functionality surfaces in the next beta.

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Read More [via iPhoneinCanada]