Introduction
ECG, or electrocardiogram tests record your heart rhythm and are capable of picking up on abnormal heart patterns. They are useful in identifying a variety of heart conditions. Normally an ECG test would be performed in a hospital.
Apple recently rolled out a new feature for Apple Watch Series 4,5, and 6 which allows you to take ECG tests with your watch. While it’s no substitute for real medical advice, it can pretty accurately detect different heart rate patterns. It saves all of your results in the health app which you can then print as a PDF to show to your doctors.
Note that the ECG feature is only available to people over the age of 18, and it’s not available in every country.
Steps To Set Up & Take ECG’s on Apple Watch:
The first time you want to use the ECG feature on your watch, you will first need to set it up on your phone.
• On your iPhone, open up the Health app.
• Tap the ‘browse‘ tab.
• Select ‘heart’ and then tap ‘electrocardiogram’.
• You will now get a prompt to set up ECG on your watch. You will need to confirm that you are over 18 and live in one of the countries where ECG is available.
• Once you’ve done that the ECG app will be installed on your Apple Watch., find it in the app menu.
• Launch the app. Start the ECG reading by holding your finger on the digital crown.
• It takes 30 seconds to get a reading, try not to move in this time. its a good idea to reset your arm on a table or other surface.
• Once it’s finished taking the reading you will be presented with the results. You can tap the ‘i‘ for more info about your results and what they mean.
• All of your results and more detailed information will be saved in the health app in the electrocardiogram section. All of the information is printable in case you want to show the results to your doctor.
