Apple Watch ECG Coming to South Korea With Imminent iOS 14.2 and watchOS 7.1 Updates

Apple as we speak announced [Google Translate] that electrocardiogram (ECG) and irregular coronary heart rhythm notification options might be coming to the Apple Watch in South Korea as a part of the upcoming iOS 14.2 and watchOS 7.1 releases.

Whereas Apple hasn’t confirmed a launch date for the updates, it seems to be imminent based mostly on as we speak’s press launch and the truth that a “Release Candidate” version of iOS 14.2 was pushed out to developer and public beta testers on Friday.

Phrase surfaced again in August that the ECG feature had received approval in South Korea, but it surely’s taken a number of extra months for Apple to arrange for its public launch.

The ECG characteristic, which is now accessible in nearly 50 countries for Apple Watch Collection 4, 5, and 6, permits customers to straight measure electrical coronary heart exercise by merely putting their finger on the Digital Crown for 30 seconds. The irregular coronary heart rhythm characteristic intermittently measures the person’s coronary heart price within the background and sends a notification if it detects an anomaly it categorizes as atrial fibrillation, which generally is a critical coronary heart arrhythmia situation.

Each options are thought of medical diagnostics, and they also require approval from regulators in every nation the place they’re to be made accessible, a requirement that has slowed the rollout of the options.

Apple’s new blood oxygen monitoring characteristic on the Apple Watch Series 6, in distinction, is taken into account a wellness characteristic quite than a medical diagnostic, and thus will not be topic to vital regulatory scrutiny, which enabled Apple to supply it in more than 100 countries at launch.