New member. Newly diagnosed. Looking at smart watches for monitoring purposes. Don't need or want to play music, answer emails, or be told it's time to water the plants. I want to be able to both monitor and track and hopefully get some sort of alarm if I need to seek help. I'm an iPhone user and impressed with performance reports, but have concerns over Apple battery life which I think is less than 24 hours. If you are an Apple watch user, how do you decide the best time to re-charge please? Or are there alternative brands compatible with iPhone that have better battery life? Thank you.

I usually charge an hour or so before bedtime around Eliquis taking time. I have an older Apple Watch 7 though. I did test drive the AW 10 several months ago but it didn’t have the SPO2 feature, before you could install software update to add due to the Mossimo legal battle, so I sent it back. Battery life was a tad bit better. I’ve read the newer AW 11 battery is slightly improved over the 10. Still not super long. Who knows maybe I’ll splurge for an AW 12 later this year in September.

I did buy a clearance priced AW “on the go” charger for emergency charging, cheap, good for maybe 2 quick charges before it needs charging. So you could always buy something like that to serve as a quick backup. Bought 1 for daughter who is notoriously bad about letting her phone battery die and not much better with her AW as a stocking stuffer year before year and it was so cheap I bought myself one too for on the go charging. Not much bigger than your average key fob.

I also have an older Fitbit Versa, yes I wear both for different reasons and its battery isn’t that great either but it is even older than my AW 7. 🤣

Thank you for your input. What does the Fitbit tell you that the Apple does not? I greatly appreciate real person experience rather than all the AI blather I get when searching on line.

I like my old Fitbit partly out habit. While this Versa 2 is old I had maybe 3 Fitbits prior. I like that I can quickly and immediately see and watch my heart rate in real time with the quick raise of my wrist on FB vs on the Apple Watch pressing the little heart icon and waiting. Maybe there is an “always current” heart rate setting I could add to my AW Face but I haven’t found one nor spent much time looking for it.

Also like the hourly steps tracking on the FB better than the Activity Rings on the AW, again also quick and easy vs AW , perhaps out of years long FB use too. Granted I no longer get 35K steps a day since A Fib, I still like to get my 12 out of 12 hourly steps daily.

I have probably a dozen beautiful watches I haven’t worn in years and should probably sell them on eBay at this point haha but for now I like my Fitbit and AW and wear both. At least now, as of last August, I no longer have my implanted heart loop monitor that was removed during my first ablation as it was 35 months old and nearing the end of its battery life. I only received monthly HLM reports. Maybe the newer ones have apps where the patient can see data more frequently than a monthly summary from the Monitoring Center to your EP and finally uploaded to your Patient Portal, don’t know.

I’d say for me, Fitbit for instant heart rate and physical activity and AW for extra health data and tracking plus it pairs so well with my iPhone.

New Apple Titanium Watch lasts around 24 hours on a single charge. You can fast charge it in 15 minutes for 8 hours use, so basically downtime is not an issue at all anymore. In 45 minutes, you can charge it to 80 percent. Since you already have an iPhone, the Watch makes the most sense. Just use what features you want and turn off the rest. PS none of the current watches that I know of will give you a real-time "alarm" if you are in Afib, however the Watch will track it to some degree as well as give you the ability to generate a medical grade EKG whenever you want, which can be shared with your doctor.

Jim

I’d venture to say the closest thing to an “alarm” on the AW would be the Low and High heart rate notifications. These are generated while at rest thus eliminating too many false notifications on High when you are very active or working out.

I have my Low rate set to 45. I do have Bradycardia. I haven’t received a notification in a long time. I do have the Heart Watch app and do get notifications that HR was 48-49 but haven’t bothered to spend the time to reset the notification rate.

For High, I have it set to 100. Haven’t received one of those since August ablation.

I do believe, AW doesn’t send the Notification for either unless at least 10 minutes have passed. So I guess you could call it a 10 Minute Alarm of sorts I usually always knew immediately when in AFib except the ones that started when I was asleep but I could tell when I woke up that it had started usually less than 3-5 minutes prior to waking so the alerts just confirmed what I already knew. Also IF you utilize Sleep Focus at night you don’t get a sound notification. The Notification will be there when you wake up but it won’t awaken you with an alarm or buzzer or vibration on your wrist.

On the AW, when I was in A Fib or frequent PAC’s or generally in a higher anxiety state, holding my finger still on the crown of the watch for the reading with a jittery finger doesn’t help but that’s just me.

That’s my experience with these 2 brands of devices but I’m not an Apple guru for sure but manage with the basic knowledge and search tips and tricks when I can’t figure it out.

So far, few of the smart watches have a continuous monitoring and alarm system. In fact, I know that my Galaxy 6 watch cannot be manipulated to run a continuous assessment of my rhythm. With WiFi and Bluetooth enabled, and having that light diode going on full time, the battery would be stone cold flat inside of 4-6 hours. If I turn off the former two services, I might get 8 hours out of a single full charge, and that's just a guess. I do get a sleep health report each morning that is very detailed, everything from stages and their lengths to SPO2 and HVR and rate.

There are costly devices you can purchase to record all night long, and some require a subscription to their service and the diagnostics.

On my Galaxy watch, I must also enable the app and then place a forefinger against the screen button to complete the circuit. The only three readings are, 'AF detected', 'Undetermined...if you feel unwell...', and 'No AF detected, normal rhythm.'

I agree with Jim that you are better off sticking with the Apple architecture on this. If nothing else, updates can sometimes allow older watches to gain new functionality, and perhaps a firmware update will allow a watch purchased today to gain that update.