Kardia or Kardia 6L and iPhone 7?

I admit I'm tech challenged. My iPhone 7 is a HUGE step up from my original flip phone.

I do not have an Apple watch.

At the Apple app store, when I search for Kardia, there are Kardia App, Kardia, and Kardia Mobile--and they all have the same icon, so I think it's the same thing.
Is this the same as the Kardia 6L (meaning 6 leads??) or is my iPhone too old and I need the original Kardia?

One of the photos for Kardia shows a *touch pad* with two "finger pads" for placement, with someone's left and right hands's forefingers and middle fingers on that pad, and the EKG readout on the phone's screen. Is this what I want?

I've confused myself reading a lot about Kardia-- there was something about having to pay $19 for a specialist to read the report before I can get to the report myself ?

I know this is going to be a(another) really stoopid question, but how do I know if I have bluetooth? Apparently, Kardia now uses bluetooth...maybe? I remember reading something about bluetooth. As I said, I'm tech challenges, so please please be kind! (TIA!)

Thanks!
Sue

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SueChef
I admit I'm tech challenged. My iPhone 7 is a HUGE step up from my original flip phone.

I do not have an Apple watch.

At the Apple app store, when I search for Kardia, there are Kardia App, Kardia, and Kardia Mobile--and they all have the same icon, so I think it's the same thing.
Is this the same as the Kardia 6L (meaning 6 leads??) or is my iPhone too old and I need the original Kardia?

One of the photos for Kardia shows a *touch pad* with two "finger pads" for placement, with someone's left and right hands's forefingers and middle fingers on that pad, and the EKG readout on the phone's screen. Is this what I want?

I've confused myself reading a lot about Kardia-- there was something about having to pay $19 for a specialist to read the report before I can get to the report myself ?

I know this is going to be a(another) really stoopid question, but how do I know if I have bluetooth? Apparently, Kardia now uses bluetooth...maybe? I remember reading something about bluetooth. As I said, I'm tech challenges, so please please be kind! (TIA!)

Thanks!
Sue

According to their website, <[store.alivecor.com] an iPhone 7 (iOS 12.3) is compatible with the 6L. I know your iPhone 7 has adequate Bluetooth.

I have the original Kardia and a "grandfathered" plan, but I think you can look at your readingw without paying for someone to read it (I've never done that yet). A question for others here is whether a 6L would be harder for you to interpret than the old single lead display. I assume you can use it in single lead mode if you want to, but since I don't have one, I'll let someone else answer this.

The original Kardia used sound, not Bluetooth to connect.

George

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GeorgeN
A question for others here is whether a 6L would be harder for you to interpret than the old single lead display. I assume you can use it in single lead mode if you want to, but since I don't have one, I'll let someone else answer this.

The 6L still displays lead I, which is what the original Kardia displays, so if you ignore the others you've got the same thing. But does the average person know that? Probably not. So it might be more confusing for some people. Without at least some understanding of ECG interpretation the other leads are useless unless you send recordings to Kardia or your doc. I think it's a cool gadget and an incremental advancement that shows where we're headed with devices like this, but I don't think the 6L will be more useful than the basic Kardia for more than a small handful of people.

I have the one lead Kardia.

I don't pay for the premium service. It gives you the option email each EKG you take, so I just email a copy to myself.

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GeorgeN

I have the original Kardia and a "grandfathered" plan,

George

George, I to have the original Kardia and the old plan and recently upgraded my phone from a samsung s7 to a s10e, which installed a new Kardia app. They say the s10e is not compatible but the s10 and s10+ are and it does work.
but now the readings don't seem to be as smooth as before. I think it would tell me if I am in afib or not but as for trying to read the rest, it would be tricky. Are you using their new app version 5.7.3-3bc6f703d and have you had any problems with it?
I have asked Kardia for the old app. but its not available. so they say.

Colin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2019 01:20PM by colindo.

I have version 5.7.3-3bc6f703d installed on a Samsung S8 and it works perfectly fine. Looking at the specs for the various S10 models I can't see any reason why the S10e wouldn't be compatible when the S10 and S10+ are. Same processor, same memory, same everything that might influence compatibility. I wonder if maybe they simply haven't tested the S10e for compatibility yet so they won't say it is.

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colindo
George, I to have the original Kardia and the old plan and recently upgraded my phone from a samsung s7 to a s10e, which installed a new Kardia app. They say the s10e is not compatible but the s10 and s10+ are and it does work.
but now the readings don't seem to be as smooth as before. I think it would tell me if I am in afib or not but as for trying to read the rest, it would be tricky. Are you using their new app version 5.7.3-3bc6f703d and have you had any problems with it?

Colin

Hi Colin,

I've got an iPhone 6s, and am running 5.7.0. I could update to 5.7.1, but haven't yet. I usually back up my phone before I do app or operating system updates. There was a different app where I used the old version for several years. It was a pain because I couldn't use "update all," but doing it this way preserved functionality I wanted. On the iPhone, there is a way to install apps through iTunes from files on your hard drive. Have no experience with Android devices. If you know someone with an old version who could send you the file, perhaps that would work?

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GeorgeN
I assume you can use it in single lead mode if you want to, but since I don't have one, I'll let someone else answer this.

The original Kardia used sound, not Bluetooth to connect.

George

You can use the 6L as a single-lead. You just don’t touch your left knee with the middle pad.

Yes, 6L uses Bluetooth. To answer the original poster’s question, all new phones have Bluetooth. They have for years now. It’s just a matter of turning it on, which it probably is by default. I surmise the reason for going to Bluetooth (BT) is the distance one must hold the 6L from the mobile device if one is using the left knee or ankle. Sound just wouldn’t work that well over such a distance. Noise would increase at the same time signal decreases as not all leads are as high voltage as lead I.

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wolfpack
Yes, 6L uses Bluetooth. To answer the original poster’s question, all new phones have Bluetooth. They have for years now. It’s just a matter of turning it on, which it probably is by default. I surmise the reason for going to Bluetooth (BT) is the distance one must hold the 6L from the mobile device if one is using the left knee or ankle. Sound just wouldn’t work that well over such a distance. Noise would increase at the same time signal decreases as not all leads are as high voltage as lead I.

II commonly use the original Kardia to capture a Lead II presentation by holding the device with my right hand with my thumb on the contact and touching the other to my lower left abdomen just above my hip. I put the phone nearby and the audio transmission works pretty well (unless I have a cat purring in my lap...).

Lead II will enhance the p-wave amplitude on the output, making it easier to see.



You can see in this diagram that Lead I is right hand/limb to left hand/limb. Lead II is right hand/limb to lower left torso. Lead III is left hand/limb to lower left torso.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2019 10:22PM by GeorgeN.

Thank you all for ringing in here! I'm sure I'll have a learning curve! Today was another day with the plumber so I will have to recover from that expense. I should have purchased the Kardia sooner!

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GeorgeN

II commonly use the original Kardia to capture a Lead II presentation by holding the device with my right hand with my thumb on the contact and touching the other to my lower left abdomen just above my hip. I put the phone nearby and the audio transmission works pretty well (unless I have a cat purring in my lap...).

Lead II will enhance the p-wave amplitude on the output, making it easier to see.

[www.cvphysiology.com]

You can see in this diagram that Lead I is right hand/limb to left hand/limb. Lead II is right hand/limb to lower left torso. Lead III is left hand/limb to lower left torso.

Did you try between your left hand and V1 location ? This should show good p-waves too, with QRS pointing downwards.

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Pompon

Did you try between your left hand and V1 location ? This should show good p-waves too, with QRS pointing downwards.

I just tried that. Not fond of the result. I like my placements better. When I looked at the saved version, the app had inverted the QRS waveform.

I've had a look at the user's guide, as I don't own a kardia. I didn't know you had to choose between two situations for your recording : resting or not.
I guess it has no effect on the recording itself, the purpose being to tag it accordingly if you send it for reading ?
Unless the software behaves differently ?

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Pompon
I've had a look at the user's guide, as I don't own a kardia. I didn't know you had to choose between two situations for your recording : resting or not.
I guess it has no effect on the recording itself, the purpose being to tag it accordingly if you send it for reading ?
Unless the software behaves differently ?

Interesting, I've had my Kardia around five years and never noticed that. I've never sent one in for reading or to a doc. I've also never tagged a reading. I will annotate afib, but those readings are thankfully few and far between.

I've never seen that either, and I just now poked around in the app and can't find a setting like that. It's actually very difficult to get a Kardia reading when you're active. I know because I've tried. I once tried going for a run with it taped to my chest with my phone, but all I got was artifact from the movement.

It seems the app lets you choose between normal ekg, heart rate recording or guest ekg. The user's guide says it records an ekg in any case. So, I don't know what can be different, except for some tags?

All those things just record an ECG. The only difference is whether it's labeled as belonging to a guest or to you. The resting heart rate thing is just where you click that to do a recording when you're at rest so it can establish a resting heart rate for you. Never saw the need for that feature so never used it. I think it's mainly a case of marketing people trying to think up new features for an idea that was invented in 1895 and hasn't needed much improvement since. Probably the biggest improvement was not needing to immerse your foot and hand in buckets of salt water. ;-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Einthoven#/media/File:Willem_Einthoven_ECG.jpg

Yeah. It's right.

I looked around the app and found tags when you add a note to a reading. As to activity, it is note what you were doing before the reading, perhaps as a way of tracking triggers. The point is not to take a reading while you are active. There are many other tags you can add. You can also just type a descriptive note, which I have infrequently done.