Apple’s new heart rate features won’t work on original device
With the latest upgrades to its operating system, Apple has introduced a number of new heart rate features. But if you are the owner of the original device and were planning on using these new functions, think again because you will not find them.
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WatchOS4 will allow proud owners of the Apple Watch Series 3 and the Apple Watch Series 2 and Series 1 models to see their current heart rate just by raising their wrist. But owners of the original device will miss out. Apple discontinued this watch when the Series 2 was introduced, replacing it with Series 1.
Furthermore, the upgrade brings the addition of a “recovering heart rate” which shows how fast your heart rate drops after a workout, and the watch will alert you when it detects an abnormal spike in your readings. More precisely, it will send a message if it detects a heart rate above 120 when you’re not moving.
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For the first time, the Apple Watch will also be able to tell you your resting heart rate. This is a great addition and obvious omission in the past, as your resting heart rate is perhaps the most important indicator of your health and fitness.
Apple has not explained why owners of the original watch will not have access to this, so we can only presume its to do with hardware limitations. If you bought your device back in 2015 and want to take advantage of these new heart rate monitoring functions, you will need to upgrade to a newer model.
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