Future Apple Watch models to get a stress tracking feature
The Apple Watch already does a perfectly decent job at tracking physical activity and some aspects of health. Future iterations, though, may come with another feature. This one is to do with stress.
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According to well-known tipsters Max Weinbach and the folks over at EverythingApplePro, upcoming models of the device may even be able to warn users of panic attacks. The watch would use its built-in sensors to monitor for stress, and this would probably work in conjunction with the breathing app to help users stay chilled.
The device would use past data to learn when stress sessions are particularly high and in danger of becoming a fully fledged panic attack. That way users that are susceptible to this kind of thing could receive a notification ahead of time helping them avoid such episodes.
By the sounds of it, the functionality should be very useful. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be coming to the Apple Watch 6 as the tech is still in early development. When it does, it should be available to everyone with Watch Series 4 and above. This means Apple is utilising existing sensors to spot stress.
Garmin already does something similar. Many of its wearables monitor stress around the clock by looking at heart rate variability. This is the time variation between individual beats. The higher the difference, the less stressed you are. As a Garmin watch user I can attest the functionality works fairly well, although it is not perfect.
And while the stress tracking feature may not be coming to Series 6 for a while, there are some new features that are. The device will reportedly get both sleep tracking and blood oxygen monitoring. These will come as part of watchOS7 so will be available to some older watch models, too. There will also be new parental controls and a special kids mode. Other rumours are to do with Series 6 having better water resistance and Touch ID.
All will be revealed soon. The Cupertino-based outfit is due to hold its developer conference in early June where it will provide new details about its software and hardware.
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