Apple Watch users in New Zealand, Chile, and Turkey are getting ECG support next week

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Apple Watch ECG feature
Apple Watch ECG feature (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • New Zealand, Chile, and Turkey are all getting ECG support.
  • Apple Watch wearers will get the watchOS 6.2 update next week.
  • The feature allows wearers to carry out an ECG on-demand.

Apple has announced that Apple Watch wearers in New Zealand, Chile, and Turkey will be able to take advantage of the ECG feature once watchOS 6.2 is made available next week.

The announcement was made via a press release, with no indication as to when the update will arrive other than "next week".

The ECG app on Apple Watch Series 4 and later will be available in New Zealand next week with iOS 13.4 and watchOS 6.2. The feature marks the first direct-to-consumer product that enables customers to take an electrocardiogram right from their wrist, capturing heart rhythm in a moment when they experience symptoms like a rapid or skipped heart beat and helping to provide critical data to physicians. The irregular rhythm notification feature on Apple Watch Series 1 or later will also occasionally check heart rhythms in the background and send a notification if an irregular heart rhythm that appears to be atrial fibrillation (AFib) is identified.

Apple Watch Ecg App

Apple Watch Ecg App (Image credit: Apple)

The ECG feature has already been proven to save lives in countries where it was already available, and by bringing it to three new countries Apple will hopefully be allowing users to detect issues that they didn't know were there. The more that happens, the more able to seek the medical help required.

Wearers of Apple Watch Series 4 and newer will be able to take the new feature for a spin once they have updated to watchOS 6.2. I'd suggest doing exactly that, too.

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Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.