The Apple Watch 4 Series seems to please his grandmother

Is the new Apple Watch ready for Grandma?

The Apple Watch Series 4 now in stores comes as a "Proactive Health Monitor" licensed by the Food and Drug Administration and a "guardian" who will call for help in case of a sharp drop. Its screen is 30% larger. You will not see Apple talking about "elderly citizen" in commercials, but suddenly grandmothers and women, not to mention opals, are thinking of buying one. Adult children who want to protect their parents are also curious.

So I asked for help to examine the new watch to a group of tech-savvy seniors. Seven members of the Computer Club of Rossmoor, a Californian community over 55 years old, helped me install, push and push the new model. No elderly person was injured when testing the fall detection technology.

Just when you think I'm critical, older people still have less tolerance for technology that is not clear, reliable and affordable. There was no technophobe among my assistants. After our tests, one of them – a satisfied Apple Watch owner – decided to upgrade. None of the others has been sold.

When the Watch debuted in 2015, most seniors did not understand the problem. According to Forrester Research, only 4% of Americans over the age of 65 had ever bought a smartwatch. But with this fourth release, my gang was curious. "This is one of those Dick Tracy-sized, wrist-sized iPhones," said Art Salzfass, 83.

Of course Apple for technology recognition has a lot to offer older adults often overlooked by Silicon Valley. The fact that we were even talking about FDA clearance shows how Apple Watch has become a truly personal gadget. It is the first version fast enough and connected enough to be considered as a standalone device.

What I learned from my elders is that the Apple Watch has a lot to offer seniors who are not discouraged by a $ 400 start price. It's very good to encourage you to exercise. He can collect data on your heart. You are less likely to miss calls when your phone is on your wrist (yes, like Dick Tracy).

Just do not let the hype about the capabilities of the new watch outpace its reality. It's heavier than some traditional watches and one last thing to recharge every day. Some of these new health functions have yet to prove how much they will help. As a replacement for your phone, it still has a nice little screen and even smaller buttons.

The new capabilities of the Watch in health have attracted the attention of my elders. But studying the details impressed some cold water on their expectations.

Let's start with this fall detector, a Life Alert competitor: I fell and I can not wear myself. With the new Apple Watch, a sudden drop is supposed to activate a message on its screen asking you if you need help. If you do not answer, he will place an SOS call on your wrist. "It's a really interesting feature at our age, instead of a necklace," said 76-year-old John Helmus.

Trust but check, right? I did not ask any of my elders to dive. But in the interest of science, I tried to jump edges and throw myself on furniture. The thing never went out. (The feature is only enabled by default for people over the age of 65, but I've turned it on.) It's possible, even likely, that the watch could say I was simulating.

The important thing is the real falls, not the waterfalls. Apple claims to have studied falls of 2,500 people of varying ages. However, the company did not say how many times it suffered real falls or false alarms. It's not like we're claiming the "best camera ever" on a smartphone: if Apple wants us to see its products as a vital aid, it should show us the data. Even better: peer-reviewed studies.

Apple's warning says, "Apple Watch can not detect all the falls. The more physically active you are, the more likely you are to trigger falls detection because of a high-impact activity that may feel like a fall. "

Any additional protection is welcome. But, according to the judicious language of Apple, it is better to think of the Watch as a complement, and not a replacement, to other protections. "We probably have to wait another generation, which is true of all technologies," said Jane Salzfass, 73.

The Apple Watch has always measured the pulse, and the Series 4 adds the FDA-approved electrocardiogram, a breakthrough for mainstream technology. Hold your finger on the round button on the side of the watch to read the electrical signals from your heart in about 30 seconds.

But this application will not arrive until the end of the year. So I can not compare it to a hospital quality monitor. Apple has received FDA clearance for the EKG application, as well as the ability to detect irregular heart rhythms. But "authorization" is not the same thing as "approval". Apple had to prove safety and performance through clinical validation, but "approval" requires many more tests. (A summary of Apple's published research shows that it claims to detect atrial fibrillation in 99% of cases.)

But the FDA lists some important caveats regarding these features in its letters of attribution to Apple. He indicates that the irregular rhythm detector is not intended for people diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. Electrocardiograms and heart rate function "are not intended to replace traditional methods of diagnosis or treatment." As the Washington Post reports, some cardiologists fear that people taking Watch EKG may cause a series of unnecessary visits to the office by healthy people.

Heart sensors can tell people with heart problems or anxiety when they might need to do it easily. Margery Widroe, 80, who has been using an Apple Series 3 watch for a few months, told our group a recent incident while she was at the grocery store and her watch alerted her to a high heart rate. She decided to go home and take her medicine. "It could be a big help in your life," she said.

Although the watch continues to evolve as a medical device, it may be more useful to consider it now as an aid to well-being. It offers a three-part view of your daily activity, displayed in the form of rings: your overall activity level, the time you have increased your heart rate during exercise, and the frequency with which you are standing instead to sit. In my life, this holistic view has been more useful than counting steps such as those of other trackers.