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Apple Watch App that alerts to changes in HR?

BigArnie profile image
11 Replies

Hello all,

I am looking for an app that can alert me when at rest to a change in my HR (up or down) of, say, 5 bpm. This will not necessarily be caught by the standard alerts that go off if (say) your HR drops below 50 or goes over 100. I think this feature might help to catch the start of episodes when I sometimes find that if I notice the change then I can move around and prevent the episode from getting going. Many thanks.

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BigArnie profile image
BigArnie
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11 Replies
CDreamer profile image
CDreamer

I don’t believe there is such a thing. If there was it would be going off every 30 secs as our heart rate should vary moment to moment - even at rest.

May I ask why you would want this?

Research HRV - heart rate variability.

I was only interested if my HR dropped at night during sleep more than 20 or rose above 120 during exercise as they were my triggers.

Apple Watch will give you a graph and averages but doesn’t monitor all the time. I’m sure other smart watches would also.

BigArnie profile image
BigArnie in reply toCDreamer

Thanks CD. I wouldn’t really expect my HR to jump up or down by 5 bpm every 30 seconds whilst at rest! Certainly not the norm for me anyway :-) (Or perhaps I would need to set the threshold a bit lower - if such an app exists. )I get that there would be plenty of unnecessary alerts when moving and could live with that, but I do feel that a quick drop or a quick rise is often the beginning of an episode for me and I want to catch it early. Thus if I am resting at 65 bpm, a sudden drop to 60 is potentially significant and I would prefer to know that before it drops to a more general low HR alert that for me I would probably set at more like 55 IF it was a slower decline. Thanks.

fairgo45 profile image
fairgo45 in reply toBigArnie

The app cardiogram gives the option to notify you if your heart rate drops or rises above a number you choose there is a free one weeks trial to try it.I'm using android not sure if it works for Apple iPhone users

Elli86 profile image
Elli86 in reply toBigArnie

Hi bigarnie.

Definitely agree with cdreamer. With a bpm threshold of +/- 5 beats you would be getting constant notifications. When the watch measures heart rate it does so every 6/7 seconds and it will be constantly varying. You would soon be turning the notifications off.

As some others have said you can set it too notify you of a more significant change in rate though 👍

Hi BigArnie, you can set your iwatch to alert you if your heart rate raises or lowers for more than 10 minutes, at a specific rate set by you. I am alerted for tachycardia at a rate over 120 when I am at rest, but don't pay much heed to that because I can instantly feel a fast rate, but because I take Bisoprolol I do ask to also be alerted when my heart rate falls below 50, so that I can monitor that. The alert consists of a message on your iwatch telling you that this has occurred. You can see the basic information on your watch, but then use your iphone Health app if you want to look at the incident in more detail. Hope that helps.

Example of an alert
BigArnie profile image
BigArnie in reply to

Thank you. Much of my reply would be the same as I have responded to CD’s response above. I would add that whilst I sometimes do notice an episode “threatening” to start, that is not the case enough of the time and I would love to be able to catch them all very early on if possible.

in reply toBigArnie

That would be great BigArnie and who knows? Often apps are refined and improved and maybe one day it will be possible for us to have a pre-warning that an event's about to happen. They can do this with volcanos and earthquakes now, so here's hoping! 👍😊

fairgo45 profile image
fairgo45

Try the app cardiogram

BigArnie profile image
BigArnie in reply tofairgo45

Thank you. I checked their website and it seems their alert function does not do what I need.

Honks1 profile image
Honks1

Yes - the Apple Watch is the one for you! You set your own criteria and are also able to take an ECG which can be forward to your cardiologist. That is only one function of this watch!

BigArnie profile image
BigArnie in reply toHonks1

Thank you. I already have an Apple Watch, but I’m hoping to find an app with the specific functionality that I need. So far no luck.

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