In addition to traditional medical alert systems, several companies are creating new ways for people to keep safe both in and outside their homes. There are voice-activated medical alerts, Bluetooth systems, and even in-car emergency response systems as with Bay Alarm Medical. One of the most exciting of these innovations is the medical alert smartwatch.
Apple Watch
Medical alert smartwatches come in many shapes and sizes, and while Apple is not known for creating this type of technology, their new Apple watch has an impressive array of health and safety features. But will it replace a traditional medical alert system?
Apple Watch Pros and Cons
Apple Watch Pros
Attractive Design: Like any Apple product, the Apple Watch has a sleek and sophisticated design that anyone would be happy to wear. Other medical alert smartwatches tend to be a bit clunky and awkward looking.
Media Features: The Apple Watch has just about any feature you could want from a smartphone. With it, you can send messages, make calls, and utilize a plethora of apps.
Fall Detection: With the Emergency SOS App, you can make use of automatic fall detection that will contact emergency responders in the event of an emergency.
Health Metrics: Through a variety of free and paid health tracking apps, your Apple Watch can keep track of your steps, heart rate, and even your sleep.
Apple Watch Cons
No Professional Monitoring: Although the Emergency SOS app can place distress calls, these will go directly to 911 as opposed to the professional response agents of a monitoring center.
No GPS Coordinates: Whereas traditional mobile medical alert systems will use GPS technology to report your location to a response agent, an Apple Watch places 911 calls like a cell phone, meaning that operators won’t be able to quickly trace your location.
Apple Watch Medical Alert Features
You’re probably already familiar with the features of an Apple Watch. In addition to providing you with the time, it can also make calls, send messages, and perform just about any function of a smartphone, apart from taking photos.
Additionally, an Apple Watch has some unique features, allowing it to straddle the line between medical alert systems and smartphones.
Apple Watch Automatic Fall Detection
Standard to nearly all medical alert systems, automatic fall detection allows a device to place a distress call without a user having to press a series of buttons. Since it’s possible for a fall to incapacitate a user, this feature can be life-saving.
To activate this feature, you’ll want to use the Apple Watch Health app. If you should fall while wearing your watch, it will automatically make a distress noise and call 911. Additionally, it will send messages to anyone who you’ve added to your emergency contact list, informing them that a fall has occurred.
FYI: An Apple Watch will automatically activate fall detection for users aged 65 and older.
Apple Watch Emergency Calls
Since an Apple Watch can function similarly to a cell phone, you can also use it to make traditional phone calls. With the built-in voice assistant, you can also place hands-free calls to any of your contacts.
Additionally, you can hold down the watch’s side button for a few seconds. This will also trigger a 911 call.
Apple Watch Health Tracking
Built into the latest Apple Watches is a suite of health tracking apps. The Health app automatically notifies you in the event of an abnormally low or high heart rate. It can even check for signs of irregular rhythms in your heartbeat.
Apple Health App
There’s also an ECG app for users who experience symptoms of rapid or skipped heartbeats. With this app, you can capture an ECG reading and bring it in to share with your doctor. There’s also a Medical ID app, which allows you to list important information such as allergies, conditions, and current medications. This is visible to first responders without them requiring your password.
Apple Watch Free Health Apps
In addition to the health features built into each Apple Watch, there are also some great free apps that further the health tracking metrics.
Sleep++: By using this app, you can track your sleep patterns, phases, and overall quality. Just make sure your watch is charged before bed!
Map My Run: With this app, you can track the duration, distance, and steps of your run. It will also record your pace and heart rate. Don’t let the name fool you; this app works for walks or jogs as well as runs.
WebMD: In addition to WebMD’s widely known symptom checker, this app also allows you to set medication reminders, a great feature for those struggling to manage multiple medications.
Apple Watch Medical Alert Cost
Apple Watch Series 3
Apple Watch SE
Apple Watch Series 6
Cost
$199
$279
$339
Health Features
Heart rate notifications
Irregular rhythm notifications
Irregular rhythm notifications
SOS button
Voice calls
Heart rate notifications
Irregular rhythm notifications
SOS button
Voice calls
Fall notification
Heart rate notifications
Irregular rhythm notifications
SOS button
Voice calls
ECG app
Blood oxygen detection
How Apple Watch Stacks Up
When it comes to smartwatch medical alert systems, our favorite is the Medical Guardian’s Freedom Guardian. This is due to the option of 24/7 professional monitoring and its durable design. With that said, the Freedom Guardian costs $99 and requires monthly monitoring costs of $44.95. So after one year of use, you’ll have paid more for the Freedom Guardian.
Apple is known for making devices that are durable, stylish, and spilling over with functionality, and the Apple Watch is no exception. With that said, it falls a little bit short on the features that make a watch a bona fide medical alert system. It would be ideal for a user not prone to falls or getting lost but one who nevertheless wants to keep better track of their health.
Written By
Amie Clark
Amie has been writing about senior care products and services for the last decade. She is particularly passionate about new technologies that help improve the quality of life for seniors and their families. Seeing her parents and grandparents age made Amie ask herself, “Would this be good enough for my loved ones?” In her spare time, Amie enjoys outdoor adventures and spontaneous road trips. Learn more about Amie here
17 Comments
Hello,
I just came across this thread, and I’m very interested in finding a push button alert system for my business. You comment a lot on the medical alert potential of apple watch, and I wonder if there have been any significant strides made since your original post.
More specifically, I run a biofeedback office, and I am often in and out of rooms while tending to other patients. It would be very helpful to have a button that would signal an alert to one or more apple watches so that myself or my staff could know who needs our attention.
I would greatly appreciate any recommendations you have that would meet my needs.
Thanks!
David
Sorry for my belated response. ZDNet.com just released a review titled: 10 best smartwatches for the 2015 holiday season. I hear great things about the Samsung Gear2 devices, but they are android devices (not yet ready to pair to iPhones). If you guys have iPhones/iPads, I think the Apple watch would do the trick (pebble devices would too). If you had a staff member keeping track of folks in-need, that person could text you, or a clinical-user-group that “Betty” in room 3 needs immediate attention. That may work.
Depending on your practice, you’re receptionist could also triage patients and alert your staff that way too… Hope that helps! A
Thanks, Amie, but I was more interested in wireless buttons that would alert clinicians when someone was in need. This would allow a patient to be in a room without a clinician but still indicate when they need attention. Ideally, it would be connected to the biofeedback software that would trigger an automatic notification to clinicians.
I haven’t found anything like this, but I thought you might know of some product. The closest I’ve seen is medical call/alert buttons. Those don’t seem compatible with smart phone/watch technology yet though.
Hmm- ok, how about the VALRT https://www.theseniorlist.com/2015/05/product-review-v-alrt-emergency-alert/ which is compatible with smart phones and has no monthly fees. Hopefully I’m getting closer? 🙂
Dearest Amie and readers,
We have just released production of iCE Angel – ID™, a free global Medical Alert and Emergency Identification system that immediately notifies your family and gives them instant access to critical information such as your medical history, insurance details, and current location in an emergency anywhere in the world. We offer both a panic button for rapid self activation and also an emergency QR card. that any rescuer or passer-by can simply scan using any scanner (or failing that, enter your member ID in our website) to activate that emergency alert on your behalf if you are unconscious or unable to trigger your own panic button. What that means for the elderly especially, is that they DO NOT NEED TO CARRY OR MAKE USE OF ANY BATTERY DEPENDENT DEVICE or require any tech skills at all…. because as the adult child you would sign up an iCE Angel – ID™ account for yourself and then add you elderly parents as a “dependent member” and maintain their profiles (medical history etc) for them via your account. Then you print out as many emergency QR cards as you want, and attach or place them in you parent’s wallet, pocket, handbag, car, keys, around their neck, or wherever. In an emergency, an angel (rescuer) can trigger an alert for your parents by scanning their QR code for them (or entering their member ID in our website if they do not have a scanner available). The scan then triggers a fully automated electronic process of notification and elective sharing of critical emergency information with the pre-selected contact persons. We are testing a corporate solution right now for a senior living centre where the centre has a corporate account and All their residents are added as dependent members to that corporate account and each resident is issued with their own emergency QR card(s). By the way, if your parents do have a smartphone or smartwatch, then they could in addition ALSO sync their own panic button to those devices too.
We have a web service with iOS / Android apps built on an “API platform” which in simple terms means that our service (or parts of it) can easily be integrated with other software applications – and even hardware applications such as smartwatches, car crash sensors, and medical devices. We will be rolling out many more features and you can follow our updates at https://www.facebook.com/iceangelid or sign up for our free service at https://www.iceangelid.com.
Be blessed and be safe 🙂
Hi David, I know this is late but I think our service will work for you. We currently use smartphone panic buttons (and will release an Apple and Android smartwatch panic button soon). Our standard solution allows for two contact persons to be alerted and each contact person can choose how they wish to be notified (email, mobile push notification, Facebook Messenger, Twitter direct message).
Regarding automatic alerts, I imagine that it is quite possible to integrate our alert API into your software to trigger those alerts if the biofeedback sensors reach certain pre-defined parameters… Feel free to drop us a private message at https://www.facebook.com/iceangelid
Best wishes, Richie
Am I understanding it correctly that to use the lifeline from Verizon , I would also need to have the I phone with me. I have been looking at the watch model .
Hi Mary- Well the SureResponse is the Verizon model, and Lifeline is from Philips. You would not need to take an additional phone with you if you purchased the mobile (cellular) versions of either medical alert system. Please ask a lot of questions and do your research before purchasing. If we can assist you, please let us know.
I was thinking along the same lines, Tim, but you expressed it much better than I….I don’t even know what an accelerormeter is. I used to joke if Tiffany made an alert pendant necklace, older women would love wearing it. The Apple watch looks cool.
I was thinking it probably also has a gps built in. (Do you know?) If so, help could be on the way very quickly even if the person couldn’t speak.
Thanks for the information and forward-thinking. possibilities.
Hi Susan! The Apple Watch definitely looks cool, but now that we know more about it, it’s probably a few years away from prime-time. To answer your question; An accelerometer is a device that allows the phone to detect it’s picture mode, or landscape mode. It detects motion and translates that into information. In the case of medical alert devices accelerometers are used in the fall detection devices because through mathematical algorithms they can detect when someone has fallen, OR when someone hasn’t moved in a while (both of which would be cause for concern).
Unfortunately, the Apple Watch needs some time to grow. Here are a list of why we don’t think its ready for seniors (or most consumers for that matter).
1. It’s not waterproof (no not even the sports edition). It is not even recommended to be worn in the shower.
2. It’s tethered to the iPhone. Hopefully it will have it’s own communication ability down the road so you don’t have to take your phone with you all the time. So now you have 2 devices that do largely the same thing.
3. Battery life of the Apple Watch is being called into question. They say you get a day’s worth of charge, but I suppose that the real numbers will become evident when they start shipping them (next year some time).
4. The watch face is awfully small. Now my eyes are pretty good, but I don’t like reading on my iPhone 5S let alone a tiny watch… My iPad is about as small as I like to read on… But for the most rudimentary of tasks (like depressing an emergency call button) this might be too small for a lot of aging adults.
Other question on GPS: I don’t know if the GPS is built-in or if it’s just borrowing the GPS functionality from the iPhone which someone would need on their person. I’ll dig into that one to find out – Great question. (Edited: No GPS on Apple Watch. See below comments)
So in summary, for now it’s probably a nice to have… Down the road (a couple years down the road) it may turn into a need to have. One nice wearable comparable is the Google Glass product. Even thought it’s not widely available, it’s been met with only mild enthusiasm. It’s a nice wearable comparable because it’s also an extension of one’s cell phone except plastered to ones face.
Thanks for the great questions – I may have to turn this into a post!
Susan – An update to the GPS capabilities of the Apple Watch. In short there are none on this early version. It borrows from ones iPhone (too bad). take care – A
Susan,
Philips Lifeline has a medical alert system on a pendant called AutoAlert that detects falls and sends in a help call automatically if the person can’t press their help button if they are confused, disorientated or unconscious or perhaps won’t press because they don’t want to bother anyone. It prevents a person from long lie times after a fall or other event where they are down and cannot summon help.
A new help button on a pendant that Philips Lifeline invented is called GoSafe and it is superior as it is the only mobile system with 6 advanced location technologies to help find you in an emergency. It utilizes assisted GPS technology which tells the device where to look for cell towers at any given time and recognizes the location of known WIFi hot spots to determine the person’s location. It also has falls detection. There is 2 way voice communication over the help button. The Philips Lifeline service is available in Canada and US.. All the help buttons are waterproof, lightweight, esthetically friendly, and most importantly have saved lives and improved the quality of life of many users,.
Thanks for the feedback Terri- we have an updated review of Philips Lifeline here- https://www.theseniorlist.com/2016/01/philips-lifeline-review-and-user-feedback/.
Hi David,
Sorry for my belated response. ZDNet.com just released a review titled: 10 best smartwatches for the 2015 holiday season. I hear great things about the Samsung Gear2 devices, but they are android devices (not yet ready to pair to iPhones). If you guys have iPhones/iPads, I think the Apple watch would do the trick (pebble devices would too). If you had a staff member keeping track of folks in-need, that person could text you, or a clinical-user-group that “Betty” in room 3 needs immediate attention. That may work.
Depending on your practice, you’re receptionist could also triage patients and alert your staff that way too… Hope that helps! A
Hmm- ok, how about the VALRT https://www.theseniorlist.com/2015/05/product-review-v-alrt-emergency-alert/ which is compatible with smart phones and has no monthly fees. Hopefully I’m getting closer? 🙂
Cool- We’ll check it out Eric! – thx, A
Hi Mary- Well the SureResponse is the Verizon model, and Lifeline is from Philips. You would not need to take an additional phone with you if you purchased the mobile (cellular) versions of either medical alert system. Please ask a lot of questions and do your research before purchasing. If we can assist you, please let us know.
Hi Susan! The Apple Watch definitely looks cool, but now that we know more about it, it’s probably a few years away from prime-time. To answer your question; An accelerometer is a device that allows the phone to detect it’s picture mode, or landscape mode. It detects motion and translates that into information. In the case of medical alert devices accelerometers are used in the fall detection devices because through mathematical algorithms they can detect when someone has fallen, OR when someone hasn’t moved in a while (both of which would be cause for concern).
Unfortunately, the Apple Watch needs some time to grow. Here are a list of why we don’t think its ready for seniors (or most consumers for that matter).
1. It’s not waterproof (no not even the sports edition). It is not even recommended to be worn in the shower.
2. It’s tethered to the iPhone. Hopefully it will have it’s own communication ability down the road so you don’t have to take your phone with you all the time. So now you have 2 devices that do largely the same thing.
3. Battery life of the Apple Watch is being called into question. They say you get a day’s worth of charge, but I suppose that the real numbers will become evident when they start shipping them (next year some time).
4. The watch face is awfully small. Now my eyes are pretty good, but I don’t like reading on my iPhone 5S let alone a tiny watch… My iPad is about as small as I like to read on… But for the most rudimentary of tasks (like depressing an emergency call button) this might be too small for a lot of aging adults.
Other question on GPS: I don’t know if the GPS is built-in or if it’s just borrowing the GPS functionality from the iPhone which someone would need on their person. I’ll dig into that one to find out – Great question. (Edited: No GPS on Apple Watch. See below comments)
So in summary, for now it’s probably a nice to have… Down the road (a couple years down the road) it may turn into a need to have. One nice wearable comparable is the Google Glass product. Even thought it’s not widely available, it’s been met with only mild enthusiasm. It’s a nice wearable comparable because it’s also an extension of one’s cell phone except plastered to ones face.
Thanks for the great questions – I may have to turn this into a post!
Susan – An update to the GPS capabilities of the Apple Watch. In short there are none on this early version. It borrows from ones iPhone (too bad). take care – A
Thanks for the feedback Terri- we have an updated review of Philips Lifeline here- https://www.theseniorlist.com/2016/01/philips-lifeline-review-and-user-feedback/.