Atrial fibrillation is a form of irregular heart rhythm and can be recognized by the heart rate sensor in an Apple Watch. If you have this condition, the Apple Watch can help you map this using the AF history.
This feature is only available for individuals diagnosed with atrial fibrillation by a physician. If this is the case, as an Apple Watch wearer you can choose to keep track of your AF history. We explain how to set and use this.
Atrial fibrillation in brief
Atrial fibrillation, also called atrial fibrillation, is a heart rhythm disorder in which the atria of the heart contract irregularly, making blood flow to the ventricles inefficient. This leads to an irregular and often accelerated heartbeat. The disorder can cause palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness and fatigue. Atrial fibrillation is a rhythm disorder that is not life-threatening, but usually requires treatment. This is to prevent damage to the heart. For more information, we refer you to heart foundation.
Apple Watch detects Atrial Fibrillation
One of the biggest and most important features of the Apple Watch Series 4 or later is the ability to take an electrocardiogram (ECG), also known as an ECG. The Apple Watch uses the heart rate sensor and the Digital Crown for this. One of the points that the ECG function looks at are signals of atrial fibrillation. You can read exactly how that works in the highlighted article below.
AF history
Have you been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation? Then you can choose to enable the AF history in the Health app in combination with an Apple Watch. AF history checks your heart rhythm regularly for signs of atrial fibrillation. After a week it is estimated how often your heart beats
knocked irregularly while wearing your Apple Watch. This way you can see at a glance how often atrial fibrillation (AF) occurred.
Conditions for using AF history
- A doctor must have diagnosed you with atrial fibrillation
- You must be 22 years or older
- The iPhone and Apple Watch must both have the latest software version
- You must wear the Apple Watch at least 12 hours a day, 5 days a week to consistently receive estimates.
- Heart Rate and Wear Detection must be turned on on Apple Watch
- During energy saving mode, no heart data is recorded
Enable AF history
- Open the Health app on your iPhone.
- Tap ‘Data’ and ‘Heart’.
- Tap ‘AF History’.
- Tap Configure, then tap Get Started.
- Enter your date of birth.
- Select Yes to indicate that you have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation by a doctor, then tap Continue.
- Tap Continue to learn more about AF history, the results you may see, and life factors.
- Tap Done.
Atrial fibrillation is a chronic condition, but how long people suffer from atrial fibrillation can change. People with atrial fibrillation often lead healthy and active lives. People may be able to shorten the duration of atrial fibrillation by exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy body weight, and treating other medical conditions that may increase atrial fibrillation. This makes recording the AF history extremely useful and important. If atrial fibrillation is not treated, it can lead to heart failure or stroke due to blood clots.
View estimate for your AF history
Once you’ve collected enough measurements, you’ll receive a weekly notification on your Apple Watch with the estimated percentage of time your heart showed signs of atrial fibrillation in the previous week. You can also view your history in more detail in the Health app.
- Open the Health app on your iPhone
- Go to ‘Data’
- Open the ‘Heart’ option
- Tap ‘AF History’
The estimate of your AF history is shown as a percentage. A lower percentage means that you suffered from atrial fibrillation less often, while a higher percentage means that you suffered from atrial fibrillation more often. The AF history will never be 0%. By default this will be 2% or less.
In your AF history highlights, you will find the day, week, and time of day when your heart most often shows signs of atrial fibrillation. This will help you better determine how life factors may influence your condition. After collecting enough measurements, your AF history highlights will become available after you wear your Apple Watch for a period of 6 weeks.
Register life factors
‘AF History’ checks your heart rhythm periodically for signs of atrial fibrillation. Although atrial fibrillation can occur at any time, there are factors that can affect the duration of the signs of atrial fibrillation your heart has shown over the past week. ‘AF history’ looks at the following life factors that can affect how long your heart exhibits atrial fibrillation:
- Number of minutes of exercise
- Sleep
- Weight
- Alcohol consumption
- Number of minutes of mindfulness
If you consistently wear the Apple Watch when you exercise, sleep or meditate, the minutes you spend exercising, sleeping and mindfulness are automatically tracked. You can tap on each life factor and then ‘Log’ to manually record the details.
What to pay attention to
Since the irregular rhythm notification feature is not intended for people with atrial fibrillation, it is automatically disabled when you set up AF History. ‘AF History’ does not send a notification when atrial fibrillation is present. Apple Watch only checks periodically for signs of atrial fibrillation.
‘AF History’ may not detect every instance of an irregular rhythm. In addition, the Apple Watch cannot detect a heart attack or stroke. If you experience pain or a tight feeling in your chest, or if you think you are having a heart attack, call 911 immediately.