Nobody had even heard of “afib” before apple found out that their HR sensor failures can sometimes be used to detect an obscure heart problem, now it’s a make or break feature (and rather useless)
by the way, cardiogram does exactly what apple did to find out if they could use their HR data for some analysis, they do studies (and people have to enroll)
Hi, I'll chime in. As a Flight Paramedic and early adopter of the Fenix 6, I can shed some light here.
The Fenix 6 dose not detect the Heart Rate irregularity of A-Fib, nor does it report on that. The most concerning part of A-Fib is Rapid Ventricular Response or RVR. The Fenix 6 does have a rate warning that you can set. The default is 130 beats per minute.
Go to Sensors & Accessories > Wrist Heart Rate > Abnormal HR Alert
There you can set the alert threshold and toggle it on/off.
Optical HRM isn't useful for detecting A-Fib so that feature is dependent on getting an electrical signal. The reason Apple Watch can do it is because they've added the ability to detect the electrical signal by touching the crown knob on the side of the watch on the newer models.
How accurate the Apple method is I don't know, but it is that hardware feature, which Garmin wearables lack, that allows it to be offered on the Apple Watch.
Um, not an obscure problem. My mom’s life was literally saved by her iWatch. I think that the Garmin partnership with Cardiogram app proves the watch can monitor and detect it.
