Back at WWDC 2022, Apple unveiled a new watchOS feature called ‘AFib History.’ Set to arrive later this year with watchOS 9, AFib History can help track the frequency of arrhythmia in people diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.
However, often when Apple and other companies announce health features like this, there’s a delay in bringing them to Canada as they have to get regulatory approval. This time around, it looks like AFib History will be good to go at launch in Canada — it has already received approval.
As reported by MacRumors, a Health Canada regulatory filing approved AFib History for both the Apple Watch and iPhone (unfortunately, at the time of writing, the health products database appeared to be down).
MacRumors notes that Canada appears to be the second country to approve the AFib History feature after the U.S. The States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared AFib History after validating it in a clinical study. Moreover, Apple previously said AFib History on Apple Watch had an average difference of less than one percent in weekly measurements when compared to an FDA-cleared reference device.
AFib History looks like it will be a particularly useful health feature for people with atrial fibrillation. It’ll help track when a person’s heart shows symptoms of AFib, time spent in AFib, and the time of day or week when AFib was most active. Plus, Apple says all the data can be shared with doctors via a PDF.
It’s also very nice to see Canada among the first to get a new feature like this, rather than waiting months after launch for approval.
The watchOS 9 update will likely arrive in the fall (probably September) alongside the company’s new Apple Watch and iPhone models. Currently, watchOS 9 is available in beta.
Source: Health Canada Via: MacRumors
