Apple Watch's ECG app is coming to South Korea and Russia

ECG results on Apple Watch Series 4 (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple Watch's ECG app is coming to South Korea and Russia.
The feature has already saved lives elsewhere.
Apple says iOS 14.2 and watchOS 7.1 will enable the feature.

Apple has confirmed (opens in new tab) that it is bringing the Apple Watch's ECG app to users of compatible Apple Watch models in South Korea. A Meduza report also says that Russian users are going to get in on the act as well.

Apple's South Korean Newsroom post says that the new functionality will be part of IOS 14.2 and watchOS 7.1 when they are released, although it doesn't go on to say when that will be. The iOS 14.2 release candidate is already in the hands of developers, however. So it's unlikely to be too long before it's made available publicly.

The ECG functionality has already saved multiple lives and it's hoped that it will continue to do so when rolled out to South Korea and Russia soon. It's already available in almost 50 countries worldwide with all Apple Watch Series 4, Apple Watch Series 5, and Apple Watch Series 6 models compatible (opens in new tab).

The ECG app records an electrocardiogram which represents the electrical pulses that make your heart beat. The ECG app checks these pulses to get your heart rate and see if the upper and lower chambers of your heart are in rhythm. If they're out of rhythm, that could be AFib.

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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.