Apple WatchSource: iMore

What you need to know

  • Apple Watch may have saved another life.
  • A 13-year-old in Oklahoma had undiagnosed SVT.
  • The watch noticed a racing heart and alerted its wearer.

Apple CEO Tim Cook previously said that health could be Apple's biggest legacy, and the Apple Watch is doing its best to prove him correct. It's already been credited with saving lives and now it appears to have saved a 13-year-old from Oklahoma.

According to reports by local news outlet KFOR and 9to5Mac, the watch alerted 13-year-old Skylar Joslin that his heart rate was too high. So he sent a screenshot to his mother.

Skylar was sitting in class in April of 2018, when he got an alarming notification on his two-week-old Apple Watch. "I got a text message along with a screenshot of his heart rate that was 190," said Skylar's mom Liz. "The following message saying, 'Mommy, there's something wrong. I'm not doing anything.'"

After picking her son up and taking him to the hospital, the parent saw Skylar's heart rate reach as high as 280 beats per minute. That led doctors to diagnose him with supraventricular tachycardia, or SVT. That meant an almost eight-hour operation was needed to correct the issue. Thankfully, all went well.

The news of Skylar's potentially live-saving alert has led to at least one person buying an Apple Watch. It's likely more will now follow suit, too.

Now Skylar wears his Apple Watch every day, and his situation has even convinced some others to get one of their own. "My science teacher, which is also my youth leader, she got one because of it," Skylar said. "It's going to allow Skylar to participate in all sports, all activity without wires," Liz said.