On its 5th birthday, Apple Watch may have saved another life after alerting its wearer of aFib

Apple Watch ECG feature (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple Watch might have saved another life on its fifth birthday.
The man was already an aFib sufferer.
But his Apple Watch alerted him of the severity.

Apple Watch may have saved another life, (almost) five years to the day cince it first went on sale. According to a tweet earlier today a man was alerted to a problem by his Apple Watch with a 911 call putting him into hospital.

According to Twittter user Kevin Nether, his father already suffers from aFib. He was also feeling unwel when his watch alerted him to the severity of the situation ahead of a call to emergency services.

and he knows that's not normal. He called 9-1-1- instantly. Not saying he's out of the weeds yet or anything, still in hospital. But I am super thankful for medical technology to help people know when there is an issue, and it's something you can't sleep off.and he knows that's not normal. He called 9-1-1- instantly. Not saying he's out of the weeds yet or anything, still in hospital. But I am super thankful for medical technology to help people know when there is an issue, and it's something you can't sleep off.— // Kevin Nether "Pandemic Papi" (@TechNinjaSpeaks) April 24, 2020 April 24, 2020

Tha man is currently in hospital recovering and I'm sure you'll join me in wishing him all the best.

According to May Clinic, aFib is an irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke and other issues.

Atrial fibrillation is an irregular and often rapid heart rate that can increase your risk of strokes, heart failure and other heart-related complications.

Apple Watch has a long history of helping to alert wearers of heart problems even if, as is the case here, they were already aware of difficulties.

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.