The good news is that the current Apple Watch features one of the most accurate heart rate monitors on the market.
The bad news is that its calorie counting feature could use some work.
A new medical study from Stanford University published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine on Wednesday sought to determine the validity of readings from commonly worn fitness trackers. The growing number of consumers buying and wearing devices with biometric capabilities presents a unique opportunity for preventative cardiovascular medicine, but error rates of these commercial products are largely unknown, the study says.
“People are basing life decisions on the data provided by these devices,” Euan Ashley, DPhil, FRCP, professor of cardiovascular medicine, of genetics and of biomedical data science at Stanford said in a statement. Ashley also stated that consumer devices are not bound by the same regulations as medical-grade equipment, making it difficult for doctors to quantify or otherwise apply generated data to diagnoses.