AliveCor Announces Kardia Apple Watch Band For Medical Grade EKG Analysis

Medical smartphone accessory maker AliveCor has announced that it plans to bring the “first medical-grade EKG band” to Apple Watches with a band they are calling the “Kardia Band.”

The Kardia Band has an integrated metal sensor on the band that takes live EKG readings right from your wrist. All wearers will need to do is navigate to the Kardia Apple Watch app, place their finger on the sensor built into the band, wait for about 30-seconds, and the analysis is then complete. Wearers will also able to speak to the Apple Watch via its built-in microphone to detail such things as shortness of breath or palpitations, which are often associated with heart-rate flucuations.

Users can record a single-lead EKG by simply touching Kardia Band’s integrated sensor that communicates with the Watch app, Kardia by AliveCor™. The Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Detector then uses Kardia’s automated analysis process (algorithm) to instantly detect the presence of AF in an EKG, the most common cardiac arrhythmia and a leading cause of stroke.

Also included is the Normal Detector, which indicates whether your heart rate and rhythm are normal, and the Unreadable Detector, which tells you when to retake an EKG so physicians receive only the highest quality recordings.

Once the recordings are recorded, they are stored on the iPhone where they can be viewed via the iPhone-compatible Kardia app. Wearers can also send the information to their preferred doctor if they feel that activity is somewhat irregular. The app can also connect to Apple’s Health app so that users can monitor their EKG readings through the day, week, and even month.

The Kardia Band is still undergoing clearance approval by the FDA, but the company hopes the device will be available in late spring. For now, the Kardia Alivecor app can be downloaded via the App Store and works with the companies current iPhone cases.