On my social media page, I have a friend who is very excited because he got his Apple Watch. I hope he doesn’t have tattoos on his wrists.
Apple just confirmed that in layman’s terms, tattoo and iWatch don’t mix. Complaints are pouring in about the watches’ failure to read heartbeats and even failure to detect skin contact at all on heavily tattooed wrists. According to Apple’s own statement, changes to your skin (hint hint…tattoos) can alter heart rate monitor performance. Some ink and tattoo art can block light and make readings difficult. Not all tattoos are affected. Tattoo colors having the biggest clashes with the iWatch ?are black, red, and other dark inks. And some people with body art are having no problems whatsoever. If you’re having tattoo problems, it’s been suggested you turn off wrist detection in the companion app. But if you do that, you shut down the watch’s access to Apple Pay. I’ve read that when people cover it up, the watch works perfectly. And you could always wear a chest based heart rate monitor with Bluetooth connectivity, but that would be worst case scenario.
Since I was a kid, I’ve always been afraid of needles. Even getting a flu shot was about as scary as a root canal. That’s why I never got a tattoo. So Apple Watch needs to do better by those who don’t have the same fear. I don’t know how many complaints Apple has received because of this issue. But I do know many, many people are excited about Apple watch. And I do know more people are getting body art on more body parts, like the wrist. And to have complaints about malfunctions now is the last thing Apple wants. How would you make this right? Are they doing a good job in making it right?