Every Senior With an Apple Watch Should Enable These 5 Health Notifications

Apple Watch is worn by people of all ages, so wearing one does not identify someone as vulnerable in the way a medical pendant might. This can matter to older adults who do not see themselves as seniors, as the National Institute on Aging notes. For people who want to live independently, Apple Watch health features can offer support without defining them by age.

Stand reminders, movement reminders, fitness tracking and the step counter can encourage regular activity. The watch also offers health monitoring and self-care tools, while the Find My app can let relatives check a person’s location with that person’s permission.

This guide covers five useful areas to review: Emergency SOS, Fall Detection, heart-health alerts, medication reminders and sound and accessibility settings. Each feature has its own setup steps and limitations.

Apple Watch includes Emergency SOS, Medical ID and Emergency Contacts for emergency situations. To use Emergency SOS, press and hold the side button, then drag the Emergency Call slider or keep holding the button until the call begins. The watch needs a cellular connection with an active plan, Wi-Fi calling or the paired iPhone nearby.

To enable Emergency SOS, open the Watch app on the iPhone, tap Emergency SOS and turn on Hold Side Button to Dial.

Set up Medical ID and trusted contacts in the iPhone’s Health app:

• Tap your profile picture and select Medical ID.
• Tap Edit, enter relevant details and add trusted Emergency Contacts.
• Review health details such as allergies and conditions regularly.

Medical ID can show details to people who find the Apple Watch, helping medical responders review information the wearer has entered. Keeping allergies and conditions current makes the displayed information more useful.

Fall risk can have serious consequences: the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says more than one in four people aged 65 or older fall unexpectedly each year, and 319,000 older people are hospitalized for hip fractures after a fall every year. Pew Research reported that 26% of US adults aged 65 or older lived alone in 2023. Fall Detection is one safety feature that may help in a fall-related emergency.

Fall Detection is enabled automatically if the Health app records that the wearer is 55 or older. When active, the watch can call emergency services if its built-in sensors detect that the wearer is immobile after a fall.

After a detected fall, an alert appears on the Apple Watch screen asking whether the wearer fell. If the wearer requests help, does not respond or remains immobile, the watch can call emergency services. To check the setting, open Emergency SOS on the iPhone and turn the feature On, or open Settings > SOS on Apple Watch, turn Fall Detection On, select Always On and confirm.

Crash Detection can perform a similar emergency call after a car crash and is available on recent Apple Watch models. To enable it, go to Emergency SOS and turn Call After Serious Crash On.

Apple Watch cannot identify heart attacks, but it can monitor heart rate and support checks for irregular heart rhythms, including possible atrial fibrillation. The source reports that CDC data puts US cardiovascular disease deaths at one every 34 seconds.

Green and infrared LED lights on the back of the watch measure heart rate automatically. To take an ECG (electrocardiogram), open the ECG app, hold the wrist steady and touch the Digital Crown with a finger; the reading takes thirty seconds.

Heart-rate notifications can warn when the heart rate rises above or falls below a set threshold, such as above 120 bpm or below 40 bpm. The Health app on the iPhone also displays a VO2 Max reading, which assesses cardio fitness using information gathered by watch sensors.

To enable heart features, open Settings > Heart on Apple Watch and turn on the available options you want to use.

To create Medication Reminders, open the Health app on the iPhone, tap Browse > Medications and then Add Medication. Search for the medicine, tap Add, follow the prompts to set a schedule and tap Done.

• Add multiple medicines by repeating the setup process.
• Apple Watch can tap the wrist and send a notification when a scheduled dose is due.
• The Health app can keep a medication log to share with a doctor.

Medication Reminders pair a schedule with a notification, while the log provides a record that can be shared with a healthcare professional. The Apple Watch sleep tracker can also flag potential sleep apnea for medical investigation: turn on Track Sleep with Apple Watch in Sleep on the watch or in the iPhone Health app, then go to Browse > Respiratory > Sleep Apnea Notifications.

Accessibility features are included in Apple products without an extra charge, and Apple Watch offers tools intended to support independent use. The source cites Achieve as reporting that one in four US adults in their sixties experiences hearing loss.

Sound Recognition uses Apple Watch and iPhone microphones to listen for selected sounds, such as doorbells, sirens or fire alarms. To enable it, open Accessibility Settings on the iPhone, tap Sound & Name Recognition > Sound Recognition, turn it On and select the sounds to recognize.

To enlarge Apple Watch text, press the side button to open Control Center, tap the AA icon and turn the Digital Crown to adjust the font size. These display controls can make text easier to read for people with visual impairments.