According to some Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) watch users, tattoos on wrists can stop the Watch’s heart rate sensor from working correctly.
As the Apple, watch utilizes your heart rate to ascertain whether you are wearing it. It may not be possible to utilize Apple Pay, receive notifications, call, or utilize some apps if your wrist has tattoos.
Certain Apple Watch wearers reported the tattoo issue on Twitter as well as Reddit. Apple blog iMore acknowledged the existence of the problem.
The process of computation of heart beat
The issue comes because of the way that the Apple watch senses heartbeat. The watch’s back quickly emits green and infrared light at your skin, which gets taken in or is thrown back by your red blood. When the heart beats, there is increased blood in your wrist, and there is decreased blood between beats. By observing the time between heartbeats, the Apple Watch can compute the heart rate.
Solid colored tatoos especially the red ones also take in the green light and throw back red light. Black tattoos take in both the green and red light giving incorrect data to the Apple watch’s heart rate sensor.
No issues with dark skin
The Apple Watch functions well with dark colored skin, scars as well as skin abrasions. The latter are translucent letting light pass through. Tattoo ink is opaque, not allowing outside light from going through the skin. A tattoo can prevent the Watch from sensing it is touching your skin, resulting in repeatedly having to re-enter your code if you have wrist detection activated.
One Reddit user discovered that he could switch off the Apple Watch’s wrist detection, letting notifications be received. However, he couldn’t avail of Apple Pay or receive calls without the wrist detection setting activated.
A request for comment did not elicit response from an Apple spokeswoman. The solution to this problem may be is to wear the watch on the wrist, which is not tattooed or wait for the next generation of Apple watch where it’s hoped the problem is fixed.
