AliveCor, a company that builds heart-monitoring sensors for smartphones is partnering with Apple to bring you a smart watch that can record your heart activities. The company headed up by ex-Google SVP of engineering Vic Gundotra, has unveiled a medical grade heart rate monitoring Apple Watch strap.
The Kardia band is not a replacement fitness tracker however, but a medical grade heart rate monitor that has the potential to detect heart related issues like :
Palpitations, shortness of breath and Irregular heart rate which could increase the risk of a stroke.
The current Apple Watch heart rate setup relies on something called photoplethysmography. This is essentially an optical heart rate sensor based technology that produces a reading by flashing lights against the skin to detect blood flow.