Seen more often in the USA: Apple Watch worn on the ankle
A somewhat strange trend is currently emerging from North America: users are wearing their Apple Watch elsewhere. This supposedly helps with accuracy.
Apple Watch on the table: why not put it on your ankle?
(Image: Sebastian Trepesch)
Apple's computer watch actually belongs on the wrist, whether on the left or right. But another trend is spreading in the USA: Athletes in particular are wearing the Apple Watch on their ankles. The New York Times reports. “A surveillance device for prisoners? No, my Apple Watch”, says the article. This is said to be both more accurate and more comfortable. Some users even wear the watch over their socks, but this is likely to cause problems with pulse detection.
Various reasons for the new wearing method
One of those affected, Ana E., said that she had a particularly small arm circumference, which meant that even the small Apple Watch was too loose. After researching online, she found a “small community” of people who use their ankles. Using this area of the body should also help if you have a tattoo on your arm, which prevents heart rate tracking (as well as the detection of blood oxygen levels via another diode).
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There are also people whose wrist skin is particularly sensitive. They could benefit from the alternative wearing method, writes the New York Times. And finally, there are also users who wear the watch in medical areas, where wristwatches are not permitted for hygiene reasons.
Algorithms not trained on the ankle
Although using the Watch on the ankle seems “pretty ridiculous”, fans of the method believe it works. People who do this also receive many comments on TikTok. Apple itself has not yet commented on the issue. In fact, the method can also cause problems. For example, the skin in the area may be too thick to allow the heart rate to be recorded reliably, and the sensors are trained to work on the wrist.
The same applies to the recording of movement data, which is based on highly sensitive models from the field of machine learning. They allow running or walking to be recognized and sports tracking to be paused automatically. If the watch is worn on the ankle, these algorithms can get mixed up. Incidentally, alternative wearing methods are not entirely new: there are Apple Watch users who use their upper arms for tracking, but then with a special wristband. The competitor tracker Whoop explicitly allows such usage methods.
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