Apple Watch Series 3 adds support for two new activities

Robin Sinha| Gadgets Now | Updated: Mar 1, 2018, 10.22AM IST

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DELHI: Apple Watch Series 3, the newest version of the company’s particular wearable line up has been updated to track new activities. The Cupertino-based tech giant is making the Watch slightly more capable by letting it recognise when the wearer is skiing or snowboarding. This ability comes as a part of an update (watchOS 4.2) via the App Store.

Snowboarders and skiers will be able to record runs, see vertical descent and other related statistics, all of which add up to active calorie measurements.

Also mentioned is that app updates for snoww, Slopes, Squaw Alpine, Snocru and Ski Tracks apps will now let the Apple Watch track new metrics on the slopes. These include:

-Total vertical descent and horizontal distance
-Number of runs
-Average and maximum speeds
-Total time spent

-Calories burned

Based on sensors like altimeter and GPS, the apps can auto pause and resume based if any activity is taking place or not. This won’t just add to the Activity rings but will also get recorded to the Health app on iPhone, provided users give the permission. It is also possible to use Siri voice commands to start Slopes and snow apps.

Talking about Apple Watch, the company is widely rumoured to bring the next-gen Watch device this year. For the new version, as mentioned by Bloomberg, Apple is working on something called as EKG heart monitor . It is an advanced heart rate monitor that will push the Apple Watch from a mere luxury device more towards a medical device. The report adds that to use the feature, people would have to squeeze the frame of the Apple Watch. Triggering the feature would beam an imperceptible current towards the user’s chest, tracking the electric signals in the heart and detect if anything is abnormal.

It is worth adding that Apple Watch users have the option to buy an EKG made by AliveCor Inc, built on the device’s strap itself.