How the Apple Watch defined modern health tech | The Verge
Navigation Drawer
close
Search
-
Tech
-
Reviews
-
Science
-
Entertainment
-
AI
-
Policy
-
Gadgets
-
Verge Shopping
-
Gaming
-
Streaming
-
Transportation
-
Verge Video
-
Podcasts
Comments Drawer
Comments
- Column Column Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All Column
- Gadgets Gadgets Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All Gadgets
- Tech Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All Tech
How the Apple Watch defined modern health tech
Digital health screeners weren’t a thing until the Apple Watch. It’s shaped how we think about wearables ever since.
by Victoria Song
Victoria Song
Senior Reviewer, Wearable Tech
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All by Victoria Song
Apr 3, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC
In my humble opinion, the Series 4 was a watershed moment in wearable tech history.
| Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Victoria Song
Victoria Song
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Follow See All by Victoria Song
is a senior reporter and author of the Optimizer newsletter. She has more than 13 years of experience reporting on wearables, health tech, and more. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.
This isOptimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewerVictoria Songthat dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they’re going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here.
You can trace the state of health tech today to a single gadget: the Apple Watch Series 4.
Back in 2018, smartwatches and fitness bands focused on a handful of things: step count, heart rate, some light sleep monitoring, and activity logging. As a result, they were much more focused on fitness rather than overall health. Handy if you were trying to increase activity levels or lose a few pounds, but not a device that could “save your life.” That all changed with the Series 4, which introduced FDA-cleared atrial fibrillation detection — something that had never been done before on any consumer wearable. Not everyone was a fan of the feature. Critics cautioned that it wasn’t as accurate as a traditional 12-lead EKG, and many doctors weren’t sure how to interpret such novel wearable data.
Nevertheless, this sort of FDA-cleared digital screening feature is now the hallmark of what’s considered advanced consumer health tech. Every year, there are severalstoriesof howApple Watches have improved or saved lives — something that spurred rivals to pursue similar features on their own devices. Eight years after the Series 4 debuted, wearables can send an array of notifications relating to illness, sleep apnea, hypertension, and even fertility windows. And though there’s debate about such features causing health anxiety, wearable makers are racing to discover relationships between new biomarkers and enhanced longevity — hence why so many newer devices are zeroing in on recovery metrics, metabolism, and, for some reason, bodily fluids.
Given that The Verge is spending this entire week reflecting on 50 years of Apple products, we’d be remiss if we didn’t look at Apple’s role in defining this space — and what’s evolved in its wake.
Subscribe to The Vergeto continue reading.
Featured Videos From The Verge
The speech police came for Colbert | The Vergecast
1/1 Skip Ad Continue watching after the adVisit Advertiser websiteGO TO PAGE
Once again, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and his bad ideas about free speech have rankled a late night host. And once again, Nilay and David talk through what the equal-time rule actually means, why organizations keep caving, and why it’s apparently up to people like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel to fight back. After that, the hosts discuss the facial recognition feature Meta hopes to launch for its smart glasses, plus the gadgets we’re likely to see Apple launch in the couple of weeks. In the lightning round, we get some bleak news on Tesla’s self-driving skills, a robovac security disaster, and the future of Warner Bros.
More In Apple @ 50
David Pierce Apr 322
Nilay Patel Apr 179
Apple at 50: the good and the bad
David Pierce Mar 318
Most Popular
Most Popular
- Reddit is moving on from r/all
- The ABS Challenge System is exposing the worst umpire in baseball
- AO3 is finally out of beta after 17 years
- Despite EV headwinds, Rivian’s sales are up
- Elon Musk is about to be a very busy boy!
1/1 Skip Ad Continue watching after the adVisit Advertiser websiteGO TO PAGE
The Verge Daily
A free daily digest of the news that matters most.
Email (required)
Sign Up
By submitting your email, you agree to ourTerms and Privacy Notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the GooglePrivacy PolicyandTerms of Serviceapply.
Advertiser Content From This is the title for the native ad
More in Column
YouTube’s TV takeover continues with 24/7 streaming ‘Stations’
Red Rooms makes online poker as thrilling as its serial killer
Apple’s long, bitter App Store antitrust war
These ‘clinically tested’ gummies may or may not help you poop
Meta gets ready to launch two new Ray-Ban AI glasses
Can you monitor a situation without monitors? The Polymarket sports bar tried
YouTube’s TV takeover continues with 24/7 streaming ‘Stations’
Janko Roettgers Apr 24
Red Rooms makes online poker as thrilling as its serial killer
Terrence O'Brien Mar 297
Apple’s long, bitter App Store antitrust war
Adi Robertson Mar 2918
These ‘clinically tested’ gummies may or may not help you poop
Victoria Song Mar 2717
Meta gets ready to launch two new Ray-Ban AI glasses
Janko Roettgers Mar 2623
Can you monitor a situation without monitors? The Polymarket sports bar tried
Tina Nguyen Mar 252
Advertiser Content From This is the title for the native ad
Top Stories
Apr 3
I saved a doomed Windows laptop by embracing Linux
An hour ago
Anthropic essentially bans OpenClaw from Claude by making subscribers pay extra
Apr 3
Apr 2
Elon Musk is about to be a very busy boy!
Apr 3
An hour ago
A company that makes AI training data has been hit by a security breach.
-
Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Data
© 2026Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Continue reading Optimizer with a Verge subscription Gain full access to The Verge and read more on the ways Big Tech solves and/or compounds life’s problems.
LET'S GO
Already a subscriber?Sign inBack toThe Verge Homepage
Opt-Out Request Honored
Privacy Center
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.
Cookie Policy Vendor List
Allow All
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Essential
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
-
Functional Cookies
Essential
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
-
Performance Cookies
Essential
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
View Vendor Details
Allow the Sale or Sharing/Targeted Advertising
- Allow the Sale or Sharing/Targeted Advertising
As a valued user, we are providing you the ability to opt-out from the sharing of your personal information to advertisers and social media companies at any time across business platform, services, businesses and devices. You can opt-out of the sharing of your personal information by using this toggle switch. For more information on your rights and options see our privacy notice.
-
Social Media & Embedded Content
- Switch Label
Content embedded on our sites (e.g. social media posts, video clips, polls and games) originates from third party sources such as social media platforms, video sharing sites, or other third party websites. When this content loads on pages you visit, any cookies or similar tracking technologies set by the third party source in connection with that content may also load. Vox Media doesn't set these cookies and doesn't control them. These cookies may be capable of tracking your browser across sites and/or building a profile of your interests. Not allowing these cookies will impact what content you can see and engage with on our sites.
-
Targeting Cookies
- Switch Label
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
View Vendor Details
Vendors List
Clear
-
- checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
-
checkbox label label
-
checkbox label label
-
checkbox label label
Confirm My Choices
