General questions about Sense 2 ECG reports

[JWMG]

Hi - see post below.

How do you delete a post ?

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[JWMG]

Hi - first post, so please bear with me.

I'm about to purchase a FitBit Sense 2. I am particularly interested in the AFIB and ECG functions, and I'm pleased that FitBit is licensed to have these features in Canada.

Questions:

1. What happens if I want to track ECG, or other health features, and my phone is not around ? Will the data sync with my phone at a later time? How long can I use the Sense 2 without a phone, and not lose vital information?

2. I don't quite understand the passive, continuous atrial fibrillation monitor. Is the Sense 2 continually checking for signs of AFIB, and does it display a notification (& vibrate) if it sees a sign of AFIB (through the Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications) ? Does the notification require the phone to be around ? What would I do if I see this notification ? Would I use the phone App to ask for an ECG trace ? Remember my phone won't always be on, so could I do this at a later time ?

Is the data stored on the Sense 2 at the time of the AFIB notification until the phone App requests it ?

3. I read that FitBit "looks at the past 24 hours, and we will notify users that we've seen or observed an irregular rhythm – and give them a timestamp." Are they continually processing ECG data whenever the phone App is on ?

I'm just trying to understand the flow of information for AFIB detection, either continuous or on demand, and how FitBit deals with it when the phone is not present at that time.

4. I gather you have to pinch the bezel for the on-demand AFIB - 30 second test ? Would I then
use the phone App to ask for an ECG trace ?

5. What do these ECG trace outputs look like? Is this in a format (pdf ??) that I can send to my doctor ?

6. Is High/Low blood pressure tracked over a 24 hour period ?

7. Is data lost if the battery dies and needs to be re-charged ?

8. Will the FitBit Apps run on Android 6 ?

Thanks for your help,
JW....

[Odyssey13]

Hi @JWMG  you need Android 9 - click to learn more

[Dopovo · Accepted solution]

Dear @JWMG ,

let me also help with all your other legit questions:

1) Yes, you can do an ECG without your phone, session will be then recorded in your watch and synced with your phone when available, no data lost (I think it can retain data for few days)

2) The Afib check is done online, not on watch. It uses the records of your heart rate measurement (not the ECG) to check eventual traces of Afib. If positive you will get a notification on your phone

3) as per point 2) this is done online, not in-app

4) No phone is needed for the actual measurement

5) Yes, you can have a PDF, I attach an edit sample on this message below

6) No blood pressure is tracked by Fitbit

7) No data previously recorded is losted

😎 Android 9 is the minimum required but if I were you I would already consider Android 10+

 

[Guy_]

Hi @JWMG -

1. What happens if I want to track ECG, or other health features, and my phone is not around ? Will the data sync with my phone at a later time? How long can I use the Sense 2 without a phone, and not lose vital information?

Your watch keeps information to sync when your phone is available, possibly upto 6 days but depends on what/how much information has been collected, so could be less and is not the same for all the different types of information.

2. I don't quite understand the passive, continuous atrial fibrillation monitor. Is the Sense 2 continually checking for signs of AFIB, and does it display a notification (& vibrate) if it sees a sign of AFIB (through the Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications) ? Does the notification require the phone to be around ? What would I do if I see this notification ? Would I use the phone App to ask for an ECG trace ? Remember my phone won't always be on, so could I do this at a later time ?

Is the data stored on the Sense 2 at the time of the AFIB notification until the phone App requests it ?

3. I read that FitBit "looks at the past 24 hours, and we will notify users that we've seen or observed an irregular rhythm – and give them a timestamp." Are they continually processing ECG data whenever the phone App is on ?

I'm just trying to understand the flow of information for AFIB detection, either continuous or on demand, and how FitBit deals with it when the phone is not present at that time.

4. I gather you have to pinch the bezel for the on-demand AFIB - 30 second test ? Would I then

use the phone App to ask for an ECG trace ?

For 2.3.4. see What is the Fitbit ECG app?

5. What do these ECG trace outputs look like? Is this in a format (pdf ??) that I can send to my doctor ?

Yes

6. Is High/Low blood pressure tracked over a 24 hour period ?

Blood pressure is not a feature 

7. Is data lost if the battery dies and needs to be re-charged ?

No, generally not , but if you shut it down without syncing you may lose data.

8. Will the FitBit Apps run on Android 6 ?

According to play store i see you need a minimum of Android 8.0 though 9 is mentioned in the compatibility article.

[JWMG]

Thanks Dopovo & Guy_ for your informative responses.

I have some more questions:

1. Is FitBit Premium required for FitBit to look at the past 24 hours for an irregular heart rhythm and produce a time stamped pdf file ?? If so, I will have quite a bit to say about this in another post.

2. Is FitBit using a wifi internet connection to do the 24 hour irregular heart rhythm check ? If so, I would assume this means our data is stored on a cloud vs on our phone. I would much prefer the data to be stored on our phone !!

3. If FitBit detects an irregular heart rhythm in the past 24 hours, would a notification (and vibration) happen ? Does the 24 hour check have to be manually requested through the App, or is it continuous and automatic via a user set parameter ?

4. Is the pdf file stored on our phone if FitBit sees an irregular heart rhythm ? Any idea what the naming convention is, and where to find the file ?

5. The 30 second bezel pinch - is this a more accurate measurement then the irregular rhythm check analysis? If a problem is encountered in the 'pinch', will this trigger a notification and vibration? Will a pdf file then be produced on the phone ?

6. NO blood pressure ?? YIKES !! Is this a shortcoming of the App or the Sense 2 ? If the Sense 2 can track 24/7 continuous heart rhythm, surely blood pressure would be in there somewhere - past 24 hours Hi/Lo/Average ? Should we be begging Fitbit for a BP update to the Sense 2 and/or the App ? Maybe a 3rd party BP/ECG App ?? I know FitBit doesn't support 3rd party Apps - I won't comment on this in public.

7. Has anyone managed to find an Email address for FitBit ?

8. Do you think FitBit monitors our posts ? That would be a good thing. They could learn a lot.

I sure wish the manual would cover some of my questions.

We will be buying a Samsung A14 phone which will have Android 13, and guaranteed to be updated to 14 and 15 when available.

FYI: The Sense 2 is for my wife. She may have an AFIB problem. Our doctor had her wear a 7 lead holter monitor for 48 hours, and thankfully nothing turned up. So he is suggesting that we find some sort of AFIB sensor and monitor her heart for 30 days. After much research, we determined the Sense 2 to be the best choice (he uses the inferior Apple watch).

Thanks very much,
JWMG.....

[Dopovo]

Sorry @JWMG, I've completely missed your reply. So here you have

1. Is FitBit Premium required for FitBit to look at the past 24 hours for an irregular heart rhythm and produce a time stamped pdf file ?? If so, I will have quite a bit to say about this in another post.

Here we have 2 different matters:

- the ECG measurement is on demand, it's not under Premium and you can generate a PDF as you please

- the irregular heart rhytm is instead done in the background at server level and I can't tell you more because I've got any notification. Hopefully a moderator or a CC member with more insights such as @Odyssey13 can help out more.

2. Is FitBit using a wifi internet connection to do the 24 hour irregular heart rhythm check ? If so, I would assume this means our data is stored on a cloud vs on our phone. I would much prefer the data to be stored on our phone !!

As per point 1. The data are anyway always stored in the cloud

3. If FitBit detects an irregular heart rhythm in the past 24 hours, would a notification (and vibration) happen ? Does the 24 hour check have to be manually requested through the App, or is it continuous and automatic via a user set parameter ?

As per point 1 it is continuous without any interaction by the user and done server-side. As far as I understood a notification will appear in positive case (my heart is healthy so I've never got any)

4. Is the pdf file stored on our phone if FitBit sees an irregular heart rhythm ? Any idea what the naming convention is, and where to find the file ?

I'm not sure you get the PDF file if an irregular pattern is detected. 

5. The 30 second bezel pinch - is this a more accurate measurement then the irregular rhythm check analysis? If a problem is encountered in the 'pinch', will this trigger a notification and vibration? Will a pdf file then be produced on the phone ?

Yes, it is more accurate. As far as I understand (Fitbit is not always clear about its features) the irregular HR check done in background is just a preliminary assessment and, if you have a ECG capable Fitbit, will prompt you to perform an ECG test. At the end of the 30 seconds test you will get the option to download a PDF with a naming such as NameSurname_ECGReport_date_time.pdf

6. NO blood pressure ?? YIKES !! Is this a shortcoming of the App or the Sense 2 ? If the Sense 2 can track 24/7 continuous heart rhythm, surely blood pressure would be in there somewhere - past 24 hours Hi/Lo/Average ? Should we be begging Fitbit for a BP update to the Sense 2 and/or the App ? Maybe a 3rd party BP/ECG App ?? I know FitBit doesn't support 3rd party Apps - I won't comment on this in public.

No blood pressure can be measured by any watch with HR/SPO2 sensor, you need a dedicated sensor and technology appear still on early phase. So no, there is no possibility of a third party app. 

Speaking of a third party app instead I recommend Cardiogram that integrates very well with Fitbit and perform a bunch of other checks on HR (of course the quality of the checks depends on the HR sensor quality that I have to say for Fitbit Sense/Sense 2 is not the highest)

7. Has anyone managed to find an Email address for FitBit ?

You can contact them via Help support

8. Do you think FitBit monitors our posts ? That would be a good thing. They could learn a lot.

Fitbit moderators definitely reads the posts but I'm not sure they are actually transferring the informations/requests to the concerned people or, if so, they actually are considering them.