Wearing an Apple Watch over tattoos could prevent certain functions from working properly, Apple has admitted.
The watch has light sensors on the side touching the skin, but it can be fooled by darker skin and dark-coloured artwork, despite the Apple Watch’s technology not being of a low standard.
Photodiode sensors which are light-sensitive are combined with green LED lights in the watch, and can detect the blood-flow in the wrist. This recording can then be used to work out the users’ heart rate. However, tattoos on the wrist can cause the watch to intermittently pause the timer during workouts when the wrist is not detected.
Apple’s website said: “Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can… impact heart rate sensor performance. The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings.”
Although the Apple Watch scored well during independent testing, it shows that they have been unable to rectify this issue as of yet. Also, it should be highlighted that the Apple Watch is not the only smartwatch and wearable fitness device that suffers from this issue.
“Apple now needs to offer users the option to disable the pin code security when the smart watch doesn’t detect your wrist,” said Sophie Charara, who contributes to Wareable, a wearable technology website. “The winning wearable in the next few years will be the devices that work with our bodies, not the ones that ignore them.”
