Having tattoos on the hands or arms in addition to being very aesthetically beautiful can also have some more important consequences. Above all we refer to when you want to use the Apple Watch sensors to take oxygen saturation or normal heart rate. In this article we explain why this happens and if you have some kind of solution.
Tattoos will make your Apple Watch malfunction
Apple Watch sensors are designed to be able to take different measurements as accurately as possible. They have been created to be able to make determinations on a skin type that is standard and here the presence of different tattoos or scars does not influence in any case. If we take into account the operation of the sensors, we must know that a light is used that passes through the skin. This has the ability to interact with different molecules in the blood such as oxygen, reflecting a signal that is captured by the receptor to give the final result. This is identical to what happens when you want to take your heart rate using such a light system.
With this mechanism present in the head, you can already know what happens when there is a tattoo. We must bear in mind that the tattoo at the end is ink that is injected into the skin of the users and that can directly interfere with the sensor measurement. This is because it can end up blocking the light from the sensor, making the results obtained unreliable. This happens with anything that can block light, such as an injury or a scar.
If you are facing this situation in which you have tattoos, you will see values that are abnormal both in heart rate and oxygen saturation. This can totally affect the experience that can be obtained when exercising for example. This measurement is essential to be able to determine the calories that are being consumed, for example.
Does Apple offer any solutions?
In a real way there is no type of solution for this problem. Users who purchase an Apple Watch and have tattoos should take into account this type of inconvenience that it is generating. From Apple itself they do not offer any apparent solution except the possibility of using other external devices that can be connected via Bluetooth to the Apple Watch or other equipment. In these cases you can find, for example, heart rate measuring tapes to be able to do this type of measurement but externally.
This is not the most comfortable, unfortunately, and it takes away the particular magic of the Apple Watch to have this data immediately. The last thing left is that you use it on another arm even if it is not the one you are used to. Obviously this will work if you don’t have any type of tattoo on this one.