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Does your Apple Watch keep reminding you to breathe? You're not alone.
People all over the world are interrupted by the Apple Watch reminding them
to breathe every day - even if they're already breathing. So what gives?
Does the Apple Watch detect stress?
One of the most common misconceptions about Breathe alerts is that they are
related to stress. The idea is that the Apple Watch detects when you need to
take advice from Taylor Swift and calm down.
How would that work exactly? The confusion is around heart rate detection.
The Apple Watch measures your current heart rate every few minutes (and more
frequently when logging workouts). It also logs this data to create a trend
line for your average heart rate.
But the Apple Watch doesn't assume that a sudden change in heart rate is
related to stress. It can use that data to provide helpful heart health
information <https://9to5mac.com/2019/12/05/apple-watch-florida-man/> !
It would be a cool feature though if the Apple Watch really could
distinguish uninvited stress from intentional exercise or other real life
scenarios that cause your heart rate to increase.
Full disclosure: I did not tell my mom it was a coincidence the first time
she told me her Apple Watch reminded her to breathe after a stressful
meeting. Her enthusiasm was too much. I don't think she reads my work.
But I'm already breathing
Okay, but what if you're already breathing? I totally understand. I do that
too. Just not as far as the Apple Watch is concerned.
It has sensors that detect when you
<https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/12/watchos-5-how-to-disable-start-end-workout-r
eminders/> 're working out, and it can even detect a sudden fall
<https://9to5mac.com/2019/09/21/apple-watch-fall-detection-mountain-biker/>
and call emergency services if you're unresponsive. Apple Watch doesn't
measure how long you can hold your breath however - at least not yet.
What is Breathe?
So maybe the Apple Watch does want you to calm down, just not only when
you're flustered.
Apple includes an app called Breathe that introduces Apple Watch users to
guided meditation. An animating flower gently grows and shrinks over the
course of several seconds. The app instructs you to take a deep breath and
hold it when the flow increases, then exhale when the flower shrinks.
Frankly, it's mesmerizing. Just talking about it is calming. There are even
Apple Watch faces dedicated to the app and its visuals - not to mention this
10 hour YouTube video of the animation <https://youtu.be/tOtJnlSTjoY>
that's been viewed almost 15,000 times.
Breathe is customizable too so each session doesn't have to be the same. You
can set the number of breaths per minute to adjust how long each deep breath
should be, the duration of the session before you begin, and whether or not
the app remembers your last session length.
At the end of the meditation session, the Breathe app will display your
current heart rate too. Ideally, it's lower than when you started, but
that's not the main goal of the app.
Using the Breathe app doesn't just help you collect your thoughts and focus
on what's important to you. The Apple Health app on the iPhone can log data
from meditation sessions with a metric called Mindful Minutes.
This helps you realize insights like whether or not guided meditation helps
you sleep, eat healthier, or remember to exercise.
Remember to breathe
Meditation, great, but what about those nagging alerts? You can turn down
the number of meditation reminders you receive
<https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206999> or disable Breathe notifications
altogether.
Open the Watch app on your iPhone, tap Breathe from the My Watch tab, then
tap Breathe Reminders.
If you like the idea of guided meditation but Breathe reminders are
stressing you out, you can receive just one reminder per day. If you already
logged a session, you won't receive an alert that day.
Breathe reminders also wait for moments when no movement or exercise is
detected so it doesn't catch you at a bad time, although your mileage may
vary.
You can also disable or have notifications sent to Notification Center
<https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204791> (swipe down from the watch face
to access) by swiping left and tapping the "." button from the alert.
Want to go nuclear on Breathe? Take a deep breath, press the Digital Crown
on your Apple Watch, then press and hold on the green flower icon for the
Breathe app (or swipe left if you're in list view) to remove the Breathe
app. You can always add it back from the App Store on Apple Watch.
Breathtaking memes
If you're still reading this or you've scrolled to the bottom of this story,
you've discovered my motivation for writing this piece in the first place.
I love learning how people use the Apple Watch so I'm constantly searching
for ways regular people experience it. This search, specifically on Twitter,
has pointed to one meme over and over again, and Apple's Breathe app on the
Apple Watch is at the center of it.
Checking an Apple Watch alert for a new message, and hopelessly realizing
it's just a Breathe reminder.
Just search Twitter for "apple watch vibrates breathe" to see what I mean
<https://twitter.com/search?q=Apple%20Watch%20Vibrates%20Breathe&src=typed_q
uery&f=live> . There are probably earlier instances of this based on when
the Breathe app was introduced, but my quick search goes back to this March
2017 tweet that fits the criteria:
when my Apple Watch vibrates it makes me think I have a text but when I
check it it's telling me to breathe WHAT A LET DOWN
- Maddie (@maddielroberts) March 8, 2017
<https://twitter.com/maddielroberts/status/839335150718709760?ref_src=twsrc%
5Etfw>
Then in June 2017:
When my Apple Watch vibrates and I think I got a text..but really it's just
telling me to breathe
- adri (@adrianauribe_) June 3, 2017
<https://twitter.com/adrianauribe_/status/870832948416839680?ref_src=twsrc%5
Etfw>
Followed by a similar tweet for July
<https://twitter.com/courtneyfos/status/889942563586789381> , August
<https://twitter.com/tstubbs18/status/899807466661318656> , and September
<https://twitter.com/rctristan_/status/912827487742316549> 2017.
Lots of people turn to Twitter to publicly declare that they will not
breathe in defiance of their Apple Watch, but further inspection usually
reveals additional tweets that suggest they actually continued to breathe.
Whenever my Apple Watch vibrates to remind me to breathe, my immediate
reaction is "I will NOT."
- Ashley Mateo (@ashleymateo) June 30, 2017
<https://twitter.com/ashleymateo/status/880825560808771585?ref_src=twsrc%5Et
fw>
Okay, those are just fun. But seriously, a lot of people are being misled by
Breathe alerts on the Apple Watch.
Remember those original tweets from 2017? There was one per month for a
while, then they fizzled out. Seems normal.
Fast forward to, say, 2020, and there have been nearly 20 tweets with the
same message already. We're not even a week into the new year, people.
There is something off about the current round of tweets though. In the true
sense of a modern meme, these tweets don't appear to be wholly original and
organic.
I'm not saying foreign bots or an international propaganda scheme is at play
here, but most of these tweets are copied and pasted with the same format -
right down to the same four-letter-word-that-starts-with-an-s explicit
reaction. I won't embed the bad words in case my mom actually does read my
work, but again, see for yourself
<https://twitter.com/search?q=Apple%20Watch%20Vibrates%20Breathe&src=typed_q
uery&f=live> .
Last year alone, there were too many tweets to count that fit the search
criteria. It's possible people are uniquely experiencing the same
disappointment individually, or maybe the meme is really a somewhat meta
quest for likes and retweets.
All I know is something changed between 2017 and 2020 - probably the booming
popularity of the Apple Watch <https://amzn.to/2SVHs74> - and something
that was tweeted a handful of times per year is now a daily meme.
Finding the deeper meaning of all of this will require more meditation. For
now, remember to breathe, people.
Read More:
* 9to5Mac Watch Time episode 12: Gregory McFadden on losing 100 pounds
with Apple Watch
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/01/01/9to5mac-watch-time-episode-12/>
* Running Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon with Apple Watch Series 5
and AirPods Pro
<https://9to5mac.com/2019/11/05/running-apple-watch-series-5-airpods-pro-hal
f-marathon/>
* Apple Health: How Apple Watch is saving and improving lives
<https://9to5mac.com/guides/apple-health/>
By Zac Hall at:
www.9to5mac.com
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