My partner and I are getting older, and sleep in different rooms at different times. We’ve both worried about the other dying unbeknownst. I wear a pulse watch, but don’t know if it will do what I want. Any ideas, friends? I’d like us to be able to glance at a screen and see a heartbeat, ideally without spending more than a couple hundred dollars, and without too much hassle or cumbersome equipment. I appreciate any suggestions. (edit - we use android and Linux.)
I remember seeing this ring built specifically for this purpose. It was an unobtrusive metal band and you could synch it up to its pair and it would squeeze your finger in time with the pair’s heartbeat sensor, I’ll see if I can find it again
I don’t believe this is the one I came across but was all I could find with a quick search. The website seems a li’l sketchy based on grammatical errors so I’d do some double checking into it but it seems like what you’re looking for. https://my.thetouchx.com/hbring/howto-use-hbring
If you have an iPhone, you can get an Apple Watch and set it up using the other person’s phone. The health app will tell you what the person’s heart rate is. It will also do sleep tracking and check blood oxygen levels. It will also notify you if the person falls. It can also be used to contact 911 if it is in range of your phone, or if you buy the cellular version and add it to your cell phone plan.
If you live near an Apple store, stop in and ask about it. The trick will be to set up/link your spouses watch with your iPhone so you can continuously monitor the other person.
We’re all android and Linux here, but thank you!
Thank you. As a former IT guy, I’ve been trying to keep my family away from Apple products. They’re way overpriced for their limited and locked down functionality compared to everything else out there.
My dad had Parkinson’s late in his life and my sister replaced his Android with an iPhone, specifically so she could give him this fitness tracker. He spent the last few years of his life struggling to figure out a new phone, and we could never get the damn app to work anyway. He fell all the time and it never once reported it.
I spent 20 years in the IT field and getting my computer-illiterate family to consult me before buying computer tech is like pulling teeth. I offer them free consultation and support all the time and they just go out and buy spyware-riddled junk on their own. They only come to me when their stuff is no longer useable.
My sister finally stopped buying iPads… only for her to go and buy Amazon Fire tablets for her kids. I had to go in and lock them down because they were constantly shoving ads into every function of the tablet. Her kids kept trying to buy games because they were constantly being advertised to them. And guess who left their credit card credentials on the tablet?
My apologies, /rant.
It’s funny; I recommend Apple stuff for practically all the same reasons you don’t. The walled garden pisses me off sometimes but when I talk to friends using Android stuff and their gripes it really reinforces that I made the right decision for my family, just as you have for yours. What I find even more amusing is that I design embedded linux devices, all my servers/vms are Linux based and I really enjoy using Linux… just not supporting/using it as a primary UI.
Not shitting on your choices at all, I know that many people really like/enjoy the Android side as much as I do the Apple side. Chacun à son goût and all that.
There are quite the number of fitness bands and watches that can do this too for android. No reason you cant set up a device to the opposite partners phone.
Good point. Thank you.
It’s worth noting it will only work within Bluetooth range unless you pay for a separate 4g connection to the watch
Looks like the pixel watch 3 can do something like this, but it only calls emergency services (and plant l only in some regions!)
Oh, many years ago I had a baby monitor that included a pressure mat. If it detected no movement for a while (it was sensitive enough to detect breathing) it set off an alarm.
Although if such a thing exists today, it probably requires an app and a subscription. Enshitification.
I had one of those too. Every so often, bad baby would scoot off the mat it 3am. Nothing like the absolute fucking panic of hearing that alarm going off when you’re dead asleep and now halfway to juniors room before you wake up only to find he scooted off the mat. AGAIN.
I don’t miss the pure anxiety of being a new parent. I had forgotten about that thing and I’m so glad it is a faded memory.
To add to this iirc all cell towers will take 911 calls even if a phone has no sim. So if you truly only will ever use it for 911. You should be able to buy the cellular version of the watch and not even have to add it to your phone plan.
Found this article. It looks like this is the easier way to set up an Apple watch for somebody else in your family that you can monitor. There’s probably something similar for android watches.
My baby monitor nanit has a special blanket you can put on the baby to track breathing and if there’s a problem you phone app will alert you. You may have to pay a subscription service to use this feature.
Not sure how well it works on adults of course but worth a shot.
I’m afraid I can’t offer any recommendations but I just wanted to say how beautiful it is to think of you keeping track of each others heartbeats while you’re apart. That’s love
Awwww, thanks. Isn’t life just full of these messy, scary, oddball realities that no one ever tells you? I found so many of them in parenthood. Aging looks like more of the same.
It certainly is!
Ultimately, what good will a device telling you your partner is already dead do?
I can understand proactive measures to get help but a pulse of 0 is going to be far too late.
Take a heart attack as an example, heart rate will seemingly randomly either increase or decrease or it might even stay the same with an abnormal rhythm, etc. These rhythms are detectable, for example, with an apple watch.
I can understand the mental reassurance that your partner is “okay” by seeing a heart beat exist but this may be a false sense of security if they need help while still alive?
When the heartbeat stops,it is only clinical death. CPR and timely medical help can still bring that person back.
Peace of mind (knowing that your partner is ok) can significantly reduce stress and increase quality of life.
Even if the device can’t give an alert soon enough to do anything, just looking and seeing that they are ok this morning can bring a sense of peace, and that’s worth something.
It would suck extra hard to lie in bed planning out the nice breakfast you’re going to make for your partner and learn afterwards that they’ll never get to enjoy it.
