Updates in Apple’s just-announced watchOS are substantive if not groundbreaking. They include sleep tracking, a handwashing-detection feature suitable for the COVID-19 pandemic, and “dance” as one of several new workouts. Other improvements include watch face sharing, language translation, bicycling directions and earphone-volume detection.

iOS 13’s Health app not only gathers more of our scattered health information but also helps us understand and use it in practical and potentially profound ways. Here’s what you can look forward to in a few months.

Can wearables like the Apple Watch help advance medical research? The results of the massive Apple Heart Study would suggest so.

The CES section for startups shows its usual creativity: portable insulin fridges, STEM education for girls, a wearable subwoofer. and a giant relaxing egg. Which you sit in, not on.

Jeff Porten’s visit to the CES Home and Health show floor included a smart mailbox for your deliveries, a battery accessible to the blind, a smartwatch you never charge, and news of an embarrassing moment for the CTA.

Apple announced in September that its new Apple Watch Series 4 is capable of taking electrocardiogram readings as part of its health-monitoring features. That feature didn’t ship with the watch, but it’s now available to users in the US with the watchOS 5.1.2 update, along with irregular heart rhythm monitoring on all supported Apple Watch models.

The Apple Watch Series 4 promises to detect falls, identify atrial fibrillation, and let wearers take electrocardiograms on demand. Rich Mogull draws on his paramedic training to evaluate how effective each of these technologies is likely to be.

If you’re watching your weight, the Eufy BodySense helps you track it for about the same price as any other quality digital scale, but it can sync its data to your iPhone and Apple’s Health app.

Smartwatches like the Apple Watch are saving lives, but they’re not quite legitimate medical devices yet.