ApplePay Authentication on Apple Watch

[Julien]

If it watched the heartbeat all the time, it would chew up battery quickly. What Apple says is:

"The custom heart rate sensor in Apple Watch detects your heart rate during workouts. When you’re not in a workout, Apple Watch uses an accelerometer, ..."

They also say that while movements are tracked all day, cardio is a special case:

"There’s also a separate Workout app for dedicated cardio sessions. "

All of this sounds like the heartbeat sensor is enabled only when you tell it you're doing a workout. Not all the time.

Here is what Apple says.

The wrist is a convenient area for collecting data about your physical activity, a task Apple Watch is designed to perform throughout the day...specially designed sensor that uses infrared and visible-light LEDs and photodiodes to detect your heart rate.....

.

...Apple Watch uses the accelerometer, a built-in heart rate sensor, GPS and Wi-Fi from your iPhone to provide a comprehensive picture of your daily activity....

 

[kdarling]

Here is what Apple says.

Right, Apple says they collect movement information all day. That's how they display how much you sit, stand or 'exercise'.

However, they do not claim to collect heartbeat info all day. (I think the "comprehensive" piece is some handwaving and marketing speak, combining normal sensing and user-initiated sensing.)

Well, we'll know in a couple of months! It'd be great if they could.

 

[Mascots]

Right, Apple says they collect movement information all day. That's how they display how much you sit, stand or 'exercise'.

However, they do not claim to collect heartbeat info all day. (I think the "comprehensive" piece is some handwaving and marketing speak, combining normal sensing and user-initiated sensing.)

Well, we'll know in a couple of months! It'd be great if they could.

It sounds like they've been very vague about it after seeing the materials you and Julien posted.

My assumption based on all of this is it will use a longer interval that it checks between non-workout sessions (10-30 seconds apart) and more active during working out (like when the Workout app is launched & running).

I have a hard time believing that the Watch will only grab that information when you request it, as Apple has implied that it will use more than standard motion metrics to build daily activity plans, which are presented pretty passively. Quite a few people, including a few news outlets seem to think so, too.

 

[Julien]

It sounds like they've been very vague about it after seeing the materials you and Julien posted.

My assumption based on all of this is it will use a longer interval that it checks between non-workout sessions (10-30 seconds apart) and more active during working out (like when the Workout app is launched & running).

I have a hard time believing that the Watch will only grab that information when you request it, as Apple has implied that it will use more than standard motion metrics to build daily activity plans, which are presented pretty passively. Quite a few people, including a few news outlets seem to think so, too.

While the Apple info is ambiguous it is a fact that the Watch MUST be able to detect if it's been removed for Pay to be enabled/disabled since it doesn't have a finger print reader. Pay requires security and what other possible way is there to insure it is secure? Pundits seem to agree it will use pulse detection for Pay security.

It could be something like your 10-30 seconds theory. Maybe it is also activated by accelerometer movements that indicates strap removal.

 

[kdarling]

It sounds like they've been very vague about it after seeing the materials you and Julien posted.

The number one rule when analyzing marketing-speak, is not to look at what they actually DO say, but rather at what they do NOT say.

Unlike with the motion sensors, they do not explicitly state that the heart sensors are constantly monitored. Of course, perhaps they trigger them only once in a while, or when motion is detected.

Strangely, I just watched most of the keynote again, and I didn't see any demo of a pulse rate app on the watch itself. Only some data on a related iPhone app. Did I miss it?

... Pundits seem to agree it will use pulse detection for Pay security.

Perhaps. However, I tend not to trust the internet echo chamber

Especially since this all seemed to start with this guy's theory that the watch recognizes your heartbeat. He even pointed at an Apple patent as the basis for this idea.

However, he clearly failed to read the patent, or to do any research into heartbeat recognition. If he had, he'd have discovered that just pulse monitoring isn't good enough for identification, and also what the patent used.

You see, what is actually known to work as an ID, and what the patent includes, is using electrocardiograms to look at things like the heart's electrical pulse shapes. That is NOT possible using optical pulse sensors! It requires electrodes.

But sure, just checking once in a while for a pulse might work for a smarter proximity alarm. I'm sure they've figured something out.

 

[dannyyankou]

It looks like the Apple Watch will be getting Touch ID at some point.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15...fingerprint-sensors-into-touchscreen-displays