Your Apple Watch won’t like your wrist tattoo, but what lengths are you prepared to go to for the love of the Apple Watch? There’s a hidden clash for Apple Watch users with wrist tattoos: tattoos can actually interfere with your Apple Watch‘s ability to read your heart rate.
The culprit? Light. The Apple Watch uses light to measure your pulse. Different colored lights shine into your skin, and the watch’s sensors pick up on how this light interacts with your blood flow. Tattoos can block this light, especially if they’re dark and dense.
This isn’t exactly breaking news. Apple itself warns that tattoos can affect sensor performance. But a recent TikTok video about the issue has gone viral (with over 3.5 million views).
The video shows a person undergoing laser tattoo removal specifically to get their Apple Watch sensor working again. The cost? Around $418 for this particular case + a few hundred dollars for the Apple Watch.
This problem has been around for years since the Apple Watch first launched. A similar news came a couple of years back when FaceID didn’t work for a user with a face tattoo.
So, before you get that amazing new wrist tattoo, remember to check if it might cause a fight with your beloved Apple Watch. But I hope tech giants are working on a tech that would allow even tattooed users to use similar tech without any hassles.
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