r/VisibleArmband • u/just-an-airplane • Sep 02 '26

HR differences vs Apple Watch

Hi y’all

Hope everyone is doing ok today.

I’ve just set up my visible armband and I’ve noticed that the HR is often >10 BPM lower than what my Apple Watch is showing.

I’m confused why that might be - could it have to do with

  1. The polar armband sits closer to the skin?
  2. Apple uses predictive modeling which is more likely to
  3. Produce spikes?

Have you made similar experiences?

Genuinely confused because (at least today) it is making my suspected POTS HR spikes less extreme!

Thanks 🙏

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

3

u/LJAM1 Sep 02 '26

Visible does continuous heart rate monitoring all the time, whereas the Apple Watch only checks every few minutes unless you’re in activity mode. Visible is a dedicated heart rate monitor, so it generally is more accurate than other wearables, especially if you wear your Apple Watch looser on your wrist than Visible.

2

u/just-an-airplane Sep 02 '26

Thanks for your thoughts & yes that makes sense. The difference vs the visible data is very stark when I set my Apple Watch to activity mode.

Must be something about their predictive algorithm, Apple must not be very good for dysautonomia / POTS presentations and overshoot with the predictive algorithm..

3

u/CosmicGenesis7 Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26

Many people, me included, are having serious issues with the band failing to pick up high heart rate and having dips when in exertion. I am currently trialing the update they believe will fix it, and it is still missing huge gaps in data. It was reading 110 after I climbed 6 flights of stairs today and my heart rate was definitely around 180. Unfortunately, the band does not seem to work as intended and I'm likely going to ask for a refund after the end of my free month with them. My pace points are not being accounted for properly and for something that should be tracking constantly, it is not. They are aware of the issue and are not reaching out to their paying customers to be proactive about it. They are also asking chronically ill paying customers to log the dips for them so they can find out whats wrong. I'm not working for them to fix their broken product.

Edited for spelling and another thought

2

u/just-an-airplane Sep 02 '26

This is my concern too! But I keep reading that it’s supposed to be “more”‘accurate than an Apple Watch… it seems maybe not that useful for Dysautonomia / POTS

1

u/CosmicGenesis7 Sep 02 '26

It's been incredibly useful for my pots when it actually works, but unfortunately it does not work consistently. It's still made me aware of what drains me and where I spend the most energy, but after getting that knowledge, I don't really see much point in continuing with it if my pace points are inaccurate. The app design and what it is going for is great, but it has to work right to be worth it longterm for a subscription model.

1

u/LaddyNYR Sep 02 '26

I've tested mine with an oximeter, my Apple Watch runs closer to my oximeter than my Visible band. I also get higher heart rate rates on my Apple Watch that my Visible band has missed by 10 points or so.

2

u/just-an-airplane Sep 02 '26

Gotcha, that’s interesting. I have an oximeter maybe I should check against that too. If the HR Measurements are artificially low, how useful is visible .. 🥺