Apple Watch EMF Radiation – A Complete Guide
Fitness trackers were once only used by extreme athletes, trainers, and instructors, however, in the last few years devices like the Apple Watch and Fitbit have grown in popularity.
In fact, smartwatches/ fitness watches are predicted to continue to dominate wearables sales into the year 2022.
Fitness trackers are predominately included in most smartwatches. You can track your fitness activity, get reminded to stand up, take a deep breath, text your Mom, and check your email.
These many conveniences are a big reason why these devices have grown in popularity over the years.
However, are these conveniences and benefits worth the potential health risks?
Let’s unpack the dangers of EMF Radiation from your Apple Watch, how these devices could be negatively impacting your health, how to protect against EMFs from these types of devices, and some options for you Apple Watch lovers.
Does My Apple Watch Emit EMF Radiation?
Yes, your apple watch most definitely emits EMF radiation. In fact, the Apple watch is one of the most connected devices you could wear. As in, it is connected to WIFI, Bluetooth, and cellular signal.
The Apple Watch is also worn on your wrist, this means constant direct exposure to the wearer all day and even night long for those who wear their device while they sleep.
The Apple Watch, along with other smart fitness devices advertise features to encourage their users to wear the watch even while they sleep.
Not only you are exposing yourself all day long to direct EMF Radiation exposure but with night wearing you are giving your body no break at all.
The device may rest near your head, heart, or near other vital organs as you sleep exposing yourself to unnecessarily high amounts of EMF radiation.
Is My Apple Watch Negatively Affecting My Health?
Your Apple Watch and other fitness trackers have many benefits to help encourage healthy movement throughout the day, but the dangers could be outweighing the potential benefits.
The unfortunate truth is your Apple Watch could be negatively affecting your health. Wearing your watch directly on your wrist is exposing your body to constant exposure to EMF Radiation.
Something we have talked a lot about on here is one of the best ways to protect yourself from EMF Radiation is through distance.
We know that as we double our distance from a radiation source, we quarter our exposure. However, this is not really an option when it comes to the Apple Watch or other wearable devices.
Potential Side Affect From Overexposure to EMF Radiation
EMFs are known to cause physical symptoms, especially when you are under constant or excessive exposure. Here is a list of common side effects linked to EMF Radiation exposure:
- Chronic headaches
- Ringing ears
- Hormonal imbalances that do not respond to treatment
- Fatigue
- Stress
- Trouble sleeping
- Tingling skin sensations
- Buzzing or static feeling in the brain
- Unexplained rashes or hives
- Body pain
- Weakened immune system
- Ashma
- Mood Swings
- Heart Arrhythmia
If you wear an Apple Watch and have noticed any of these symptoms, you may want to try doing a simple self-evaluation. Go a few days to a week without wearing your Apple Watch and take note if your symptoms improve.
If you feel better or your symptoms improve, you may want to consider re-thinking the inclusion of a wireless wearable in your daily routine. Or you may want to look at other options for lowering your EMF Exposure from your Apple Watch.
How to Protect Against Apple Watch EMF Radiation
I am a huge fan and longtime user of fitness watches, however, I know there are dangers associated with the use of any device that uses Wifi, Bluetooth or cellular signals.
1. Keep Apple Watch On Airplane Mode
Keeping my Apple Watch On Airplane mode is my personal go-to solution to help reduce my exposure to EMF Radiation.
There are definitely some features you will miss out on by doing this but its a great option for those who already own an Apple Watch who are looking to lower their exposure.
Pros of Keeping your Apple Watch On Airplane Mode:
- Lowered exposure to EMF Radiation (.2 mG)
- You can still track your workouts
- Apple Watch will continue to remind you to get up and move, take that deep breath, close your rings, and other health features.
- You can still check and get current updates on your heart rate
- Look through your photos
- Track sleep patterns with most apps
Cons of Keeping your Apple Watch On Airplane Mode:
- You will not receive notifications of texts, phone, calls, social media, emails, etc.
- You cannot send texts, emails, or make phone calls
- Can’t change the volume on your other devices (ie music)
- Open or use apps that require the internet
- Loose ability to have your watch alarm go off
- You can’t listen to music (Bluetooth must be on and the use of Bluetooth headphones).
- Basically, you will lose most of the smartwatch features
2. Don’t Wear Your Apple Watch at Night
Would you feel comfortable sleeping with your phone under your pillow, or pressed into your stomach, if the answer is no but you have been sleeping with your Apple Watch, I would highly suggest taking a moment to reconsider.
Stop wearing your Apple Watch to bed, especially if it is not on airplane mode.
Even though there are features like tracking your sleep patterns and a silent alarm that vibrates your wrist, wearing your Apple Watch at night is causing more EMF exposure and could be negatively affecting your sleep.
If tracking your sleep is really important to you, check out apps like Pillow and Sleep++ you can use these to track your sleep patterns while in airplane mode.
Just like the fitness features, you will need to take your watch off airplane mode for a few minutes in order for your watch to sync with your phone to store and better analyze the data.
3. Consider Protection
There are devices out there that were specifically developed to help protect the body from the EMF radiation that Apple Watches emit. Many of these products I would not trust honestly, but there are products that I likely would trust, specifically the EMF Harmonizer for Apple Bands from EMF-Harmony.
I don’t want this article to turn into a full review of a product, but I’ll just give you a little bit of info about this product and company, and then if you’re interested, you can check out their website yourself to learn more.
EMF Harmonizer For Apple Watch
So EMF Harmony makes a variety of EMF protection products, but they also make this product specifically designed just for the apple watch. In fact, it’s a whole band, so you’d just replace the one your currently using.
They claim it offers protection from 5G, WiFi and any other form of EMF, and that it accomplishes this in two ways:
- “Harmonizes” the EMF radiation emitted from your apple watch, which reduces the potential damage and harm from the device.
- Supports the body so that it can better cope with the EMF radiation, resulting in better overall health.
As far as the product itself, it’s essentially a soft silicon rubber band, just like you may have gotten with your device originally. It’s completely waterproof and easy to wear.
The band fits any series of apple watch, you just have to pick your desired band length and color.
Overall, this is potentially a good option for anyone who wants to continue wearing and utilizing their Apple watch, but does want some protection from the device.
4. Opt for a Low EMF Fitness Tracker
If you don’t already own a fitness tracker and are looking for a safer option try the Garmin Vívosmart HR Activity Tracker.
This activity tracker allows you to disable the Bluetooth while keeping other features such as monitoring heart rate, floors climbed, movement, sleep, steps, activity intensity, and calories burned.
This watch is compatible with most smartphones and has features like notifying you when you are receiving a phone call or getting a text, however, I would recommend disconnecting from Bluetooth which will take these features away.
This watch can track your activity for about up to 24 hours before you’ll want to dump it to the app. Looking for something that can go a little longer? Try the Fitbit Alta HR.
Fitbit Alta HR is another affordable fitness watch that has a low dependency on internet syncing. Track calorie burns, heart rate, move reminders, monitor goals, gauge workout intensity and get a picture of your overall health.
One of the best features of the Fitbit Alta HR is on average it can go up to 7 days without needing to sync with any electronic device.
Because of this feature, I would say this is the best device for those looking to track their fitness but want to have as low of EMF exposure as possible.
Again like the Garmin Vívosmart HR Activity Tracker you have the option for smartphone notifications, these will go away when you turn off the Bluetooth settings.
You can also check out this article that outlines some fitness watches without Bluetooth.
Can you do all these things with your Apple Watch but on airplane mode? Yes, you can however if you are planning to keep your Apple Watch on airplane mode you may want to consider purchasing a fitness tracker instead of a smartwatch.
You will save quite a bit of money and allows you very similar fitness features as an Apple Watch on airplane mode. An Apple Watch varies between $200- $800 whereas the Fitbit Alta HR is between $74-$129.
If you already own an Apple Watch or another smartwatch try my solution of keeping it on airplane mode to lower your EMF exposure but continue to track your fitness.
Just a reminder, even though these trackers will hold all your information in real time you will still need to re-connect with your Bluetooth so the information can be transferred to your phone.
I have been opting for this lower EMF exposure solution for years using various Fitbit devices as well as my current Apple Watch.
Opt for a more simple device like a Pedometer
There is nothing wrong with going old school with a pedometer. When I first got a fitness watch I was mostly just obsessed with getting my 10k steps in a day.
If your main interest is to track how many steps you getting in a day a pedometer is all you need! Simply clip to your shoes, pants, or toss in a pocket and this device will count your steps.
No smartphone, Bluetooth, or Wifi required when using a pedometer. This device will keep up with the speed and distance you have walked/ run as well as the number of calories you have burned. (the calorie counter will be less accurate as other devices since it is not tracking your heart rate).
This option may not cover all your fitness tracking needs but it is a pretty safe bet. Don’t forget if you already have a smartphone and keep that on you throughout the day it will track your steps as well, even when on airplane mode.
How to use your Apple Watch or Fitness Tracker without a Smart Phone
The last option I have for lowering your EMF exposure while using your Apple Watch is to Sync your Watch with your computer.
Although the Apple Watch is designed to work optimally with your iPhone there are alternative methods to sync with the tracking software.
If you want to keep all the information your Apple Watch or fitness tracker has recorded make sure you are syncing this information somewhere. Don’t want to have to use your smartphone? Simply sync with your computer every few days.
Generally, this works well, however, you will need an iPhone to set up your Apple Watch, once it is set up you can sync with your computer every few days to keep a record of your activity.
What are the levels of EMF Radiation Exposure produced by The Apple Watch
There are multiple ways to test EMF Radiation from a device. I personally tested my apple watch using my EMF reader and am sharing the findings with you below. We are also looking into SAR levels which is what Apple uses as their way of measuring.
Apple Watch and Magnetic Field Testing
I have done this a few times before but wanted to re-test my Apple Watch with it on airplane mode and then take it off airplane mode and use it with a variety of its features to show you how the EMF exposure can vary greatly.
I will talk to you about SAR levels below but you may be more with the Magnetic Feild reading that I am going to use.
Here are the readings I received from testing my Apple Watch:
Apple Watch On Airplane Mode: .2 mG
Apple Watch without Airplane Mode: .6- 2.6 mG (just sitting unused)
Apple Watch sending/ receiving txts: 3.6- 5.3 mG
Apple Watch Making/ Receiving phone calls: 5.7- 11.4 mG
I tested using the Trifield TF2 and was using the Magnetic Field setting to test. Anything higher than 1 mG is considered a high amount of EMF exposure within a living space This means the recommendation is based on ambient levels of habitable spaces, so where you actually spend most of your time.
You can see that when my watch was on airplane mode the reading was at .2mG which is very low and something that I feel comfortable with personally.
However, when the watch was taken off airplane mode the numbers were much higher reaching well above the 1 mG that is considered high amounts of EMF radiation.
I do want to mention that there is new research like a study from researchers at McGill University in Canada suggesting biological harm could occur with levels even lower than 1 mG.
I personally stick with the 1mG guidelines as it is nearly impossible to keep the number lower with the common use of technology today.
I hope that as there becomes more interest in this topic more studies will be conducted because there is not a doubt in my mind the more EMF radiation is part of our society the more we will see a link to it and our failing health.
Apple Watch Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) Levels
Here is the official disclaimer from the Apple website:
Apple Watch (42mm) RF Exposure information
Apple Watch has been tested and meets applicable limits for radio frequency (RF) exposure.
Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) refers to the rate at which the body absorbs RF energy. SAR limits depend on whether Apple Watch is used against the head or on the wrist. In some countries, the SAR limit is 1.6 watts per kilogram averaged over 1 gram of tissue for use against the head and 4.0 watts per kilogram averaged over 10 grams of tissue for use on the wrist.
In other countries, the SAR limit is 2.0 watts per kilogram averaged over 10 grams of tissue for use against the head and 4.0 watts per kilogram averaged over 10 grams of tissue for use on the wrist.
During testing, Apple Watch radios are set to their highest transmission levels and placed in positions that simulate use against the head, with 10mm separation, and on the wrist, with no separation.
When placing Apple Watch near your face, keep at least 10mm of separation to ensure exposure levels remain at or below the as-tested levels.
The highest SAR values are as follows:
Model A1554 (most recent)
1.6 W/kg (over 1 g) SAR Limit
Head: 0.109
2.0 W/kg (over 10 g) SAR Limit
Head: 0.037
4.0 W/kg (over 10 g) SAR Limit
Wrist: 0.061
Model A1860
1.6 W/kg (over 1 g) SAR Limit
Head: 0.53
4.0 W/kg (over 10 g) SAR Limit
Wrist: 0.18
Model A1889
1.6 W/kg (over 1 g) SAR Limit
Head: 0.29
4.0 W/kg (over 10 g) SAR Limit
Wrist: 0.15
Model A1890
1.6 W/kg (over 1 g) SAR Limit
Head: 0.16
4.0 W/kg (over 10 g) SAR Limit
Wrist: 0.14
Are SAR Levels a Reliable Way To Measure How Dangerous Apple Watch Devices are?
Fist off the goal of a SAR measurement is to find the maximum EMF radiation exposure amount from the device. Is this reliable? Not necessarily.
The maximum EMF radiation exposure can vary a lot depending on what the device is doing. For Example, if you Apple Watch is connected to cellular, multiple Bluetooth devices, and Wifi the radiation levels will be extremely high. If the device is not connected to any of these or only one of those then the radiation will be much lower.
Problems with SAR we need to keep in mind:
- The dummies used in SAR testing are meant to replicate the human body, containing only liquids. The problem with this? Many people wear earrings, glasses, or have other metal on their bodies like fillings, knee replacements, etc. This can impact how the radiation is absorbed and amplified.
- SAR levels are based on an adult brain. However, children are exposed to these devices as well, the problem? Children’s brains are much softer and have been shown to absorb higher amounts of radiation. An additional problem, if you are pregnant your unborn baby is at even higher risk, none of this is considered in SAR testing.
- SAR levels give us information about how much radiation they emit when in use against the body, but do not tell us about the amount emitted while not in use. The problem? These devices are still emitting a high amount of EMF radiation even while not in direct use, think phone in the pocket, purse, or sitting next to you. None of this exposure is accounted for.
Should I stop Wearing My Apple Watch: A Conclusion on Apple Watch Radiation.
I personally still use and love my Apple Watch but not without implementing some major changes.
My watch is on airplane mode always except for while I am teaching fitness classes (this allows me to adjust the volume on the music and it is the time I allow my watch to sync with my phone). I have also chosen to not wear my Apple Watch at night.
These are what make me feel most comfortable but that is just my personal decision.
Now that you have all the information you will have to decide what is best for you. Apple Watch and other smartwatch devices do emit dangerous levels of EMF radiation.
Having a wearable device like this exposes you constantly making it potentially more dangerous than other devices that you can add physical space between you and the device (ie, cell phone, computer, and other smart home devices).
With solutions like utilizing airplane mode, not wearing the device at night, and only syncing every few days you will help lower your exposure to EMF radiation.
Don’t forget the best option for protecting yourself from EMF radiation is limiting or removing your exposure to these kinds of devices.
Even though I personally feel comfortable wearing my watch when it is in airplane mode, remember that there is still a small amount of EMF exposure (.2 mG).
Even at these low levels, you could feel the negative physical side effects of EMF exposure and should consider removing the device for a few days to see if symptoms subside.
If you don’t already own an Apple Watch, consider purchasing a pedometer, it will save you a significant amount of money and you do not need to sync to your phone.
Another non-Apple Watch solution is to try a Fitbit Alta HR, they are less expensive than an Apple Watch and other smartwatches, you can turn off the Bluetooth setting, and you only have to sync every 7 days.
There are many options to lower your exposure to EMF radiation, at the end of the day you will have to decide which is best for you and your lifestyle. Questions about Apple Watch and EMF Radiation? Comment below and I will do my best to answer!
