Is the new Apple Watch ready for Grandma?

The Series 4 Apple Watch now in stores pitches itself as a Food and Drug Administration-cleared “proactive health monitor” and a “guardian” that will call help if you take a hard fall. Its screen is 30 percent larger. You won’t see Apple say “senior citizen” in ads — but suddenly, grandmas are thinking about getting one.

So I sought help in reviewing the new Watch from a gang of techsavvy seniors. Seven members of the Computer Club of Rossmoor, a 55-plus community in California, helped me set up, poke and prod the new model. No seniors were harmed in testing the fall-detection tech.

Just when you think I’m critical, older adults have even less tolerance for tech that isn’t clear, reliable and affordable. There wasn’t a technophobe among my helpers. After our tests, one of them, a satisfied Apple Watch owner, decided she’d definitely upgrade. But none of the others was sold.

Good on Apple for recognizing tech has a lot to offer the older adults often overlooked by Silicon Valley. That we’re even talking about FDA clearance shows how the Apple Watch has matured into a truly personal kind of gadget. This is the first version that feels speedy and connected enough to think of as a stand-alone device.

What I learned from my elders The Apple Series 4 Watch, introduced here by Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, adds an electrocardiogram and other features to monitor health. is that the Apple Watch has lots to offer seniors not deterred by a $400 starting price. It’s pretty good at encouraging you to exercise. It can gather data about your heart. And you’re less likely to miss calls when your phone is on your wrist.

Just don’t let the hype about the new Watch’s capabilities get ahead of its reality. It’s heavier than some traditional watches and one more thing you’ll have to charge daily. Some of those new health functions have yet to prove how much they’ll help. And as a substitute for your phone, it still has a pretty small screen — and even tinier buttons.

Buzz about the Watch’s new health capabilities was the biggest draw for my seniors. Let’s start with that fall detector, a competitor to the Life Alert I’ve-fallen-and-I-can’tget-up wearable. With the new Apple Watch, a hard fall is supposed to activate a message on its screen asking if you need help. If you don’t respond, it will place an SOS call from your wrist. “That is a really neat feature at our age, instead of a necklace,” says John Helmus, 76.

Trust but verify, right? I didn’t ask any of my seniors to take a plunge. But in the interest of science, I tried jumping off ledges and throwing myself onto furniture. The thing never went off. (The feature is on by default only for people older than 65, but I turned mine on.) It’s possible, even likely, that the Watch could tell I was faking.

Apple’s disclaimer says: “Apple Watch cannot detect all falls. The more physically active you are, the more likely you are to trigger Fall Detection due to high impact activity that can appear to be a fall.”

The Apple Watch has always measured pulse, and Series 4 adds the FDA-cleared electrocardiogram — a breakthrough for consumer tech. Hold your finger on the round button on the side of the Watch and it will read your heart’s electrical signals in about 30 seconds.

But that app won’t arrive until later this year, so I couldn’t compare it to a hospital-grade monitor. Apple received FDA clearance for the EKG app as well as the ability to detect irregular heart rhythms. But “clearance” isn’t the same as “approval.” Apple had to prove safety and performance through clinical validation, but “approval” requires a lot more testing.

The heart sensors can let people with heart conditions or anxiety know when they might need to take it easy. Margery Widroe, 80, who’s been using a Series 3 Apple Watch for a few months, recounted to our group a recent incident when she was at the grocery store and her Watch alerted her to a high heart rate. She took it as a valuable cue to go home and take her medication. “It could be a major help in your life,” she says.

Though the Watch will continue to grow as a medical device, it might be more useful now to think of it as a wellness aid. It offers a three-part view of your daily activity, displayed in rings: your overall activity level, how much time you’ve raised your heart rate in exercise and how often you stand rather than sit.

My crew’s other interest was the ability of the Apple Watch to replace, or at least supplement, a phone.

You don’t have to pay $100 extra (plus $10 per month) for the cellularmodel Apple Watch to place and receive calls. When you’re within range (sufficient inside most homes), the Watch uses a local wireless connection to your iPhone. The independent cellular connection, first added to last year’s model, is helpful if you want to leave your phone behind entirely and still receive calls and texts on your main number.