This article is more than 1 year old

Tattooed skin befuddles Apple Watch

Don't draw onna paw if you want the awe

Apple has confirmed that, yes indeed, its Watch gizmo does not work well on tattooed skin.

The Cupertino goliath published a support page acknowledging that dark ink can prevent the pulse reader and other sensors on the watch from gathering data. This knackers health and fitness apps, and can cause the expensive wristslab to believe no one is wearing it.

"Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact heart rate sensor performance," Apple now tells fanbois. "The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings."

Users have been griping problems with the smartwatch for days, noting that features such as pulse monitoring and wristo detection can't be reliably used by those with heavy tattoos on their wrists.

Even if you haven't dabbled in body modifications, your Apple Watch may act up in the near future: some people have complained about a sticky nob on their Watches after a few days of use, noting that turning the dial to access software features can become difficult.

The collection of issues has caused one analyst house to declare the rollout of the Apple Watch a failure. UBS has cut its estimate of the number of Apple Watch units that will ship in the coming year by 23 per cent.

Given that the Apple Watch is on backorder until June, however, we're hesitant to brand it a "flop" just yet. The reduced UBS estimate still reckons Cook and Co will ship 31 million Apple watches – around three dozen times the number of Android Wear devices shipped last year.

Remember, this is a smart watch on which apps are banned from telling you the time. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like