Last Updated on 22/11/2021 by Sanskriti
To avoid any potential contact with medical equipment, Apple suggests keeping the products listed below a safe distance away from them – at least six inches apart, or more than 12 inches apart if the Apple product is wirelessly charging. For detailed instructions, Apple recommends consulting a physician and the device’s maker.
AirPods and charging cases
• AirPods and Wireless Charging Case
• AirPods Pro and Wireless Charging Case
• AirPods and Charging Case
• AirPods Max and Smart Case
Apple Watch and accessories
• Apple Watch bands with magnets
• Apple Watch
• Apple Watch magnetic charging accessories
HomePod
• HomePod
• HomePod mini
iPad and accessories
• iPad Pro
• Magic Keyboard for iPad
• iPad
• iPad mini
• iPad Smart Covers and Smart Folios
• iPad Air
• iPad Smart Keyboard and Smart Keyboard Folio
iPhone and MagSafe accessories
• iPhone 12 models
• MagSafe accessories
Mac and accessories
• Mac mini
• iMac
• Mac Pro
• MacBook Pro
• MacBook Air
• Apple Pro Display XDR
Beats
• Beats X
• PowerBeats Pro
• Beats Flex
• UrBeats3
According to the support page, several other Apple products have magnets that are uncertain to interact with medical devices.
11 of 14 cardiac types of equipment have witnessed interruption when an iPhone 12 Pro Max was held close to the cardiac device (within 1.5 cm), even when the medical equipment was still sealed in its manufacturer’s packet.
The American Heart Association reported earlier this month that in a small study of different types of pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.
“We have always known that magnets can interfere with cardiac implantable electronic devices, however, we were surprised by the strength of the magnets used in the iPhone 12 magnet technology,” said lead study investigator Dr. Michael Wu, a cardiologist at Lifespan Cardiovascular Institute and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Brown University. “In general, a magnet can change a pacemaker’s timing or deactivate a defibrillator’s lifesaving functions, and this research indicates the urgency for everyone to be aware that electronic devices with magnets can interfere with cardiac implantable electronic devices.”
Magnetic interference with implanted medical devices in iPhone 12 models, according to research published in the Heart Rhythm Journal in January can “potentially inhibit lifesaving therapy in a patient.”
iPhone 12 was put in close proximity to a patient’s implanted cardioverter defibrillator by three doctors in Michigan as a part of the experiment, as a result, it fell into a “suspended” condition for the duration of the experiment.
Apple has known from the debut of the iPhone 12 series in October that the smartphones may produce electromagnetic interference with medical equipment such as pacemakers and defibrillators.
Released on June 25, Apple’s new support page, which no longer claims that iPhone 12 models “are not expected to pose a greater risk of magnetic interference to medical devices than prior iPhone models.”
