Lying-to-standing change
The orthostatic signal POTS clinicians ask about. We read the transitions your watch already records and surface days the change crossed the consensus threshold.
Heart Rate Tracking · POTS-aware
“I stood up. My watch said 132. I just needed someone to read that.”
A POTS tracker built on the watch you already wear. Body Insights reads your Apple Watch heart rate — lying to standing, morning to evening, day after day — and translates the pattern into something you can take to your doctor.
Get Body Insights
Free for core features.
Body Insights is not a medical device. We surface patterns. We do not diagnose POTS or any other condition — that's your clinician's call.
Your heart rate has a story. Most apps only tell you the number.
You stand up to make coffee and your pulse hits a hundred and thirty. You climb a single flight of stairs and the watch chimes — heart rate elevated, are you exercising? You spend a quiet afternoon on the couch and your resting HR reads twelve beats higher than your usual.
None of that is random. It's a pattern, and it's the pattern a POTS or dysautonomia specialist wants to see when you sit across from them. The trouble is, the built-in Health app shows you the number. Athlete-focused trackers tell you to push harder. Neither is reading your day the way your body experiences it.
Body Insights reads what Apple Watch already records — every reading, every minute — and surfaces the shape. The lying-to-standing change. The morning resting HR drift. The afternoon recovery curve. In plain language, tied back to context: how you slept, what you ate, how the last few days have gone.
The 30-bpm question, finally answerable from your wrist.
The consensus criterion for POTS is a sustained heart rate increase of at least 30 bpm within ten minutes of standing — without a blood pressure drop. For adolescents aged 12 to 19, the threshold is 40 bpm. That's the number cardiologists and autonomic specialists work from.
It's also, until recently, a number you could only get on a tilt-table or at a clinic. Now your Apple Watch records the change every time you stand up. Body Insights reads those transitions, surfaces the days the change crossed the threshold, and shows you whether the pattern is one bad morning or a consistent signal.
We don't diagnose. We will never tell you that you have POTS. What we will do is hand you a clean read of weeks of data so that the conversation in the doctor's office starts ahead of where it usually does.
Resting heart rate is the canary, not the alarm.
If you live with ME/CFS, Long COVID, chronic Lyme, chronic EBV, fibromyalgia or perimenopause, you know the feeling of the day before a flare — that prickle of something is coming. Often, it's already in the data.
Morning resting HR is one of the earliest signals your body sends. A drift of even a few beats above your personal baseline, sustained across days, frequently precedes a viral reactivation, a poor recovery cycle, or the onset of a crash. Body Insights tracks the drift against your 7-day and 30-day averages, and surfaces it when it matters — not as a verdict, as a heads-up.
If you also wear a CGM, that drift gets correlated with overnight glucose stability. Two signals are more honest than one.
Read your heart rate, in context
Free for core features. No card needed.
For people who want the science.
Everything below is what an honest POTS tracker should tell you about its reads. If you're comparing apps, you're in the right place.
What we read from your Apple Watch.
Reads heart rate data from Apple Health (HealthKit) — the same data your Apple Watch already writes there. No extra hardware, no monthly subscription, no account.
Morning resting HR
The lowest stable HR of your sleeping hours. The most under-read early signal of flare, infection, or accumulated load.
RHR drift vs baseline
Today's morning RHR compared to your personal 7-day and 30-day averages. A drift of a few beats, sustained, is the canary.
Daytime pattern
Hourly mode HR across the day so an afternoon at 95 bpm sitting on the couch reads as the signal it is, not noise.
Recovery curve
How quickly HR settles after exertion — a flight of stairs, a shower, a grocery run. Slow recovery is its own data point.
Plain-language morning read
One sentence that ties last night to today. Not a score — a summary. “Your morning HR is six above your 30-day baseline. Take it slow.”
Who this heart rate read is built for.
POTS and dysautonomia. ME/CFS. Long COVID. Chronic Lyme. Chronic EBV. Fibromyalgia. Perimenopause. Autoimmune flares. Post-illness recovery. Anyone whose pulse doesn't follow a healthy-athlete baseline.
Most heart rate apps assume the reader is training for a half marathon. The advice — push harder, hit zone three, build base — is poison for a body in a flare. Body Insights is tuned the other direction. Rest is part of the plan. A standing HR of 130 isn't a fitness opportunity; it's information. The recommendation phrasing reflects that.
If you're an athlete, the app still works — the underlying reads are the same. But the framing was built for the reader whose recovery doesn't follow a training cycle.
POTS tracker apps: how they compare.
If you've shopped this category, you've seen the options. Here's the honest read.
| Apple Health | Athlete trackers | Body Insights | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heart rate timeline | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lying-to-standing change | No | No | Yes |
| RHR drift vs personal baseline | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Tuned for chronic illness | No | No | Yes |
| Plain-language morning read | No | Partial | Yes |
| Subscription | None | $6–30 / month | Free for core |
| Extra hardware | None | Ring or strap | None |
If your body's story is variable, the right tool isn't the one optimized for a marathoner. It's the one that reads your pulse as part of an unfolding pattern.
What we mean when we say “we don't diagnose.”
POTS, dysautonomia, and the broader chronic-illness landscape are real medical conditions. The diagnostic criteria — the 30-bpm threshold, the ten-minute window, the orthostatic blood pressure check — exist for a reason, and they belong in a clinical setting alongside a thoughtful clinician.
Body Insights is a pattern-reading tool. We surface what your Apple Watch records, in a shape that's useful to bring to your doctor. We do not, and will not, tell you that you have POTS, ME/CFS, Long COVID, or anything else. If a pattern in your data concerns you, please share it with a clinician who can take a full history, order the right tests, and rule out the other things heart rate patterns can mean — anemia, thyroid imbalance, medication effects, and more.
What we can give you is weeks of clean data, in plain language, so that the appointment starts further along than it would have.
Questions you're probably asking.
Can Apple Watch be used as a POTS tracker?
For pattern reading, yes. It records the lying-to-standing change continuously. Body Insights reads those records and surfaces the pattern. We don't diagnose — that's your clinician's call.
What is the 30-bpm POTS criterion?
A sustained heart rate rise of at least 30 bpm within ten minutes of standing, without orthostatic hypotension. For adolescents 12-19 the threshold is 40 bpm. Diagnosis is a clinician's call.
Is this a medical device?
No. Body Insights surfaces patterns from data your Apple Watch already records. It is not a diagnostic tool. Bring patterns to your doctor.
What if my RHR keeps climbing?
A morning RHR drifting up over days often precedes a flare or infection. We surface the drift and tie it to context — sleep, glucose if you have a CGM, recent load.
Does it work for ME/CFS or Long COVID?
Yes. The reads are tuned for bodies with variable baselines. The framing — rest is part of the plan, not a failure of it — is built around chronic illness, not athletics.
How much does it cost?
Free for core heart rate features. A premium tier adds deeper analytics and predictive features. No card needed to start.
Your heart rate data stays yours.
On-device. No account. No subscription required. No data sold. Ever.
- Reads from Apple Health
- Stays on your iPhone
- You choose what to share
Read your heart rate, tomorrow morning.
Free for core features. Premium adds deeper trend analytics.
