The short answer

Yes, with Digital Touch in Messages. If your partner wears an Apple Watch too, they feel it on their wrist; on iPhone, they only see an animation. Either way it's a single message, never live. With 2Hearts, it can be live: if your partner joins while you're recording, you feel each other's heartbeat in real time. If not, it waits for them as a recording they feel on their iPhone.

What Apple Watch can do on its own

Send a heartbeat in Messages with Digital Touch

Digital Touch has been part of Apple Watch since the first model in 2015, and it's still in Messages today. To send your heartbeat:

  1. Open Messages on your Apple Watch and choose a conversation.
  2. Tap the + button, then tap Digital Touch.
  3. Place two fingers on the display until you feel your heartbeat and see it animated on the screen.
  4. Lift your fingers to send it.

Apple's own steps are in its watchOS 26 guide to sending stickers, images and more in Messages on Apple Watch; the exact taps can change between watchOS versions.

If your partner wears an Apple Watch, they feel your heartbeat on their wrist when they open it. On iPhone, they only see an animated heart in the conversation. Either way it's a single message: there's no live session, and it isn't designed as an everyday way to feel close.

Health Sharing

The Health app on iPhone can share some of your health data with someone you choose, including heart rate. They see it as numbers and charts in their own Health app. That's useful for keeping an eye on family, but it's data, not a heartbeat they can feel.

How to send your heartbeat with 2Hearts

2Hearts is a relationship app for couples, built around exactly this, and unlike Digital Touch, your heartbeat can reach your partner live. Here's how it works.

  1. Get 2Hearts and tether with your partner. One of you creates an invite code in the app and the other enters it.
  2. Set up your Apple Watch. Open 2Hearts on your watch and let it read your heart rate. From then on, 2Hearts takes your pulse from your wrist whenever you're wearing it, and uses your iPhone's camera when you're not. You can also choose to always use the camera in Settings.
  3. Take a reading. Hold the orb in 2Hearts on your iPhone. With your Apple Watch on, 2Hearts reads your heart rate while a short workout session runs on it. Without it, rest a fingertip over the camera and flash, and the app reads the tiny changes in light as your blood flows.
  4. Send your heartbeat, and they might join you. When the reading is done, your heartbeat goes to your partner to feel on their iPhone. While you're recording, they also get 30 seconds to join you. If they do, it becomes a live session and you feel each other's heartbeat in real time.

Live heartbeat or a recording?

You don't have to choose. Every heartbeat you record is sent as a recording, and it's also a chance for your partner to join you live.

  • A recording waits for them. Send one before a flight, at the end of a long day, or when you can't talk. Your newest heartbeat waits until your partner is ready to feel it. It plays once, like a moment you shared, and its shape stays in their Activity.
  • A live session is a surprise. While you're recording, your partner gets a notification and 30 seconds to join. You're never told they're coming. If they do, your screen opens into a sky of stars and you feel each other's heartbeat in real time, for up to a minute. Live beats travel over a private, encrypted connection only the two of you can join, and they aren't stored.

Looking for more ways to spend time together from afar? Try these long distance date ideas.

Your heartbeat stays between you

Heart readings are health data, and 2Hearts treats them that way.

  • The camera never keeps a picture of your finger. The video is processed on your phone and thrown away; only your pulse, as a series of numbers, is sent when you choose to share it.
  • The workout session on your watch isn't saved to your Activity or Health, and 2Hearts doesn't write any data to Apple Health.
  • Heart readings are never used for advertising and never sold. They go to your partner, and to no one else.

Read the full privacy policy.

Questions

Can Apple Watch send your heartbeat on its own?

Yes, with Digital Touch in the Messages app: you hold two fingers on the display and lift them to send your heartbeat. A partner wearing an Apple Watch feels it on their wrist; on iPhone, they only see an animation. With 2Hearts, your heartbeat can be live: if your partner joins while you're recording, you feel each other's heartbeat in real time. If not, it waits for them as a recording they feel on their iPhone.

Does my partner need an Apple Watch?

No. Either of you can take a reading with your iPhone's camera instead, so Apple Watch is optional.

Does 2Hearts save anything to Apple Health?

No. 2Hearts reads your heart rate while a short workout session runs on your watch. That session isn't saved to your Activity or Health, and 2Hearts doesn't write any data to Apple Health.

Is my heartbeat private?

Yes. Your heart readings go to your partner and no one else. They are never used for advertising and never sold.