"Discover Apple's evolving journey to integrate blood pressure and blood oxygen monitoring into the Apple Watch. From patents and breakthroughs to legal setbacks, explore how a patent dispute impacted the latest Series 9 and Ultra 2 models, and what the future holds for health innovations on your wrist."
2019: The First Hints with Patents
In 2019, Apple’s health ambitions were already growing. They filed patents suggesting that future Apple Watches could monitor blood pressure using optical sensors. At this point, Apple Watch Series 4 was on the market, and its ECG feature was already a big hit.
Around this time, Apple was also rumored to be working on blood oxygen monitoring, which would eventually come to life in later models. The patents were a sign of bigger things to come.
Read more about the patents:
2020: Blood Oxygen Monitoring Finally Arrives
2020 was a big year for Apple Watch's health features. With the Apple Watch Series 6 launch, Apple introduced blood oxygen (SpO2) monitoring—a huge step forward for health tracking. This feature uses infrared light to measure the oxygen saturation in your blood, helping users monitor their respiratory and heart health.
It was a timely addition, especially during the pandemic when people sought more ways to monitor their well-being at home.
At the same time, Apple was still working behind the scenes on blood pressure monitoring, with Rockley Photonics partnering to help with advanced sensors.
Learn more about the partnership with Rockley Photonics:
2021: The Apple Watch Series 7 Hype
As the Apple Watch Series 7 launch approached, rumors flew about improvements in blood pressure and blood oxygen monitoring. While theSeries 7 didn’t bring blood pressure monitoring, it did refine the blood oxygen feature introduced in Series 6.
The Series 7 also focused on a bigger, more durable display and faster charging. So, even though we didn’t get blood pressure monitoring, blood oxygen became more accurate and accessible with a larger screen that made viewing health data easier.
Check out more about the Series 7 launch:
2022: Apple Watch Series 8 and Technical Challenges
With the Apple Watch Series 8 release in 2022, blood oxygen monitoring continued to be a core feature, alongside other new health tools like temperature sensing for women’s health.
However, blood pressure monitoring was delayed yet again. Bloomberg reports highlighted that Apple had hit technical roadblocks in developing accurate blood pressure measurements, pushing the release back to at least 2024.
Despite these challenges, the Series 8 was praised for further refining blood oxygen monitoring and giving users better insights into their health.
2023: Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 Without Blood Oxygen Monitoring
Apple made a significant change with the release of the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in 2023—these models no longer include the blood oxygen monitoring feature.
The change resulted from a patent dispute between Apple and medical tech company Masimo, which briefly banned Apple from selling and importing its latest Apple Watch variants in the U.S.
To comply with the court's decision, Apple redesigned the new Watch variants without the pulse oximeter, previously used to measure the oxygen saturation level of the user’s blood.
More details on the Series 9 changes:
Apple has been steadily building a powerful health platform through the Apple Watch. From the Series 4's ECG feature to the Series 6's blood oxygen monitoring and now the Series 8's temperature sensing, the Apple Watch has become an essential tool for health-conscious users.
However, due to the recent legal issues with Masimo, the Series 9 and Ultra 2 had to remove blood oxygen monitoring. This shows that even Apple faces challenges in maintaining all its health features. Still, fans hope blood pressure monitoring will arrive soon, perhaps by 2024!
For alternative blood pressure and blood oxygen monitors check out our reviews:
Although the wrist-worn blood pressure monitors below are very different in appearance and features to an Apple Watch, they do get the job done.
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