Blood Oxygen Tracking Feature Returns To Many Apple Watches

The blood oxygen capability will once again be available to many Apple Watch users in the United States.

An Apple Watch.

On Thursday, August 14, Apple said that it will update the software on the iPhone and Apple Watch to implement a new Blood Oxygen capability for select Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 models. Users in the US who do not currently have the functionality are affected by the upgrade.

Sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app will be measured and computed on the associated iPhone by updating to iOS 18.6.1 on the iPhone and watchOS 11.6.1 on the Apple Watch. The Respiratory section of the Health app will display the results.

According to Apple, the modification comes after a recent US Customs decision. According to CNBC, the International Trade Commission declared in 2023 that Apple’s blood oxygen monitors violated patents owned by the medical technology firm Masimo.

Apple started selling modified watches without the feature and briefly halted sales of some watches. This won’t affect watches that were previously purchased with the original feature or that were acquired outside of the United States.

Notifications of abnormal rhythms, the ECG (electrocardiogram) app, sleep apnea alerts, fall detection, wrist temperature sensing, and mindfulness monitoring are further current Apple Watch health features.

“Apple’s teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features that are grounded in science and have privacy at the core,” the company stated.

With the addition of a sleep apnea detector to the Apple Watch, hearing health features to AirPods, and the start of its first significant health research in five years, Apple has increased its focus on health technologies in recent years.