A year and a half after being forced to withdraw the measurement of SPO2 on its watches in the United States, Apple indicates that it has found a solution to propose this function again on its Apple Watch.
If the health functions offered on the Apple Watch are among the most reliable on the market, it cannot be said that they are the most complete. In addition to the absence of blood pressure or body composition, Apple watches have been mainly deprived, since the end of 2023, of a function yet present on bracelets connected to less than 50 euros: the measurement of the blood oxygen rate, or SPO2.
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It must be said that Apple had been attacked, in 2023, by the Masimo medical firm, at the origin of a patent protecting this innovation. However, American justice had agreed to Masimo and had prohibited Apple from importing watches taking advantage of this measure. Result of the races, Apple had ended up deactivating this function on its watches sold in the United States.
However, a year and a half later, Apple shared good news this Thursday for its American consumers. In a press release, the firm indicates that it can again offer this function very quickly:
Apple will offer a functionality of a redesigned blood oxygen for certain users of Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 via an iPhone and Apple Watch software update which will be available later.
Apple specifies having obviously validated this update with American customs, in charge of the implementation of the judicial decision.
A redesigned, but more restrictive function
However, the use of this “new” measure of the SPO2 will be a little more restrictive for users, at least first:
Following this update, the data from the Apple Watch blood Oxygen Application Sensors will be measured and calculated on the twin iPhone, and the results will be available in the Breathing section of the Health Application.
Therefore, the blood oxygenation data, as a percentage, will not be available directly from the watch, but offered only within the health application on iPhone.
Recall that the rate of blood oxygenation, or SPO2, makes it possible in particular to prevent potential respiratory concerns. It must generally be between 95 and 100 % for a healthy person and a person under 85 % of SPO2 generally presents respiratory gaps.
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Only US Apple Watch users are concerned, however, since the American decision had not affected European consumers. In France, the measurement of the SPO2 had never been blocked, for the old Apple Watch as for the new models.
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