Apple Watch Revamps Blood Oxygen Monitoring Feature

Apple's journey with the blood oxygen monitoring feature on the Apple Watch has been one of both technological innovation and legal hurdles. A legal dispute in early 2024 led Apple to remove the feature from its Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches to comply with patent regulations. This move was necessary after a legal ruling determined that the feature violated a California company's patents relating to light-based pulse oximetry.

Fast forward to today, and Apple has triumphantly announced a redesigned version of the blood oxygen monitoring capability, available for Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 watches. This announcement was made possible by a favorable U.S. Customs ruling, which cleared the path for the feature's reintroduction.

The revamped feature cleverly circumvents previous patent issues by changing how data is processed. Now, sensor data is sent from the watch to an iPhone for analysis. Users can then find the processed data in the Health app's Respiratory section on their phones. This marks a departure from the previous design, where results were directly visible on the Apple Watch.

For users eager to experience the new feature, it requires the installation of the watchOS 11.6.1 update on the watch and the iOS 18.6.1 update on the corresponding iPhone. It's noteworthy that watches outside of the United States remain unaffected by these updates due to the absence of the U.S. import ban in those regions.

The root of the legal battle began in 2020 when Masimo, a health technology firm, sued Apple, citing patent infringements. The two companies had initially explored a potential collaboration back in 2013, but disagreements and subsequent engineer hirings by Apple complicated the relationship.