It won't be long and we can use FSA dollars towards it or even file claim with insurance as a DME. Great news.
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2024 Apple Watch to Feature New Look, Blood Pressure Monitoring and Sleep Apnea Detection
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I think sleep apnea detection will come with WatchOS 11 since it sounds like a feature utilizing Blood Oxygen Monitor.
Apple put themselves into a corner. Selling a wide variety of watch bands is obviously popular and profitable, but if they change the connector, a lot of people with watch band collections will be very unhappy. Making a few lightning cables obsolete is one thing, making multi-hundred dollar collections (or thousand-dollar collections) of watch bands obsolete is another.
OTOH, one can't avoid progress. Who would want a 30-pin connector on today's iPhone?
I'm a sleep apnea patient, diagnosed 15 years ago and successfully treated with cpap therapy ever since. I'll be keeping my eye on reviews about apnea detection functionality added to future AW models. If a future AW can tip off the wearer to the possibility they might have OSA, and if that leads to a conversation with a doctor and a proper diagnosis, that would be a very good thing. Untreated OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) causes problems that can shorten a person's lifespan, among other things.
If you've been diagnosed with OSA or suspect you might have OSA, you can get really useful insights into your sleep quality using an O2 ring and most currently available Apple Watches (going back, at least, to Series 7) running an app like AutoSleep. The O2 ring is an over-the-counter device costing around $140-150 and doesn't require a prescription. You wear it on your finger while sleeping. When you wake up, the O2 ring's iPhone app shows a graph of your heart rate and O2 levels throughout the night. If you are having apneas (breathing stoppages), you'll see your blood oxygen levels drop and heart rate go up when they happen. If you're also wearing an Apple Watch that can track sleep info and stages (which the Series 7 and later can do, maybe the 6 but i'm not sure), then you can compare the results from your Watch to the data captured by the ring.
If you haven't been diagnosed, this data can tell you whether you should talk to a doctor and/or order an at-home sleep study test kit.
If you've already been diagnosed and using a cpap/apap machine to treat your OSA, the O2 ring & Watch data can help you calibrate your machine's pressure setting to make the therapy more comfortable while still effective. This is super useful and important. Most machines are set too high when you get them. The high setting treats the apnea and brings your AHI score down to a healthy level, but the high pressure makes the treatment unnecessarily uncomfortable and harder to tolerate. Many new cpap/apap patients give up on their machine for this reason alone.
You can try reducing the pressure a bit, then sleep a couple nights wearing the O2 ring and AW. The O2 ring data will spot apneas and the machine will tell you your AHI. If these numbers are all good, then repeat: reduce the machine's pressure a bit more, and see how the sleep data comes out over the next day or two. If the machine, O2 ring, and AW numbers all look good, then repeat.
This process helps you find the lowest pressure at which your cpap therapy is effective. And less pressure means the treatment is more comfortable and more tolerable, and maybe your machine runs a little quieter, too.
I did this and was able to reduce my apap's pressure range from 8-20 (setting upon receiving the machine) to 6-7.2. Therapy is much more comfortable, yet the machine still reports my ASI is very low plus the O2 ring reports that I'm not having any O2 drops (with or without corresponding heart rate spikes).
If the Series 10 can provide some of this kind of data, that's great, but you don't need to wait for it. The Apple Watch you have right now (if it can track sleep) plus the relatively inexpensive O2 ring can get pretty close to at-home sleep study, without a prescription.
If you've been diagnosed with OSA or suspect you might have OSA, you can get really useful insights into your sleep quality using an O2 ring and most currently available Apple Watches (going back, at least, to Series 7) running an app like AutoSleep. The O2 ring is an over-the-counter device costing around $140-150 and doesn't require a prescription. You wear it on your finger while sleeping. When you wake up, the O2 ring's iPhone app shows a graph of your heart rate and O2 levels throughout the night. If you are having apneas (breathing stoppages), you'll see your blood oxygen levels drop and heart rate go up when they happen. If you're also wearing an Apple Watch that can track sleep info and stages (which the Series 7 and later can do, maybe the 6 but i'm not sure), then you can compare the results from your Watch to the data captured by the ring.
If you haven't been diagnosed, this data can tell you whether you should talk to a doctor and/or order an at-home sleep study test kit.
If you've already been diagnosed and using a cpap/apap machine to treat your OSA, the O2 ring & Watch data can help you calibrate your machine's pressure setting to make the therapy more comfortable while still effective. This is super useful and important. Most machines are set too high when you get them. The high setting treats the apnea and brings your AHI score down to a healthy level, but the high pressure makes the treatment unnecessarily uncomfortable and harder to tolerate. Many new cpap/apap patients give up on their machine for this reason alone.
You can try reducing the pressure a bit, then sleep a couple nights wearing the O2 ring and AW. The O2 ring data will spot apneas and the machine will tell you your AHI. If these numbers are all good, then repeat: reduce the machine's pressure a bit more, and see how the sleep data comes out over the next day or two. If the machine, O2 ring, and AW numbers all look good, then repeat.
This process helps you find the lowest pressure at which your cpap therapy is effective. And less pressure means the treatment is more comfortable and more tolerable, and maybe your machine runs a little quieter, too.
I did this and was able to reduce my apap's pressure range from 8-20 (setting upon receiving the machine) to 6-7.2. Therapy is much more comfortable, yet the machine still reports my ASI is very low plus the O2 ring reports that I'm not having any O2 drops (with or without corresponding heart rate spikes).
If the Series 10 can provide some of this kind of data, that's great, but you don't need to wait for it. The Apple Watch you have right now (if it can track sleep) plus the relatively inexpensive O2 ring can get pretty close to at-home sleep study, without a prescription.
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Something else to ignore Gurman in, we have already had reports this year stating the blood pressure monitoring would be by available for several years, cause it didn't work I guess. Now Gurman has it slated for next year? Hmm watch as he back tracks leading up the watches release.
This is Apple, even if it's just some new software and algorithm using existing sensors, it'll be a new Apple Watch only feature.
I don’t think the aim is “accuracy” as this would require more regulations — they are probably going for establishing a baseline and detecting what direction you go from there.
Also, if you are not sleeping alone, the other person can give you important information about extremely loud snoring and breathing stoppage while you are asleep. I assume the watch would also monitor breathing pattern and loud snoring.
I’ve been using a CPAP or BPAP every night for about 20 years.
With the need for extreme stability on the Ultra (especially during diving), I wouldn’t trust the magnetic band connector even if Tim Apple told me it’s “the most stable ever” in person
I look at the band situation like this. They kept the same design for 10yrs.
Can't expect them to keep the same design forever.
I think Apple knows it’s time for a redesign. Sales are not as strong as they used to be and basically the same design from the beginning is a big reason for that.
Same here. I bought the stainless steel bracelet and have been using since the Gen 0 Apple Watch and I don't want to change. Hopefully it's still somehow "compatible" with previous bands.
Yeah, but the question is how many users have a bunch of different bands? Most people I know have three or less. Personally with my Series 7, I only have the band it came with. Apple probably did the calculations and realized it wouldn’t generate too much of an outcry from current Apple Watch owners if they made all current bands incompatible with the series 10 redesign. Apple shouldn’t impede progress for the sake of compatibility.
I mean, the have single bands that cost hundreds of dollars. The people that spend most on the watch probably also have the most bands. We obviously don’t know the full stats on this.
I’ve bought hundreds of dollars worth of bands since the beginning, and I’ve bought a new Apple Watch every year but for the Series 6 and 9. I can only say I will heavily limit any future band purchases if they make my many bands obsolete. They’re not a functional power cord. They’re personal items that I wear. I think that’s a big difference.
We’ll see. My bet is they won’t do much to majorly change anything. Hasn’t been the Apple way under Tim Cook.