Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apps Any news s5 Apple Watch will monitor blood sugar?
- Thread starter shankar2
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
As a type 2 diabetic, that would be a great feature to have, but glucose monitoring does require a needle to be in the skin. There are already products on the market (Dexcom comes to mind) that already work with Apple Watch.
Now, with that being said, I do not qualify for Dexcom because not on insulin so if Apple does come out with a GMS I just it's affordable as I'd probably buy it.
Now, with that being said, I do not qualify for Dexcom because not on insulin so if Apple does come out with a GMS I just it's affordable as I'd probably buy it.
Type 1 diabetic with Omnipod Insulin pump here and would LOVE this feature, but don't see it happening any time soon.
There is no needle under the skin, it's more of a filament. A non-invasive sensor to monitor blood glucose built into an Apple Watch is years away. The next step for glucose monitoring and the Apple Watch is the direct communication between the Dexcom transmitter and the Apple Watch. Currently, it still requires the iPhone as a pass-through. Dexcom's CEO recently said this is coming within the year, but we shall see.
Pusle ox is fairly simple. 2 LEDs, one red, the other IR, and the sensor. The problem is getting FDA (and similar non-US agencies) approval. Since they've gained some experience getting their ECG functions through they must know how to get it done.
Apple's head of medical research used to be the head of Masimo, a big maker of pulse ox meters and sensors.
Can they change the color of the existing LED to be able to read Pulse OX with a software update, or would that require a redesign of the LED array on the back of the watch?
They could do it with the old (Series 3 and below) and new one. They would have to change the LEDS to red/IR and probably redesign the sensor but it wouldn't be a big lift. The expensive part is buying the detection algorithm or making their own to determine the O2 saturation. And they'd need additional FDA (in USA) approval. That's why the ECG rollout was so slow. Getting the various governments to approve.
I would think this would be a lot easier than monitoring Blood Sugar levels, but then, who knows.
Yeah, sugar levels can only be done with an electrode under the skin, for now.
Pulse oximetry was a big deal when it came out. Before they had to do multiple blood draws to monitor O2.
Blood pressure would be on my wish list. There are ways to do optical BP measurement -- not quite as accurate as a compression cuff and should ideally be calibrated per-user (verify with traditional cuff and adjust if necessary), but it can be done.