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Apple Watch Series 8 Suppliers Developing Blood Glucose Monitoring Components
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Yeah I don’t see this happening. Buy our blood sugar monitoring feature. It’s awesome. Psst. Just don’t rely on it and we’re not responsible for anything. Lol.
Deja Vu. You already told us this was rumored to come in the Series 7 and it didn’t.
Apple's suppliers are currently developing components for next-generation sensors in the Apple Watch Series 8 that will allow users to measure their blood glucose level, according to a new report.
According to a paywalled report from DigiTimes, Apple and its suppliers have begun working on short-wavelength infrared sensors, a commonly used sensor type for health devices. The new sensors, likely to be fitted on the back of the Apple Watch, will enable the device to measure the amount of sugar in a wearer's blood.
The Apple Watch, over the years, has gained more comprehensive health features, most recently with the Apple Watch Series 6 that added a blood oxygen sensor. Compared to the first Apple Watch capable of measuring heart rate and primary daily activity, the Apple Watch is now capable of taking an ECG, detecting falls, high and low heart rates, blood oxygen levels, and more.
Continuing to build the Apple Watch as an all-encompassing health tool, Apple has already been rumored to be eying blood glucose measuring functionality for the next-generation Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Series 8. According to The Wall Street Journal, blood glucose level is one of multiple health metrics Apple is looking to add to the Apple Watch.
According to The Wall Street Journal, however, Apple is facing challenges in incorporating blood glucose capabilities into the Apple Watch. Current methods of measuring blood glucose levels include taking a sample of blood and using a medical-grade device. With the Apple Watch, Apple would be looking to take a typically invasive medical practice and make it non-invasive.
In iOS 15, the Health app added blood glucose highlights as a health metric. iOS 15 users have to use external hardware to provide the data, but that would change if Apple adds a glucose monitoring feature to a future Apple Watch model.
What Apple has in store for the next Apple Watch remains unclear, but the radical redesign that was rumored for the Series 7 but never materialized could make an appearance. The Apple Watch Series 7, announced last month, includes a larger display, faster charging, and a slightly larger battery. Apple is expected to announce the Apple Watch Series 8 in the 2022 fall season.
Article Link: Apple Watch Series 8 Suppliers Developing Blood Glucose Monitoring Components
Medtronic maybe is a supplier? MDT?
I think they are doing some stuff for Apple
Hoping for time when we don't hear this rumor every year because it has actually become a reality. I think that time is a long ways off.
Yeah, I just don't have much faith with Dexcom on the software front. Apple provides a watch with roughly one day of battery life, and complications developed by third parties only refresh a very limited amount per day.
I tried using the Dexcom complication a few days ago and gave up.
Reading on the watch face was rarely up to date. Launching the app on the watch wouldn't show a reading until it was closed and reopened a second time... every time.
The only solution has been Sugarmate, which has a service that takes your Dexcom reading, and inserts it in to a Apple Calendar every five minutes, showing the reading and unlike Dexcom, the change in value. Because it uses an Apple complication, it can refresh twelve times an hour, no tapping or opening of apps required.
Anyway, bluetooth is low power, so if G7 CAN get a reading to Dexcom every five minutes, that's a step in the right direction. Shouldn't really affect battery life all that much.
Amen to this. Apple enabled Core Bluetooth in 2017 in watchOS 4. This enabled direct communication between the Dexcom sensor and the Apple Watch, without requiring your iPhone to be nearby. Dexcom has yet to enable this functionality over 4 years later. Very frustrating.
The non-invasive Apple Watch BG rumors have persisted for years. I believe they are working on it, but nothing meaningful for a couple years out, at least for a T1 like myself. Gimmicky does not work for me who uses a sensor and a insulin pump to control and regulate my BS. Haven't pricked my finger for years, but the Dexcom g6 is hardly "non-invasive."
Like others have said, this would be huge if they achieved reliable and accurate non invasive blood glucose monitoring but I am hugely skeptical this is technically feasible in a watch. If they managed, Apple's share price would go through the stratosphere - it would be an almost necessary purchase for many.
I think it would make sense to have a small implant that tracks this stuff then wirelessly links to the Apple Watch or iPhone with data like accurate O2, blood glucose, body temperature.
I think it would make sense to have a small implant that tracks this stuff then wirelessly links to the Apple Watch or iPhone with data like accurate O2, blood glucose, body temperature.
Just bought my SE and only like to upgrade every few years...but would trade up in an instance!
And this is exactly why I’m still on Series 3. I’m not diabetic [though Blood Glucose is still a useful statistic even if you aren’t], but Series 8 sounds like it’s going to have insane stuff on it that will benefit a lot of people.
Now throw Alcohol level monitoring in there and this will be sold out until the Series 9.
Now throw Alcohol level monitoring in there and this will be sold out until the Series 9.
A quick check suggested there are around 34 million diabetes sufferers in the USA. Not so very far behind are thyroid sufferers at around 20 million. (Though many argue the number is higher as so many remain undiagnosed either for a long time or forever).
I'd very much appreciate any test/measurement that helps. Which could include temperature, but there might be other things that are measurable and of relevance. (I can't see TSH, Free T4 and Free T3 coming any time soon.)
I'd very much appreciate any test/measurement that helps. Which could include temperature, but there might be other things that are measurable and of relevance. (I can't see TSH, Free T4 and Free T3 coming any time soon.)
I am type 2 diabetic, I take a pill twice a day and it works. I use a finger stick every day and that device hooks via blue tooth to an app that connects to the internet and there we go. Apple Health also uses that data. The current stick on your body items have a small needle that goes under the skin then beams to your iphone. I have heard that from my fellow diabetics it can vary than the traditional finger poke. My doctor says he thinks that the chemicals in the pod degrade over time giving the false readings. Also they are expensive to use, you need a prescription to pay for it and all that. I would hope that the research on the technology and the approval by the FDA or whomever, would definitely happen before the next watch update. I use the oxygen sensor and it can be a pain to get it to read, the band has to be so tight or lose, between the two bones in the forearm and then it doesn't always monitor throughout the day as I thought it would.
Anyway, I am looking forward to more on this proposed feature and if it does come about, I will get the new watch.
Anyway, I am looking forward to more on this proposed feature and if it does come about, I will get the new watch.
Therein lies the problem. Even with a traditional finger poke the meters on the market can have varying degrees of accuracy in the +/- 20% range. Also, just to be clear, CGM's on the market (Dexcom etc) do not leave a needle under the skin. A needle is used to insert a small filament which stays under the skin.I am type 2 diabetic, I take a pill twice a day and it works. I use a finger stick every day and that device hooks via blue tooth to an app that connects to the internet and there we go. Apple Health also uses that data. The current stick on your body items have a small needle that goes under the skin then beams to your iphone. I have heard that from my fellow diabetics it can vary than the traditional finger poke. My doctor says he thinks that the chemicals in the pod degrade over time giving the false readings. Also they are expensive to use, you need a prescription to pay for it and all that. I would hope that the research on the technology and the approval by the FDA or whomever, would definitely happen before the next watch update. I use the oxygen sensor and it can be a pain to get it to read, the band has to be so tight or lose, between the two bones in the forearm and then it doesn't always monitor throughout the day as I thought it would.
Anyway, I am looking forward to more on this proposed feature and if it does come about, I will get the new watch.
Non-invasive, accurate BG testing via an Apple Watch would be a tremendous leap forward even for the most tech savvy diabetics such as myself.
Yep. Instabuying 4x for the family (3x Type 2 diabetic, 1x genetically predisposed).
Here is a question for you all. Would you buy this if the measurement were only qualitative instead of quantitative?
Apple may bypass the FDA by making a clinically irrelevant metric around Blood Glucose, and just report "Low", "Normal", "High", and not report the actual value to the user. They'd likely add text that this is for "informational use only", since you don't want diabetics to rely on this to administer insulin to themselves based on what the watch said. They may collect that data for themselves though, sending it back to Apple headquarters for algorithm and Machine Learning (NN) development until they can pass quantitative determination through the FDA.
Apple may bypass the FDA by making a clinically irrelevant metric around Blood Glucose, and just report "Low", "Normal", "High", and not report the actual value to the user. They'd likely add text that this is for "informational use only", since you don't want diabetics to rely on this to administer insulin to themselves based on what the watch said. They may collect that data for themselves though, sending it back to Apple headquarters for algorithm and Machine Learning (NN) development until they can pass quantitative determination through the FDA.
I think the new FDA guideline for traditional blood glucose meters as of 2017 or something is 95% of readings within +/- 15%. Mind, even lab results are only accurate to +/-5%, iirc.
I do believe CGMs are allowed a wider range. Another difference with CGMs is they measure interstitial fluid rather than actual blood.
Problem there, what is the range for Low/Normal/High? Because those targets would differ between a normal person and someone with diabetes.
This comes up a lot but as a type 1 diabetic and someone who works in the field of clinical diagnostics, this is not going to provide equivalent function to an FDA regulated medical device. Apple has been keen to avoid that burden. It will be targeted to type 2 diabetics and will be a retrospective target based evaluation without precise numbers.
You can expect the initial implementation to be similar to how they currently do other stuff. e.g. today you were 80% in normal blood glucose range and 20% out of range.
Doing otherwise would require Apple to go through FDA regulatory processes as a medical device and demonstrate many requirements as well as opening themselves up to massive liability as well as causing problems for them when they do software updates as they would need to do extensive validation of the blood glucose calling functions every update.
Apple implicitly markets the apple watch as a quasi-medical device (health device) but be assured that it is not a medical device and Apple does not want it to be one.
You can expect the initial implementation to be similar to how they currently do other stuff. e.g. today you were 80% in normal blood glucose range and 20% out of range.
Doing otherwise would require Apple to go through FDA regulatory processes as a medical device and demonstrate many requirements as well as opening themselves up to massive liability as well as causing problems for them when they do software updates as they would need to do extensive validation of the blood glucose calling functions every update.
Apple implicitly markets the apple watch as a quasi-medical device (health device) but be assured that it is not a medical device and Apple does not want it to be one.
I think it's still likely to be a while. Another 2 years to get the tech right and a third to get the legal stuff advanced far enough that they're happy to release it.
I can believe something could be coming, but not to any level which would make it reliable enough to manage diabetes. Even continuous glucose monitoring devices have their problems, as they monitor interstitial fluid so are delayed compared to testing blood. But they can give a good enough idea of levels to manage from. As normally the only time a specific number matters is in relation to hypos, otherwise all that really matters is range and knowing your body.
Here in the U.K., if you are treat diabetes with insulin you cannot drive unless your levels are over 5 mmol/mol (90 mg/dL), and you then need to test at most every two hours of a journey. If you fall under that level you are legally required to have a snack. If they go below 4 mmol/mol (70 mg/dL) then you must turn off the vehicle, eat to get it above 5 mmol/mol, and then wait 45 minutes (and still be above that level) before you can drive again. The reason, incidentally, being that too low blood sugar impairs brain function so it is regarded similarly to driving while intoxicated and you need to allow time for your senses to fully come back.
It was only in 2019 they allowed C.G.M. devices to be used in place of finger prick testing, but only for car and motorcycle drivers. They are still not considered accurate enough to trust with bus and lorry drivers.
So Apple would need to at least reach C.G.M. levels of accuracy to be useful to diabetics, at least in the U.K. And if they do they would render such devices obsolete because it would remove the need for disposable fortnightly patches. And I am sceptical that Apple are somehow ahead of the rest of the medical industry.
Though they would also risk incredibly bad press if they had such a revolutionary technology, but limited it to owners of Apple Watches. And I cannot see Apple Watches with iPhones being given away for free on prescription. Even access to C.G.M. devices is still quite restricted so most people who want them need to pay for them themselves, though glucometers and test strips are free on prescription. I think the issue is as much with training to use them as it is with the cost of the sensors.