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iOS 26.4 Adds Average Bedtime Metric and Restores Blood Oxygen to Health App Vitals Graph

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In iOS 26.4, Apple added an Average Bedtime metric to the Sleep section of the Health app, letting users better monitor how bedtime impacts sleep quality.

ios-26-4-average-bedtime.jpg

Under a new Sleep Highlight, Apple lists the time that you went to bed and the time that you usually go to bed based on averages over a two-week period.

In iOS 26.3, Apple displayed average sleep time over the past seven days. That highlight still exists, but it is now supplemented with the daily bedtime readout.

Apple also updated the Vitals readout in the U.S., and it once again lists blood oxygen level on the line graph overview that's available each day. In iOS 26.3 and earlier versions of iOS 26, there was a section for the blood oxygen level, but the graph did not include a blood oxygen measurement.

ios-26-4-vitals-app-blood-oxygen.jpg

Blood oxygen was available as a separate metric in the Vitals section, but it is now visible in the Vitals overview. The Vitals feature did not fully support blood oxygen because of Apple's ongoing legal dispute with Masimo. Masimo accused Apple of infringing on Masimo patents related to blood oxygen sensing, and it secured an import ban from the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Apple had to remove blood oxygen sensing from the Apple Watch starting in early 2024 to be able to continue to sell the Apple Watch in the U.S., but Apple was able to re-add it in August 2025 with blood oxygen readouts available only on the iPhone. There is still no option to measure blood oxygen with the Apple Watch and see the results directly on the wrist in the U.S.

iOS 26.4 is available to developers and public beta testers, with a public launch planned for spring.

Article Link: iOS 26.4 Adds Average Bedtime Metric and Restores Blood Oxygen to Health App Vitals Graph
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/17/ios-26-4-average-bedtime-vitals-blood-oxygen/
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The bedtime? I'm at a point where the sleep metrics don't do anything for me, I don't get anything useful for me out of those.

I'll continue to wear the watch overnight for the vitals, which is tied to sleep tracking
 
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Blood oxygen was available as a separate metric in the Vitals section, but it is now visible in the Vitals overview. The Vitals feature did not fully support blood oxygen because of Apple's ongoing legal dispute with Masimo. Masimo accused Apple of infringing on Masimo patents related to blood oxygen sensing, and it secured an import ban from the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Apple had to remove blood oxygen sensing from the Apple Watch starting in early 2024 to be able to continue to sell the Apple Watch in the U.S., but Apple was able to re-add it in August 2025 with blood oxygen readouts available only on the iPhone. There is still no option to measure blood oxygen with the Apple Watch and see the results directly on the wrist in the U.S.
Click to expand...
It should be noted that Masimo is being bought by Danaher. Danaher will have deeper pockets to fight back against Apple.

www.reuters.com

Danaher to buy Masimo in $9.9 billion deal in diagnostics push

Danaher , a $150 billion U.S. company that makes tools used in developing and testing medicines, on Tuesday agreed to buy Masimo for $9.9 billion, expanding in patient-monitoring devices in a surprise move outside its main focus.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Danaher will acquire Masimo in a $9.9 billion deal, as it looks to expand its diagnostics portfolio with the California-based medtech company's devices to monitor blood oxygen levels.

The companies said on Tuesday that Danaher will pay $180 per share to buy Masimo. The offer represents 38.3% premium to Masimo's last close.

The deal marks a rare move beyond life sciences company Danaher's core drug-development tools business, to gain a foothold in the market for blood oxygen monitoring products, a segment dominated by Medtronic and Masimo.

The deal with Masimo broadens Danaher's diagnostic segment, complementing its invasive Radiometer blood analyzer devices with Masimo's non-invasive pulse oximeters, brain function and respiration monitoring devices, among other products.
 
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sw1tcher said:
It should be noted that Masimo is being bought by Danaher. Danaher will have deeper pockets to fight back against Apple.

www.reuters.com

Danaher to buy Masimo in $9.9 billion deal in diagnostics push

Danaher , a $150 billion U.S. company that makes tools used in developing and testing medicines, on Tuesday agreed to buy Masimo for $9.9 billion, expanding in patient-monitoring devices in a surprise move outside its main focus.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Danaher will acquire Masimo in a $9.9 billion deal, as it looks to expand its diagnostics portfolio with the California-based medtech company's devices to monitor blood oxygen levels.

The companies said on Tuesday that Danaher will pay $180 per share to buy Masimo. The offer represents 38.3% premium to Masimo's last close.

The deal marks a rare move beyond life sciences company Danaher's core drug-development tools business, to gain a foothold in the market for blood oxygen monitoring products, a segment dominated by Medtronic and Masimo.

The deal with Masimo broadens Danaher's diagnostic segment, complementing its invasive Radiometer blood analyzer devices with Masimo's non-invasive pulse oximeters, brain function and respiration monitoring devices, among other products.
Click to expand...
while the pockets might be deeper, they might also be smarter in not spending money on lawyers with the remaining life of those patents quite limiting ...
 
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jz0309 said:
while the pockets might be deeper, they might also be smarter in not spending money on lawyers with the remaining life of those patents quite limiting ...
Click to expand...
Not to mention that the patent in contention expired in 2022. It's not clear why Apple has not fully re-enabled O2 in the US by now, but it doesn't appear that there is any legal reason for Apple to continue using the workaround.

My guess is that they are simply waiting until the ongoing litigation comes to an end. So if the new owners aren't going to continue pursuing Apple in court or are more willing to settle with Apple, this entire saga may finally come to an end and consumers in the US may finally get back full O2 functionality on Apple Watch.
 
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Hopefully this also fixes the bug of the respiratory rate sometimes not showing up for the previous night, but then showing up the day after.
 
xxFoxtail said:
The blood oxygen was always there for me in the vitals section. Is this because I have an Apple Watch Ultra (1), which wasn’t impacted by that lawsuit?
Click to expand...
Yep. When I still had my Ultra 2, which I purchased before the embargo, I had that sleep metric. When I switched to the Ultra 3, it turned into a blank space.
 
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xpxp2002 said:
Not to mention that the patent in contention expired in 2022. It's not clear why Apple has not fully re-enabled O2 in the US by now, but it doesn't appear that there is any legal reason for Apple to continue using the workaround.

My guess is that they are simply waiting until the ongoing litigation comes to an end. So if the new owners aren't going to continue pursuing Apple in court or are more willing to settle with Apple, this entire saga may finally come to an end and consumers in the US may finally get back full O2 functionality on Apple Watch.
Click to expand...
my understanding is that there are 2 or 3 patents in question (or maybe its only 1??) that expire in 2027 (or 2028), but it's hard to keep track.

Yea, that ownership change might turn out to save money on lawyers, on both sides
 
Since it’s only a software block in the US, is it technically possible to jailbreak an American watch and get it to show % on the device? I have no intention of doing this I’m just trying to understand how much of the banned feature is on device
 
jz0309 said:
my understanding is that there are 2 or 3 patents in question (or maybe its only 1??) that expire in 2027 (or 2028), but it's hard to keep track.

Yea, that ownership change might turn out to save money on lawyers, on both sides
Click to expand...
I thought so too, but when I tried to find info about them all that came up was the 2022 patent.

Masimo's former leadership was notoriously insistent on not settling and wanted to fight on. Whether that was the financially smartest move for Masimo, especially in hindsight, is a matter of debate. Masimo could have likely settled years ago for millions while Apple was fully disabling the O2 sensors on newly imported US Apple Watches. Masimo lost a lot of leverage once Apple was allowed to import watches that used the iPhone to process and display the O2 data.

That being said, I think, overall, a settlement might be a more likely scenario now than before. For most consumers, the experience impact of Apple's workaround is so minimal that Danaher/Masimo gains very little from keeping this going at this point. Meanwhile, if they continue to pursue legal actions, they're going to continue spending on legal costs for what may amount to no future payout or financial benefit.

If they can get Apple to settle, they might at least be able to extract something of cash value while Apple gets finality that all prior Masimo accusations of patent violations are over, and possibly even a patent licensing agreement going forward that makes Apple's future health sensor endeavors immune from litigation from Danaher/Masimo with some kind of future revenue stream from Apple to Danaher.
 
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xpxp2002 said:
Not to mention that the patent in contention expired in 2022. It's not clear why Apple has not fully re-enabled O2 in the US by now, but it doesn't appear that there is any legal reason for Apple to continue using the workaround.
Click to expand...
The patents expire in August 2028.



news.bloomberglaw.com

Masimo Sues Customs Over Apple Watch’s Restored Oxygen Tool (1)

US Customs and Border Protection unlawfully let Apple Inc. reactivate a blood-oxygen tracking feature on Apple Watches that infringes patents for the technology, Masimo Corp. said in a federal lawsuit.
news.bloomberglaw.com news.bloomberglaw.com

US Customs and Border Protection unlawfully let Apple Inc. reactivate a blood-oxygen tracking feature on Apple Watches that infringes patents for the technology, Masimo Corp. said in a federal lawsuit.

CBP exceeded its authority in an Aug. 1 internal advice ruling that overturned its own January decision without notice or input from Masimo, the medical-device maker said in a complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Masimo brought claims under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause.

Apple announced Aug. 14 that software updates would restore the blood-oxygen feature for US Apple Watch owners by shifting calculations to paired iPhones rather than the watch itself. Masimo said that was the first time it learned CBP had quietly reversed course two weeks earlier in an ex parte ruling, despite the agency’s policy that such decisions normally require both sides to be heard. The feature has been banned on US Apple Watches since the US International Trade Commission in October 2023 found it infringes claims in two Masimo patents.


[ . . . ]

Masimo said the reversal “effectively nullified” an October 2023 limited exclusion order from the ITC, which found Apple Watches infringe US Patent Nos. 10,912,502 and 10,945,648 covering non-invasive pulse oximetry. Apple’s appeal of the ban is pending at the Federal Circuit.
 
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C'mon Apple, either pay the licesnsing fee or buy Masimo. Enough with this roundabout way to view the blood oxygen data.
 
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