iOS 26 and watchOS 26 Beta 7 Include 'Redesigned' Blood Oxygen Feature in U.S.

[MacRumors]

The seventh developer betas of iOS 26 and watchOS 26 include a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature on Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models sold in the U.S. since mid-January 2024.

The redesigned Blood Oxygen feature debuted last week with iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1, and now it is available for iOS 26 and watchOS 26 beta testers too.

Apple said the feature has been "redesigned" on affected devices, with sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app on the Apple Watch now measured and calculated on the paired iPhone. The results can be viewed in the Respiratory section of the Health app on the iPhone. Apple said this workaround was backed by a recent U.S. Customs ruling.

The feature had been unavailable on Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 models sold in the U.S. since early last year, as a result of a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) order stemming from a patent infringement lawsuit filed by health company Masimo.

Apple Watch models sold prior to mid-January 2024, and anywhere outside of the U.S., were never impacted by the ITC's order and thereby still have the original Blood Oxygen app, with sensor data measured, calculated, and viewable on the Apple Watch directly. The feature was first introduced on the Apple Watch Series 6 in 2020.

Article Link: iOS 26 and watchOS 26 Beta 7 Include 'Redesigned' Blood Oxygen Feature in U.S.

 

[Klpp0]

Embarassing that it was gone for almost 2 years in the first place

 

[hcain]

When will the Blood Oxygen app be available on the watch iOS 26 for the Ultra 2?

 

[CrysisDeu]

So the only difference is where the calculation happens?

 

[Jumpthesnark]

So the only difference is where the calculation happens?

It doesn't say that. There could be more differences, including:

The results can be viewed in the Respiratory section of the Health app on the iPhone.

 

[Dorv]

When will the Blood Oxygen app be available on the watch iOS 26 for the Ultra 2?

Based on the reporting, I doubt it will be. The data will appear in the Health App on your phone.

 

[555gallardo]

What I wonder about is whether this lawsuit thing affected Blood Oxygen measurement in the US only in terms of firmware or Apple had to alter the hardware physically.

 

[Gabebear]

Masimo's patents on this expire August 2028, hopefully Apple will go back to the old way on the watch in a couple years.

 

[SFjohn]

What I wonder about is whether this lawsuit thing affected Blood Oxygen measurement in the US only in terms of firmware or Apple had to alter the hardware physically.

It’s just a software block. All the hardware is the same worldwide. 👍🏻

 

[Apple_Robert]

When will the Blood Oxygen app be available on the watch iOS 26 for the Ultra 2?

If you are running the beta, you should have access to the revised feature.

 

[skinuca]

It really is about bloody time. This stopped me from upgrading 2 watches in our family. Sadly one other was lost and had to be replaced with a Series 9 and lost access to this feature. I will test this new way out this afternoon.

 

[britabroad]

So the only difference is where the calculation happens?

no... there's still no separate blood oxygen app. It just adds respiratory information to your health app on the phone.

 

[skinuca]

no... there's still no separate blood oxygen app. It just adds respiratory information to your health app on the phone.

You can still run it from the watch app where it has an improved tutorial on how to achieve the best readings. When finished, it will tell you to view the reading on your phone.

 

[cdsapplefan]

Financial wise it would be smart for Masimo to make a deal with Apple 🍎 before there patent expires as Apple has already figured out a very good workaround.

 

[xalea]

Who even needs or wants this? Most people's O2 sats are fine, and are always fine, in the upper 90's. Trust me, you would know if they weren't. I guess it could detect if you stopped breathing? Then there's no need for much accuracy lol.

What is truly needed is a noninvasive blood sugar meter, not this.

 

[justanotherdave]

So if it was this easy to implement another way of measuring blood oxygen without violating Masimo’s patent then what does that say about the original patent?

 

[cardfan]

It really is about bloody time. This stopped me from upgrading 2 watches in our family. Sadly one other was lost and had to be replaced with a Series 9 and lost access to this feature. I will test this new way out this afternoon.

shame that a gimmick had this effect on you.

 

[rotvaldi]

I don’t believe that this is just for affected watches worldwide… just people which have functional watches don’t notice cause it’s like working always either way probably my last Apple Watches buying ~

 

[justanotherdave]

shame that a gimmick had this effect on you.

Tell that to people with cardiac or respiratory issues that need to monitor their blood oxygen (often by a doctor). Or to serious athletes.

 

[CrysisDeu]

Financial wise it would be smart for Masimo to make a deal with Apple 🍎 before there patent expires as Apple has already figured out a very good workaround.

Apple probably don’t want to make a deal to set the precedence

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Tell that to people with cardiac or respiratory issues that need to monitor their blood oxygen (often by a doctor). Or to serious athletes.

Serious athletes aren't using an Apple Watch as their main SpoO2 device.

I competively run. Show up at any race >5k and notice about 4/5 of the runners are wearing a Garmin, or just wearing a stopwatch.

 

[captrlp]

Tell that to people with cardiac or respiratory issues that need to monitor their blood oxygen (often by a doctor). Or to serious athletes.

If a person is told by their doctor to use an AW to monitor SpO2…they should immediately find a new doctor.
And if a “serious” athlete is using an AW to monitor SpO2….they should immediately stop considering themselves a serious athlete.
SpO2 readings…even with Massimo’s best sensor, are widely impacted by several factors…respiratory effort, skin temperature, circulation etc.
Any person…athlete, doctor, nurse, paramedic etc that relies on an SpO2 reading for clinical decisions is a complete moron.
SpO2 data is simply a “snapshot” that is given minimal weight amongst other clinical data…but most importantly…objective clinical presentation of an individual.
While I do appreciate the on-device SpO2 capabilities of all my AW devices….i also know it’s essentially useless….I learned this very early on in my 24 year medical career.

 

[hcain]

If you are running the beta, you should have access to the revised feature.

Yep, currently running latest beta version. The information is not there. Further digging, it looks like it's not available until the .7 version gets released.

 

[goonie4life9]

Financial wise it would be smart for Masimo to make a deal with Apple 🍎 before there patent expires as Apple has already figured out a very good workaround.

Masimo reached-out to Apple, in good faith, years ago. Apple thought they could just make Masimo, the leader in medical-grade SpO2 monitors, give-up in court. Apple was very wrong, which led to this unnecessary workaround.

 

[Timpetus]

Lots of confusion about what this reworked feature is, how it works, and why it had to be this way/how we got here now. I'll summarize:

Masimo sued Apple, and mostly lost, but the jury was hung instead of coming to a decision (1 juror out of 7 decided for Masimo). Apple kept selling watches with the SpO2 feature until Masimo got the ITC to agree to an import ban, which is not as easy to appeal because it's through regulators, not the judicial system. Apple did appeal, but were unsuccessful, so they had to remove the SpO2 feature from new watches sold after a certain date, which they did in software. Apple also tried to negotiate with Masimo, but Masimo reportedly asked far too much (rumors of $100 per watch went around, but I cannot verify that) to license the patent.

Fast forward to recently, the ITC made a decision recently that clarified how Apple could implement the feature differently in order to avoid the ban. Before this decision, there was no allowable option for Apple to re-implement blood oxygen sensing in the watch. The new rule allows Apple to use the sensors in the watch to collect and send the necessary data to an iPhone, and it has to be processed and shown there, but not on the watch. Apple didn't "wait" to implement this feature for no reason, it had to be explicitly allowed first.