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

[xDKP]

I have been for 30 years and I'm not speaking for anyone, but the fact is if you go to races you see a lot more Garmin than Apple Watch.

The new (old) thing is to go back to a standard non-GPS stopwatch. I'm seeing that more and more on my trail runs.

I run a ton of races as well, and the Garmin/Coros crew dwarfs the amount of people running with Apple Watches - While I get the battery life thing, if you run Ultras, I don't get why more people don't use Apple Watches up to the marathon...

I have been running 12-13 marathons with different Apple Watches and since the custom runs became a part of the WatchOS a couple of years ago, it became quite amazing.
Since getting the Ultra with double battery, action button and LTE on board it's a pretty damn good package

 

[CapitalIdea]

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.

They tried to get a royalty of $100 per watch and have the device banned. I doubt Apple is interested in making a deal and helping them financially. I know I wouldn’t entertain it.

 

[therunningman]

I'm noticing that NO watchOS blood oxygen measurements can be viewed on the watch, ever through third party health apps. Heart Analyzer and wHealth both show the blood O2 measurements in their iOS programs, but nothing measured from the watch shows up on the watchOS apps. This only affects O2 measurements coming from the Watch.

 

[cdsapplefan]

They tried to get a royalty of $100 per watch and have the device banned. I doubt Apple is interested in making a deal and helping them financially. I know I wouldn’t entertain it.

After they got Full Approval for the Workaround, Apple 🍎 was like to Masimo in the words of Howie Mandell: Deal or No Deal 🙅‍♂️ 😆 😉

 

[bhirt37]

PS - Please send me a message as soon as you hear of an AW SpO2 saving a life!!!!

Saved my dads life. The extremely low o2 convinced him he wasnt sick (like he thought) and what he was feeling was more serious. He went to the ER— had massive blood clots and nearly died — he had to be flight for life to a bigger hospital that could do the surgery he needed. If he didnt have the watch, he would have just waited until the next day to see if he was feeling better before going to the doctor, and he would not have made it.

 

[Piplodocus]

So to avoid the Watch measuring and calculating Blood oxygen using Masimo's patented method, the Watch now just gets some sensor data (but it's not reporting Blood oxygen so is no longer infringing the patent), then the iPhone does the other half?

Am I understanding this right and they're just spreading the patent infringement across 2 devices so the current case isn't valid anymore and Masimo would have to restart the legal case to now say it's the Watch AND iPhone that together are now infriging the patent?

I'm not sure whether I should laugh or cry! 🫤

 

[cardfan]

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

Tell that to apple who says in fine print its just for entertainment use only. I'm not sure what's hard about this to understand for you. It's not reliable. It's not a medical device. Apple doesn't want you to take it seriously. You should not be relying on an entertainment feature on a non medical device if you need accurate monitoring.

 

[Timpetus]

So to avoid the Watch measuring and calculating Blood oxygen using Masimo's patented method, the Watch now just gets some sensor data (but it's not reporting Blood oxygen so is no longer infringing the patent), then the iPhone does the other half?

Am I understanding this right and they're just spreading the patent infringement across 2 devices so the current case isn't valid anymore and Masimo would have to restart the legal case to now say it's the Watch AND iPhone that together are now infriging the patent?

I'm not sure whether I should laugh or cry! 🫤

The original argument (I'm reading the ruling document now, exciting as it is) was that the original design for the watch infringed by itself. The ITC just ruled that only the combination of phone and watch infringes, and they are not being imported as a unit, so the import ban no longer applies to watches packaged alone.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Tell that to apple who says in fine print it’s just for entertainment use only.

Nope, says for wellness only. Different than “entertainment”.

I'm not sure what's hard about this to understand for you. It's not reliable. It's not a medical device. Apple doesn't want you to take it seriously. You should not be relying on an entertainment feature on a non medical device if you need accurate monitoring.

My guess is that it is not yet FDA certified, and so that is what they have to say.