New details about future Apple Watch plans have emerged, suggesting Apple is looking into features like blood pressure tracking, sleep apnea detection, and a whole lot more. It's been nothing short of impressive to watch the Apple Watch's growth over the years. While it was originally mocked as an expensive and unnecessary accessory, the Apple Watch now dominates the smartwatch market as the undisputed leader. New models come out every year, there are annual updates to the software, and it's a winning recipe that's continually getting better.
One area that's been a considerable focus for Apple is healthcare. The Apple Watch started out as a fairly basic health tracker — allowing people to record their burned calories, exercise minutes, and standing throughout the day. Today, the Apple Watch does so much more than that. Later generations added ECG and SpO2 sensors, fall detection, sleep tracking, and more. For anyone with an iPhone that wants to improve their health/fitness, it's hard to do much better than the Apple Watch right now.
According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, that dedication to health will be reinforced over the coming years. Apple's reportedly developing multiple new health features for future Apple Watches, including blood pressure tracking and an on-device thermometer to "help with fertility planning." Blood pressure tracking was rumored to debut on the Apple Watch Series 7 this year, and while that no longer appears to be the case, it's clear Apple hasn't given up on it entirely.
Other Reported Health Features For The Apple Watch
Corroborating previous rumors, WSJ indicates that Apple eventually wants the Apple Watch to detect hypertension (aka high blood pressure). The challenge, however, is getting the Apple Watch to a point where it can accurately analyze that information. If someone gets a blood pressure check today, chances are it'll be done with inflatable cuffs around their arm. Since that's not possible on an Apple Watch, Apple's looking into another method. Per the report, "Apple is studying a proxy that measures the speed of the wave a heart beat sends through a person’s arteries using sensors in the Apple Watch." It's also reported that Apple's studying a standalone "cuffless blood-pressure device," though development for this is still in a "very early stage."
Another focus for Apple is building sleep apnea detection into the Apple Watch. This would be accomplished using the exisitng blood-oxygen sensor since SpO2 levels are lowered unnaturally when sleep apnea occurs. The issue is that it would require the Apple Watch to record SpO2 levels overnight and potentially cause massive battery drain. And, last but certainly not least, Apple wants the Apple Watch to eventually be a tool for diabetics. This would enable the Apple Watch to check blood glucose levels in a non-invasive manner. Apple's apparently been tinkering with this idea for a few years now but "has struggled to make progress."
While all of this is very exciting, it's important to remember that most of these things are years away from becoming a reality. The report does suggest that the thermometer could debut in 2022 on the Apple Watch Series 8. However, the rest of the features will likely take longer. As the report reminds everyone at the very beginning, "Features, especially those being studied for release in later years, might never be rolled out to consumers or timing could change." It's likely Apple will push forward as much as it can to get most (if not all) of these features on the Apple Watch eventually — just don't expect it to happen overnight.
Source: The Wall Street Journal