Apple announced it is introducing a redesigned Blood Oxygen Feature available for Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Watch Ultra 2 users that will be available via an iPhone and Apple Watch software update today.
The tech giant, which has long dealt with an ITC ban and lawsuit pertaining to its Blood Oxygen feature, said sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app on Apple Watch will now be measured and calculated on the user's iPhone, with results available in the Respiratory section of Apple's Health app.
The redesigned Blood Oxygen feature will be made available to Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Watch Ultra 2 users who update their paired iPhone to iOS 18.6.1 and their Apple Watch to watchOS 11.6.1.
Apple said the update was "enabled by a recent U.S. Customs ruling."
"There will be no impact to Apple Watch units previously purchased that include the original Blood Oxygen feature, nor to Apple Watch units purchased outside of the U.S.," Apple said in a statement.
THE LARGER TREND
In September 2023, Apple unveiled its Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2, which included the Blood Oxygen feature, as well as other features allowing users to access and log their healthcare data and control the Watch using their index finger and thumb via blood flow sensors.
In December of that year, Apple was banned from selling its newest smartwatches in the U.S. after Former President Joe Biden declined to veto a product ban implemented by the International Trade Commission (ITC) that cited patent infringement.
The ban was implemented by the ITC the month before to protect medtech company Masimo, which sued Apple in 2020 for allegedly poaching its employees and stealing trade secrets related to technology that uses light to measure blood oxygen levels in the Apple Watch.
Biden had 60 days to review and rescind the ITC's ban that stopped Apple from selling its newest watches, but the former president did not overturn the ITC ban, and, therefore, the review period lapsed.
Apple filed an appeal to lift the ban and asked for a stay until Customs and Border Protection could review its redesigned smartwatches, which did not include the technology in question, to see if they violated the medtech company's patents.
That same month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit temporarily paused the ITC's order banning sales and imports of the Apple devices in question after Apple filed an appeal with the court.
In January 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit announced it would uphold the ban instituted by the ITC; however, the tech giant found a way to keep the Watches on shelves and work around the ban by modifying the Watches to exclude the disputed blood oxygen feature.
Although today's announcement brings back the Blood Oxygen biosensing feature, the computation is being done on the iPhone instead of on the wearable; therefore, users will have access to their measurements on the iPhone only via the Health app instead of on the wearable itself.
