“I don’t need a monitor to tell me how I sleep, I know the minute I open my eyes,” my friend Tracy told me recently, while fidgeting with her Oura ring.
She wears the chunky band to keep track of her steps and meet her goal of walking 10,000 steps a day. It’s more accurate than her phone, which isn’t on her 24/7.
She’s one of millions who now rely on wearable tech for health data — and this week, Apple made a move that will give many Apple Watch owners back a key health feature they’ve been missing.
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Wearable technology has exploded in recent years, with people now using rings, bracelets, and smartwatches to track far more than steps or sleep.
The devices can monitor heart rate anomalies, menstrual and ovulation cycles, stress, improved hydration, and blood oxygen (Sp02) levels.
It’s this last feature, called pulse oximetry, that got Apple in trouble, and it’s something most people knew nothing about until we had a crash course during Covid.
During the height of the pandemic, we learned about Sp02 levels because early detection of oxygen drops helped people and their health-care providers detect potential Covid complications like hypoxia (low levels of oxygen in blood) sooner.
Earlier detection of low blood oxygen meant patients could seek treatment sooner, which reduced hospital visits.
Apple restored blood oxygen monitors to some Apple Watch models
Following the pandemic, measuring Sp02 became a standard feature in some wearable tech, including the Apple Watch, which added the feature in 2020. But Apple was forced to remove the Sp02 feature in 2023 due to a patent dispute with medical tech company Masimo Corporation (MASI) .
Now, almost two years later, the company is returning it to several models.
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This week, on August 14, Apple (AAPL) announced on its website that U.S. users with Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 Apple Watch models — including those shipped without SpO2 monitoring available due to the patent dispute — can regain the feature by updating to iOS 18.6.1 on their iPhone and watchOS 11.6.1 on their Apple Watch.
The update is allowed due to a technical workaround following a recent U.S. Customs ruling.
There’s one big catch: Apple had to redesign how the feature works in order to comply with restrictions arising from an International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling and ongoing patent issues with Masimo.
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The blood oxygen data is still captured on the watch, but processing and display now appear on the iPhone’s Health app under the “Respiratory” section: The watch no longer computes or displays SpO₂ readings on the device.
For many U.S. users, the update restores a long-missed health metric, even though they must now get the information on their phones.
What’s next for health tech?
The situation with Apple and Masimo is part of a broader evolution in health technology, and it demonstrates the growing pains of an industry that’s moving fast.
In the coming years, consumers can anticipate an influx of even richer data available through wearable devices.
From glucose monitoring without a finger prick to wrist-based blood pressure, hormone tracking, and sweat analysis for hydration and recovery, the next wave of devices will deliver lab-level data in real time.
Smaller devices, including rings, earbuds, and skin patches, will make tracking less intrusive. Apple’s SpO2 workaround is just the latest reminder that health tech is still evolving — and the next update could make your watch (or ring) even more essential to your everyday health.
