Apple plans to add a number of new health features to the Apple Watch, including blood pressure trends, a thermometer for fertility and sleep monitoring, sleep apnea detection and sleep detection. diabetes, as well as several updates for existing models, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Sources who say they are familiar with Apple’s plans and have access to internal company documents said so. Wall Street Journal on the company’s development of a large number of new Apple Watch health features in detail. Most of these new health control functions are not expected to arrive before 2022.
Apple is said to be considering adding a thermometer to the Apple Watch for health surveillance as early as next year. The characteristics of the thermometer are presumably based on fertility planning to give women information about their ovulation cycle and better detection of patterns when sleep is monitored. Later, there are also plans for this sensor to detect when a user has a fever.
According to reports, the blood pressure monitoring function detects when blood pressure rises and can highlight the presence of hypertension. Apple intended to launch the feature next year, but has struggled to perfect the technology, according to the report.
Unlike the usual methods of measuring blood pressure using an inflatable fist wrapped around the arm, Apple’s system measures the speed of a heartbeat wave through the user’s arteries using sensors. The Apple Watch will show the user how their blood pressure is tending, but would not be able to provide a measure of basal systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which causes some Apple employees to have questions. to administrators about the usefulness of the feature.
Apple is also looking at monitoring blood pressure with an additional leverless device that could provide a more accurate reading without inflating.
Later in the future, the company appears to plan to implement sleep apnea detection using the existing blood oxygen sensor, but there have been challenges with taking readings often enough without draining the duration of sleep. Apple Watch battery. Apple also intends to provide medical guidance when Apple Watch detects low levels of oxygen in the blood.
Plans to bring diabetes detection to the Apple Watch are also underway, but the company is said to have faced challenges with measuring non-invasive blood glucose and has struggled to move forward. Apparently, Apple is working with the National University of Singapore on a research project to examine lifestyle training for prediabetic people who carry blood glucose control devices manufactured by other companies.
The report warned that these new Apple Watch health features are currently under study and development at Apple and could eventually be delayed or canceled.
Separately, Apple is also pushing the FDA to approve several updates to existing Apple Watch models. An update would allow people with atrial fibrillation to use the Apple Watch to track their condition over time. Another update would allow the Apple Watch to alert users if blood oxygen levels are dropping.
Currently, the Apple Watch can only look for signs of atrial fibrillation in people who don’t have it, and blood oxygen monitoring can only provide a reading without change alerts.