On Thursday, Apple announced it will introduce redesigned blood oxygen capabilities for the Watch Series 8, Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra. With this move, Apple is regaining blood oxygen monitoring by tweaking functionality to avoid the International Trade Commission (ITC) import ban.
Blood oxygen data is measured and calculated on the user’s pair of iPhones, and results can be viewed in the breathing section of the Health app. This means that users cannot view Apple Watch data because they need to do that on their iPhone.
Apple says the update announced today is in effect due to a recent U.S. Customs ruling. This means that the tech giants are allowed to import Apple Watches using redesigned blood oxygen features.
This change will not affect models previously sold.
The redesigned feature only applies to Apple Watches sold after the ITC import ban was enacted in early 2024. These users will have access to redesigned blood oxygen features via iPhone and Apple Watch software updates scheduled for Thursday.
The move accused the tech giant of stealing pulse oximetry technology after the initial talk was made about a potential collaboration as Apple is in a continuous legal dispute with medical device maker Masimo.
In 2023, Masimo secured a victory over Apple at ITC, blocking the import of Apple Watch with blood oxygen monitoring after the committee discovered that Apple’s technology was infringed on Masimo’s patent. Apple had to remove the feature.
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Apple is a counter suede Masimo, claiming that the company copied the Apple Watch feature and used it with its own smartwatch. The tech giant has also filed an appeal against the ITC ban.
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