Samsung’s Galaxy Watch4 family already has a blood pressure monitor, but Apple is taking its time to add something similar to its wearables. According to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company may only have an Apple Watch with blood pressure monitoring on the market in 2024.
This is because it has apparently “hit a few hurdles,” which means that “the technology is not expected to be ready until 2024 at the earliest,” according to the ubiquitous “people with knowledge of the matter.”
Teams are already working on this, but accuracy has presumably been a challenge in determining if a user has high blood pressure. The feature has been planned for “at least four years,” but eventually the release could actually slide into 2025.
Apple reportedly wants to go its own way with blood pressure readings and not provide specific systolic and diastolic readings, but simply warning Apple Watch wearers that they may have hypertension. It sounds a lot less exciting than Samsung’s implementation, but it requires monthly calibration with a traditional monitor, while Apple wants its solution to be completely independent.
Apple also has teams working to add noninvasive glucose monitoring to its wearable devices, but this feature is said to be “unlike years” and “a target year has not yet been assigned for release.” Meanwhile, Apple wants to improve support for third-party glucose meters.
Prior to the launch of the blood pressure monitoring tool, the Health app for iPhone will receive an update that adds expanded sleep tracking capabilities, medication management, and new women’s health features. The medical management part will allow you to scan your pill bottles in the app, monitor adherence and remind you to take your medications. That said, the initial release may only have a subset of these functions.
A body temperature sensor could arrive on this year’s Apple Watch. It would initially only be used to help with fertility planning and could eventually determine if a user has a higher than normal body temperature, but, as with blood pressure, it is unlikely to show an actual measurement. It’s the same way Fitbit does it on Sense – you get a “range” and you’re told which temperature delta you’ve deviated from your normal range.
The atrial fibrillation detection feature will also be improved by calculating the “load” or how often a person is in atrial fibrillation state over a given period. Apparently this feature will arrive in watchOS 9 this fall.
Also new in watchOS 9 will be a low-power mode that allows the smartwatch to run a limited set of apps and features using less battery. Expect “many” built-in watch faces to be updated as well, and new training types and additional running metrics to be added to the Training app.
Apple will launch “up to” three new Apple Watches this year, including a standard Series 8, a low-end SE and “a luxury model with a rugged casing aimed at extreme athletes.”
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