Apple Watches won’t be getting a blood pressure monitor until at least 2024, reads a new report.
According to Bloomberg, the Apple Watch’s long-rumoured updated sensor and software are designed to determine if you have high blood pressure, but apparently struggled to give accurate readings during testing.
“The company has teams working on an updated sensor and software for the Apple Watch that would determine if a user has high blood pressure, but accuracy has been a challenge during testing, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private,” reads the report. “The feature has been planned for at least four years, but it’s probably two years away from hitting the market and may slip until 2025, they said.”
In addition to the blood pressure sensor, the Cupertino company is working on a non-invasive blood sugar monitoring for the Apple Watch, though it is still under early development and no slated date has been targeted. Meanwhile, the company is also developing improved support for third-party glucose meters on the smartwatch as well as in the iPhone Health app.
The latter can be expected as part of the upcoming features on watchOS 9. The new software version is also expected to add a “low power” mode that saves battery life on some Apple Watch models. Other health add-ons that are coming at least for this year include new women’s health, sleep, fitness, and medication management features.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also shared details of what’s expected for Apple Watch:
Also coming is an updated Health app for iPhone with more sleep tracking, medicine management and women’s health features. Gurman says a new feature will let users scan pill bottles into the Health app.
Apple made health and fitness one of the Apple Watch’s key elements. In 2020, the Apple Watch Series 6 introduced a sensor that can measure blood oxygen levels and added Fitness+, a subscription service offering workout routines and more.
The Apple Watch Series 8 is expected to be unveiled this fall.
