Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2 Drop Blood Oxygen Feature Amid Patent Dispute (2024)

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Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2 Drop Blood Oxygen Feature Amid Patent Dispute? ›

The Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 are part of an ongoing patent dispute. The Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 will now be sold without their blood oxygen feature. Apple says the move will allow it to sell its high-end watches while staying in compliance amid an ongoing patent dispute with health tech company Masimo.

You'll remember, but just in case, Apple was accused of patent infringement by health device maker Masimo for the way pulse oximetry (measurement of blood oxygen) worked on the Apple Watch. The monitoring feature was then removed from all Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 devices sold in the U.S. by Apple.

The sensor previously monitored the levels of oxygen in the blood. The reason Apple disabled the blood oxygen sensor is a legal one. Apple has been in an ongoing patent dispute with medical device maker Masimo, which alleges that Apple has infringed on its blood oxygen technology patents.

While the newly sold devices still have the pulse oximeter hardware, the feature will be disabled. This change comes after courts ruled in favor of Masimo, the tech company who sued Apple for patent violations relating to the blood oxygen tracking technology.

The U.S. International Trade Commission had ruled in October 2023 that the blood-oxygen sensor in these Apple Watch models infringed on Masimo's patents. Apple, confident of winning the appeal, will continue selling the watches in the U.S. with the Blood Oxygen icon present but the functionality disabled.

Apple will disable the blood-oxygen feature on premium watches sold in the US as part of a patent dispute. Apple says it will disable a blood-oxygen monitoring feature on its two most popular watches in the U.S. beginning Thursday to comply with a court-ordered revival of a sales ban stemming from a patent dispute.

The Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 were both banned in the US late last year as the result of a patent dispute with medical device maker Masimo. The International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that the blood oxygen sensors in both devices infringed on patents from Masimo.

"The blood oxygen feature is fairly accurate, from the research I've seen, but it's not medical grade, so I would say overall, no, it's not very useful," Graham Bower, developer of iOS health app Reps and Sets and Apple Watch expert, told Lifewire via email.

The ITC ruled in October that Apple had infringed upon a patent by Masimo for the technology used to measure blood oxygen levels and ordered Apple to stop importing and selling watches that had that ability; Apple maintains it did not use Masimo's technology.

How to Measure Blood Pressure With an Apple Watch. “At this time, the Apple Watch isn't equipped to measure your blood pressure alone,” says Dr. Bronstein.

Is there a recall on Apple Watch blood oxygen? ›

The ability to measure blood oxygen is no longer available on Apple Watch units sold by Apple in the United States beginning January 18, 2024. These are indicated with part numbers ending in LW/A.

Starting on Thursday, the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 will no longer detect people's blood oxygen levels, to comply with a ruling by the International Trade Commission.

The Apple Watch Series 6 does not show a strong systematic bias compared to conventional, medical-grade pulse oximeters. However, outliers do occur and should not cause concern in otherwise healthy individuals. The impact of race on measurement accuracy should be investigated.

Apple decided to drop the health feature after losing a patent case brought by the medical technology company Masimo, which alleged that Apple infringed on its patent for a blood oxygen sensor that can read someone's pulse. Apple has repeatedly denied the allegation.

Apple to remove pulse oximeter from Apple Watches to avoid ban on sales in US. Apple has agreed to remove a blood oxygen measurement tool from two of its Apple Watch models so it can avoid a sales ban on the devices in the U.S., Bloomberg reported.

In December, the ITC imposed a ban on the Series 9 and Ultra 2 models of the Apple Watch after finalizing its decision that the blood oxygen sensors in the devices did indeed infringe on patents owned by Masimo and its subsidiary Cercacor Laboratories.

The ability to measure blood oxygen is no longer available on Apple Watch units sold by Apple in the United States beginning January 18, 2024. These are indicated with part numbers ending in LW/A. Learn how to identify your Apple Watch.

The noticeable differences between the Series 9 and the Ultra 2 are the size and design. The Ultra 2 has a larger case size (49mm) than the Series 9 (available in either 41mm or 45mm), and it's taller, wider, and deeper. This gives the Ultra 2 a bulkier form factor.

All of those features are also available on the Apple Watch Ultra 2. As you can tell, this shows there is no sensor available on any Apple Watch to measure blood sugar.