Apple adding blood oxygen detection feature to Apple Watch, suggests code snippet
Apple is developing a new feature which would allow Apple Watch to detect blood oxygen levels, according to a newly discovered code snippets.
Reported by 9to5Mac, Apple Watch may soon be able to alert wearers when the device detects a drop in blood oxygen levels, something which may lead to compromised heart and brain functionality.
The code suggests when Apple Watch detects a user’s blood oxygen levels drop below the average of 95 and 100%, the device will notify the wearer with a notification, similar to how the device already alerts when it detects an irregular heart rhythm.
According to an iFixit teardown of the Apple Watch in 2015, current models already have the hardware required to perform blood oxygen detection however, Apple has never included the software to do so.
This would suggest if the feature were to launch, presumably alongside the Apple Watch Series 6 in September, Apple may enable the detection capabilities via a software update to order Apple Watch models with the release of watchOS 7.