Apple Brings Back Blood Oxygen Measurement on Its Top Watches

Feds had blocked feature after a patent dispute

Edward C. Baig,

Updated August 14, 2025

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Published December 19, 2023

/ Updated August 14, 2025

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

In this story

Missing feature back • No change for current owners •
Focus on older adults • SE still available

Apple is restoring a key smartwatch feature removed following an unfavorable patent infringement ruling: the capability of measuring a person’s blood oxygen levels.

The tech titan pulled the plug on a similar feature some 19 months ago after a federal appeals court reinstated a ban that kept Apple from selling Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models with the blood oxygen technology. At the time, the Biden administration refused to reverse a U.S. International Trade Commission decision banning sales of the models.

On August 14, Apple introduced a redesigned blood oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users. Folks with these models can add the capability through an iPhone and Apple Watch software update.

Blood oxygen sensor data from an app on the watch is measured and calculated on a paired iPhone, Apple says, and is visible in the Respiratory section of the Health app.

No change if you have a watch with blood oxygen feature

“There will be no impact to Apple Watch units previously purchased that include the blood oxygen feature, nor to Apple Watch units purchased outside the U.S.,” Apple wrote as part of a statement. So it’s status quo for owners who've had the feature all through the saga.

Apple had featured a blood oxygen sensor on its smartwatches since the Apple Watch Series 6 was released in September 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Doctors at that time realized that low oxygen levels could be a warning sign of severe COVID-19. Less than a year later, Irvine, California–based Masimo alleged that the tech giant had violated several of the patents Masimo filed on measuring blood oxygen levels.

After a multiyear investigation, the commission agreed that one patent had been infringed. The agency prohibited Apple from importing its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, which use a specific light-based pulse oximetry, technology used to measure blood oxygen levels.

When a federal administrative law judge made an initial ruling in favor of Masimo in 2023, Chief Executive Joe Kiani accused Apple of taking other companies’ innovations and repackaging them.

Older adults are a customer base

Since the Apple Watch Series 4 debuted with fall detection in September 2018 — the feature is automatically turned on for users 55 and older — Apple has targeted boomers and older Gen X customers with health apps that take advantage of the sensors built into the device’s back. The watches can monitor heart rate, irregular heart rhythm, mobility and sleep patterns, as well as remind users to take medications and help loved ones find wearers if those users get lost.

About 1 in 5 adults 50 and older who go online use a smartwatch, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts–based Forrester market researchers. That compares with about 2 in 5 adults ages 18 to 49 who use the internet.

The action from Apple came weeks after Masimo received federal Food and Drug Administration clearance for its Masimo W1 medical watch to provide real-time monitoring of users’ oxygen saturation and pulse rate, for both prescription and over-the-counter use. But Masimo subsequently discontinued the W1 and all its consumer products.

Least expensive Apple Watch remains available

Apple continues to sell its $249 entry-level SE watch, which does not have the blood oxygen sensor. Forrester says Apple Watch owns about half of the U.S. wearables market for all ages, devices that include activity and sleep trackers such as lower-price Fitbits and higher-end Oura Rings, as well as Apple and Samsung Galaxy smartwatches. Google-owned Fitbit has 29 percent, and Samsung has 13 percent.

For older adults, Forrester says, Apple Watch is not the dominant wearable: Thirty-nine percent use Fitbit, 34 percent have an Apple Watch and 10 percent use Samsung.

This story, originally published December 19, 2023, has been updated with information on Apple starting to again provide a blood oxygen feature on some of its watches.

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Edward C. Baig covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for USA Today, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune, and is author of Macs for Dummies and coauthor of iPhone for Dummies and iPad for Dummies. Follow him on LinkedIn; Threads; and X, formerly known as Twitter.