- After a ban of 18 months, monitoring blood oxygen goes to the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Ultra 2
- It is no longer an experience entirely on devices, however
- The Apple Watch still measures blood oxygen, but the iPhone will calculate and display the final result
It’s been 18 months, but Apple announced that monitoring and monitoring blood oxygen returned to the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Ultra 2 in the United States.
The functionality was deactivated and prohibited effectively on the 9 and Ultra 2 series – then the 10 series, which later launched – after a decision in January 2024 due to a patent dispute on the technology used between Massimo and Apple. Now, thanks to iOS 18.6.1 and Watchos 11.6.1, which will take place later during the day, the functionality returns in a “redesigned” form.
In its new iteration, Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Ultra 2 sensors can read, then transmit data to the connected iPhone, where it will be calculated and displayed in the Health application under `respiratory ” readings.
So no, you will not be able to read, look as it progresses, then display the results directly on your wrist, as you can before. However, this effectively returns monitoring and monitoring features to Apple Watch models affected in the United States.
In a shared declaration, Apple explains changes such as:
“Users with these models in the Us who Currently do not have the Blood Oxygen Feature Will Have Access to the Redesignéed Blood Oxygen Feature by Updating Their Paired iPhone to iOS 18.6.1, and their Apple Watch to Watchos 11.6.1. Following this Update, Sensor data from the Apple Watch Will Be Measured and Calculated on the paired iPhone, and results can be viewed in the respiratory section of the Health App.
The American customs decision is essential here, as it will reject the functionality to Apple watches sold at the start of the ban and was then applied. If you still have an older Apple Watch, or an arrival before January 2024, the functionality of blood oxygen remains without impact and will not be modified. This also applies to all the models sold outside the United States, which was not impactive by this decision.
However, this returns the blood oxygen function to the Apple Watch, even if it divides the experience between the watch and the phone. But this separation is probably essential for this to be authorized and approved by American customs.
For those who bought an Apple Watch Series 9, 10 or Ultra 2 in these several months, it is a return to the form and the borough of health monitoring features on Star’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’ Apple in the United States. Even in our Revue Apple Watch Series 10, we noted that the monitoring of blood oxygen was missing in the United States.
Apple has a fairly intelligent deployment here, and taking into account the rumors of additional thrusts in the health characteristics that we could see with the future generations of Apple Watch models, it could be useful that these readings enter the health application directly. Either the route, however, if you were waiting for the return of monitoring blood oxygen, it is back, but you will want to make sure your iPhone is nearby if you want to see the results.
Although Apple has not shared an exact calendar for the deployments of iOS 18.6.1 and Watchos 11.6.1, he promised to arrive today – August 14, 2025 – in the United States, and we will update this piece when we see it deploy.
