We have been hearing about Apple working on blood pressure monitoring for years, but various technological challenges have prevented the company from launching the feature. It seems Apple is on track to overcome those final obstacles.
The next Apple Watch might not give you precise blood pressure numbers, but still be very helpful
Blood pressure monitoring on an Apple Watch is expected to work differently than how you typically measure your blood pressure with a cuff. Instead of inflating a cuff and taking precise readings, Apple will rely on a less troublesome method using sensors on the Apple Watch.
This sounds much easier, but notice the way this new feature is referred to – “high blood pressure detection”. This likely means that the next Apple Watch will only alert you when it detects moments when you blood pressure is elevated, but it may not be able to give you precise blood pressure numbers. Chances are, if it detects high blood pressure, the Apple Watch will encourage you to take a more precise reading using a traditional blood pressure cuff.
This might sound a bit disappointing, but this could still very much be a life-saving feature. Since taking blood pressure readings is quite the procedure many people live with undetected high blood pressure, so by just wearing an Apple Watch, those people might find out about such a condition.
We doubt that. Currently, rumors suggest only the new Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 will have this, and we are yet to find out if this means we will get some changes to the current sensors or an all-new sensor unit.
We will be updating with new details about this as they become available.
