Apple is bringing back blood oxygen monitoring to certain Apple Watch models in the U.S., cleverly sidestepping the International Trade Commission’s ban that was tied to Masimo’s patent dispute. Previously, owners of the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 in the U.S.
lost access to the feature after Apple was forced to disable it. Now, a smart workaround approved by a U.S. Customs ruling will restore the function – albeit with a twist.
According to Apple’s latest press release, users can regain access by updating their paired iPhone to iOS 18.6.1 and their Apple Watch to watchOS 11.6.1. The trick? The watch’s Blood Oxygen app will still collect sensor data, but the actual calculation is done on the iPhone. Once processed, results will appear in the ‘Respiratory’ section of the Health app. This method bypasses the patent dispute by shifting the computational step away from the watch itself.
Models with the original blood oxygen feature or those bought outside the U.S. remain unaffected. While some may call the update a genius move, others see it as a slightly clunky fix since it requires both an iPhone and extra steps to view results. Still, for now, it’s Apple’s best attempt to give U.S. users back a function that many consider essential for health tracking.