Apple Watch To Start Blood Pressure, Glucose Monitoring By Tracking Trends

Smartwatches and wrist wearables in general have had health tracking as part of their purpose. It’s no different for the Apple Watch, even if the iPhone maker usually has loftier goals for its own wearable. A recent Bloomberg report paints a picture of the company’s roadmap for 2024, which will involve blood pressure and glucose tracking, as well as sleep apnea detection.

The report notes that the initial implementation for both the bloop pressure and sugar reading will not be able to provide exact figures. Instead, the feature will start with checking trends, and letting the wearer of an Apple Watch know if they are trending upwards or downwards. If the former is happening, the wearable will prompt the wearer to see a healthcare professional for more conventional testing for exact readings.

Also noted in the report is that many of these features were initially planned to be included in the first Apple Watch, with the company intending for it to be a health-monitoring device. As these features were not ready, the fruit company decided to pivot it to a luxury accessory instead. Though over time, this has slowly swung back to the original vision that the company had for the product.

One more interesting nugget in the report was that the Apple Watch was initially intended to be compatible with Android devices as well. The process of making it so was also nearly complete, before it was decided that doing so would affect the sale of its own phones, leading to its cancellation. As per a quote in the report, doing so would “dilute the value of the watch to the iPhone”.

(Source: Bloomberg)