Apple Watch Blood Glucose Monitoring Likely Still 'Three to Seven Years' Away

Blood glucose monitoring technology designed for the Apple Watch is unlikely to launch for several years, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman believes.

Apple Watch Blood Glucose Monitoring Feature 2
In February, Gurman reported that Apple has made major progress with its noninvasive blood glucose monitoring technology, allowing diabetics and others to test their blood glucose levels without needing to prick the skin for blood testing.

Apple's system apparently uses a silicon photonics chip to shine light from a laser under the skin to determine the concentration of glucose in the body. In Bloomberg's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple "still needs to perfect the algorithms and on-board sensors" to bring the technology to market. Crucially, the company also needs to "shrink it down to the size of a module that can fit in the small and thin package that is an Apple Watch." Gurman believes this process "will take another three to seven years at least."

Apple began working on alternative glucose monitoring methods following its aquisition of RareLight in 2010. The company then used a startup called Avolante Health LLC to develop the technology at a secret facility before moving it to the Exploratory Design Group (XDG).

Apple has been conducting human trials for the past 10 years and seeks to be able to warn Apple Watch users if they are prediabetic to encourage lifestyle changes before diabetes develops. It is believed to be holding early discussions about getting regulatory approval for the technology.

Related Forum: Apple Watch

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Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
25 months ago
This is probably the most anticipated feature. Hopefully, Apple can actually pull it off.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
izyreal Avatar
25 months ago
This is one of those features where I’ll believe it when I see it. I suspect it’ll never be done.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BobSc Avatar
25 months ago

I suspect it’ll never be done.
Years ago, to determine blood oxygenation for a patient required a direct needle stick into the radial artery, a potentially dangerous procedure. Today a pulse oximeter, a very small electrical device, is simply applied to the end of a finger and almost instantly reads the O2 saturation and pulse. No one would have predicted this at the time of the needle sticks. Yet, here we are with a simpler and safer way to do this. Science is amazing for those who believe in science. Those that don't believe in science will be very pessimistic about future advances in medicine.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
filmantopia Avatar
25 months ago

This is one of those features where I’ll believe it when I see it. I suspect it’ll never be done.
They've apparently already had the breakthrough that proves it's possible. It's just shrinking it down at this point. Sometimes big advances do happen. When they do, some of us aren't ready for it because we've always only lived in the world before X was possible.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
senttoschool Avatar
25 months ago
If it's easier, they should add this feature to the wrist band and sell a special edition of either the Watch or wristband depending on if it can be removed.

The benefit would outweigh the ability to switch bands.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RalfTheDog Avatar
25 months ago
This is not intended to judge how much insulin you need. This is intended more for lifestyle changes. When you eat this food, what does it do to your glucose? When you run five miles, what does that do to your glucose? It does not need to be accurate enough to tell you how much of a shot you need to save lives. It could prevent many people from ever needing to start insulin.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)