Apple is ramping up work on a blood pressure monitoring feature for the Apple Watch and it could be ready as soon as 2025, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Blood pressure monitoring is a health addition that Apple has been working on for the last several years, and based on rumors, Apple wanted to debut it in 2024.
The feature would not provide exact systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements, instead tracking whether a user's blood pressure is trending upwards and sending an alert if hypertension is detected. After receiving an alert, the Apple Watch user could provide the information to a medical professional for additional testing.
Hypertension is known as a silent killer because it can go undetected and undiagnosed, leading to heart damage and death. High blood pressure often has few symptoms until it is notably advanced, and early detection via the Apple Watch has the potential to save lives. The Apple Watch already has the ability to detect atrial fibrillation or an irregular heart beat, plus it can be used to take one-lead ECG readings. There is also a blood oxygen monitoring feature, but it is disabled in current models in the United States due to patent issues.
According to Gurman, Apple is aiming to introduce the feature in the Apple Watch Ultra 3, and it would also presumably be included in the standard Apple Watch coming in 2025 as well. It is not yet entirely clear if Apple will be able to launch the feature in 2025, given that it was previously delayed. In 2022, Apple was reportedly dealing with accuracy issues during testing, but those problems may have been solved.
Apple is also continuing to work on noninvasive blood glucose monitoring, but that feature is not yet ready to launch.
