Apple Watch's Sleep Apnea Feature Continues to Roll Out Around World

Apple this month received approval to launch the Apple Watch's sleep apnea notifications feature in Malaysia, as noted by local resident Xavier Naxa. It is unclear when the feature will actually become available in the country.

This development comes less than a month after the feature became available in Brazil, as part of Apple's efforts to roll it out globally. As of September, the notifications were already available in more than 150 countries and territories.

Sleep apnea is a potentially serious disorder in which a person's breathing repeatedly stops and starts while they sleep. The built-in accelerometer on the Apple Watch Series 10, Apple Watch Series 9, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 running watchOS 11 can "monitor small movements at the wrist" that may be associated with breathing disturbances, and notify you if you show consistent signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea.

Apple says the feature was developed using "advanced machine learning" and an "extensive data set of clinical-grade sleep apnea tests," and then validated in a clinical study. It is designed for use by adults without a prior sleep apnea diagnosis.

A log of nightly breathing disturbances can be viewed in the Health app on the iPhone, with each disturbance classified as "elevated" or "not elevated."