Apple Watch Blood Pressure Feature Hits More Snags in Apple's Testing

Apple's plan to bring blood-pressure tracking to the Apple Watch is still hitting snags, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

apple watch series 10 gold titanium
Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says that the company "continues to run into problems" while testing the feature. No other information was provided on the issues Apple is having.

Gurman has been reporting on Apple's plan to bring blood pressure monitoring since January 2022. In a November 2023 report, he said that the initial version wouldn't show a user their exact systolic and diastolic measurements, but Apple was working on a follow-up version for later that could do so.

At the time, Gurman said the feature was on the cards for the Apple Watch Series 10, but that didn't happen.

More recently, Gurman has said the feature would track whether a user's blood pressure is trending upwards and send 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.

As recently as last December, Gurman claimed that Apple was "ramping up" work on blood-pressure tracking and that the feature could arrive as soon as 2025. But going on his latest comments, even that now sounds unlikely.

Related Forum: Apple Watch

Popular Stories

iphone 17 models

No iPhone 18 Launch This Year, Reports Suggest

Thursday January 1, 2026 8:43 am PST by
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle. Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
duolingo ad live activity

Duolingo Used iPhone's Dynamic Island to Display Ads, Violating Apple Design Guidelines

Friday January 2, 2026 1:36 pm PST by
Language learning app Duolingo has apparently been using the iPhone's Live Activity feature to display ads on the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island, which violates Apple's design guidelines. According to multiple reports on Reddit, the Duolingo app has been displaying an ad for a "Super offer," which is Duolingo's paid subscription option. Apple's guidelines for Live Activity state that...
Low Cost A18 Pro MacBook Feature Pink

Apple's 2026 Low-Cost A18 Pro MacBook: What We Know So Far

Friday January 2, 2026 4:33 pm PST by
Apple is planning to release a low-cost MacBook in 2026, which will apparently compete with more affordable Chromebooks and Windows PCs. Apple's most affordable Mac right now is the $999 MacBook Air, and the upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to be cheaper. Here's what we know about the low-cost MacBook so far. Size Rumors suggest the low-cost MacBook will have a display that's around 13 ...
govee floor lamp

CES 2026: Govee Announces New Matter-Connected Ceiling and Floor Lights

Sunday January 4, 2026 5:00 am PST by
Govee today introduced three new HomeKit-compatible lighting products, including the Govee Floor Lamp 3, the Govee Ceiling Light Ultra, and the Govee Sky Ceiling Light. The Govee Floor Lamp 3 is the successor to the Floor Lamp 2, and it offers Matter integration with the option to connect to HomeKit. The Floor Lamp 3 offers an upgraded LuminBlend+ lighting system that can reproduce 281...
airpods pro 3 glitter

AirPods New Year's Deals Include Up to $99 Off AirPods Max, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4

Sunday January 4, 2026 8:04 am PST by
Now that the calendar has flipped over into January, steep discounts on popular Apple products have become more rare after the holidays. However, if you didn't get a new pair of AirPods recently and are looking for a model on sale, Amazon does have a few solid second-best prices this week. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a...
Belkin 25W Battery magnetic

CES 2026: Belkin Announces Magnetic Ring Power Bank, Modular Dock, and More

Sunday January 4, 2026 3:02 pm PST by
Belkin today announced a range of new charging and connectivity accessories at CES 2026, expanding its portfolio of products aimed at Apple device users. UltraCharge Pro Power Bank 10K with Magnetic Ring The lineup includes new Qi2 and Qi2.2 wireless chargers, magnetic power banks, a high-capacity laptop battery, and USB-C productivity accessories, with an emphasis on higher charging...
samsung crease less foldable display ces 2026%402x

Foldable iPhone's Crease-Free Display Tech Spotted at CES 2026

Tuesday January 6, 2026 3:04 am PST by
CES 2026 has just provided a first glimpse of the folding display technology that Apple is expected to use in its upcoming foldable iPhone. At the event, Samsung Display briefly showcased its new crease-less foldable OLED panel beside a Galaxy Z Fold 7, and according to SamMobile, which saw the test booth before it was abruptly removed, the new panel "has no crease at all" in comparison. The ...
AirPods Pro 3 Year of the Horse Feature

Apple Launches Year of the Horse AirPods Pro 3 for Lunar New Year

Monday January 5, 2026 11:28 am PST by
Apple has designed a limited edition version of the AirPods Pro 3 to celebrate Lunar New Year, and customers in select countries can purchase them starting today. The Year of the Horse Special Edition AirPods Pro 3 feature a unique horse emoji character that's otherwise unavailable. Customers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore are able to buy the AirPods, and they'll be...

Top Rated Comments

Pezimak Avatar
10 months ago

Nobody should rely on a watch for BP monitoring. You can buy a proper home monitoring kit very cheaply.
Yes of course you can, but you don't wear them everyday do you? Point of the watch is to give you a warning and a history of readings.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Godspeed8230 Avatar
10 months ago
Apple has definitely hit a plateau with the Apple Watch. They do need new features and blood pressure would be amazing. Let's see.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JokoWidodo Avatar
10 months ago
Maybe next year or next next year
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Godspeed8230 Avatar
10 months ago

Nobody should rely on a watch for BP monitoring. You can buy a proper home monitoring kit very cheaply.
If it's accurate, why not? ?‍♂️
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pezimak Avatar
10 months ago
The day the Apple Watch can properly detect your blood pressure and glucose readings is the day it will be an invaluable device for millions for their health.

EDIT: Just wanted to add here, I had the misfortune of developing a small heart condition in 2019, it meant a trip in an ambulance. My heart rate shot up rapidly and didn’t drop. Now I had an Apple Watch series 1 at the time and it is what I used to check my heart rate, and I continued to use it to check my pulse and it perfectly matched the readers the Ambulance crew had and the reader in the hospital. It was EXACTLY the same. Now once my condition was diagnosed I knew that and was comfortable in the knowledge that the Apple Watch was a perfectly reliable tool to check my heart rate if I had any attacks, and then I got one with the ECG monitor as that was also extremely useful for doctors for the same reason.

So you can bet I’ll grab a new one when it gets BP monitoring built in.

The only thing I wish for is that they allow the Apple Watch to work with the iPad instead of locking it down to just the iPhone.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CraigJDuffy Avatar
10 months ago

Nobody should rely on a watch for BP monitoring. You can buy a proper home monitoring kit very cheaply.
Yes, but as someone who has hypertension I’d really appreciate the continuous monitoring a watch can provide.

To take accurate measurements with an arm cuff machine it requires about 15 minutes (10 minutes of sitting still, and 5 minutes to do 2 measurements 2 minutes apart) twice a day which is a fairly involved process to do regularly.

The hospital recently gave me continuous blood pressure monitor (which funnily enough is a watch like device) and it has been fantastic.

I’d absolutely love this if it was accurate enough.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)