iOS 26 and watchOS 26 Beta 7 Include 'Redesigned' Blood Oxygen Feature in U.S.

Masimo's patents on this expire August 2028, hopefully Apple will go back to the old way on the watch in a couple years.

What I wonder about is whether this lawsuit thing affected Blood Oxygen measurement in the US only in terms of firmware or Apple had to alter the hardware physically.

It’s just a software block. All the hardware is the same worldwide. 👍🏻

Lots of confusion about what this reworked feature is, how it works, and why it had to be this way/how we got here now. I'll summarize:

Masimo sued Apple, and mostly lost, but the jury was hung instead of coming to a decision (1 juror out of 7 decided for Masimo). Apple kept selling watches with the SpO2 feature until Masimo got the ITC to agree to an import ban, which is not as easy to appeal because it's through regulators, not the judicial system. Apple did appeal, but were unsuccessful, so they had to remove the SpO2 feature from new watches sold after a certain date, which they did in software. Apple also tried to negotiate with Masimo, but Masimo reportedly asked far too much (rumors of $100 per watch went around, but I cannot verify that) to license the patent.

Fast forward to recently, the ITC made a decision recently that clarified how Apple could implement the feature differently in order to avoid the ban. Before this decision, there was no allowable option for Apple to re-implement blood oxygen sensing in the watch. The new rule allows Apple to use the sensors in the watch to collect and send the necessary data to an iPhone, and it has to be processed and shown there, but not on the watch. Apple didn't "wait" to implement this feature for no reason, it had to be explicitly allowed first.

Embarassing that it was gone for almost 2 years in the first place

It has to sync the data up to the iPhone before it will show the latest results by saying "Hey Siri, show me blood oxygen results"

Masimo definitely lost here. They proved their patent is nothing more than an obstruction. Not cheering for big companies but I'm glad I can use the sensor I paid for last year with this workaround.

If a person is told by their doctor to use an AW to monitor SpO2…they should immediately find a new doctor.
And if a “serious” athlete is using an AW to monitor SpO2….they should immediately stop considering themselves a serious athlete.
SpO2 readings…even with Massimo’s best sensor, are widely impacted by several factors…respiratory effort, skin temperature, circulation etc.
Any person…athlete, doctor, nurse, paramedic etc that relies on an SpO2 reading for clinical decisions is a complete moron.
SpO2 data is simply a “snapshot” that is given minimal weight amongst other clinical data…but most importantly…objective clinical presentation of an individual.
While I do appreciate the on-device SpO2 capabilities of all my AW devices….i also know it’s essentially useless….I learned this very early on in my 24 year medical career.

Typical elitist garbage and also four logical fallacies (Black & White, No True Scotsman, Argument from Authority and Straw Man).

Either you need a medical grade device or it’s useless. Nobody would consider the ECG feature of the Apple Watch as medical grade yet there’s documented cases of it saving people’s lives.

Either you’re a high level/Olympic athlete or you’re a nobody.

Your position assumes (wrongly) that it’s impossible to have a middle ground where something fits a range of users outside your extreme positions