Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority
- Apple is restoring blood oxygen tracking to certain US Apple Watch models via iOS and watchOS updates.
- The refreshed setup uses the watch to take readings but calculates and displays results on the paired iPhone.
- The feature was removed in January 2024 due to a patent dispute and an import ban.
Apple Watch owners in the US are getting a health-tracking feature back that many thought might be gone for good. After more than a year in limbo, the blood oxygen tool is returning to the Apple smartwatch range, though not quite in the way you remember.
As Bloomberg reports, the reactivation follows a US Customs ruling and arrives as part of iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1. If you’ve got a Series 9, Series 10, or Ultra 2 model that shipped without the feature, the update lets the watch’s sensors take the reading but shifts the number-crunching to your paired iPhone. You’ll find the results tucked into the Respiratory section of the Health app instead of the watch’s own Blood Oxygen app.