An Apple Watch.

By Chris Spiker From Daily Voice

Many Americans who use Apple Watches will be able to access the blood oxygen feature once again.

Apple will roll out a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models through an iPhone and Apple Watch software update, the company said on Thursday, Aug. 14. The update applies to US users who currently don't have the feature.

By updating to iOS 18.6.1 on iPhone and watchOS 11.6.1 on Apple Watch, sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app will be measured and calculated on the paired iPhone. Results will be available in the Health app's Respiratory section.

Apple said the change follows a recent US Customs ruling. The International Trade Commission ruled in 2023 that Apple's blood oxygen sensors infringed on patents held by medical technology company Masimo, CNBC reported.

Apple temporarily paused sales of certain watches and began offering modified versions without the feature. Watches previously purchased with the original feature, as well as any bought outside the US, won't be affected.

Current Apple Watch health tools also include irregular rhythm notifications, the ECG (electrocardiogram) app, sleep apnea notifications, fall detection, wrist temperature sensing, and mindfulness tracking.

"Apple's teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features that are grounded in science and have privacy at the core," the tech giant said.

In recent years, Apple has expanded its push into health technology, adding a sleep apnea detector to the Apple Watch, hearing health features to AirPods, and launching its first major health study in five years.