Apple plans to add blood pressure monitoring, thermometer to smartwatch

The Apple Watch is capable of scanning for heart conditions and calling for help after injuries. But Apple is working on a deeper set of features as part of the tech giant's bigger ambitions in health monitoring.

Apple is working on new health-related features for its smartwatch, including a tool for blood pressure measurement and a thermometer to help with fertility planning, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the plans and internal company documents.

The fertility feature could be available as soon as next year, along with potential improvements to the Apple Watch's irregular heartbeat monitoring, WSJ reporter Rolfe Winkler wrote.

The company is expected to release its seventh version of the Apple Watch in the coming weeks, but most of its more ambitious health-related improvements aren’t expected before 2022.

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According to internal documents and people familiar with Apple's plans, the tech giant has broader ambitions for its smartwatch, including the ability to detect sleep apnea, provide medical guidance when it senses low blood oxygen levels and, perhaps one day, spot diabetes, per the WSJ article.

For the blood pressure measurement feature, the company is studying a way to measure the speed of the wave a heartbeat sends through a person’s arteries using sensors in the Apple Watch, Winkler reported.

Apple has been steadily building out the health features of its smartwatch. In 2018, the latest iteration of Apple’s smartwatch included an FDA-cleared electrocardiogram, officially classifying it as a medical device capable of alerting its user to abnormal heart rhythms.

The company's Apple Watch Series 6, rolled out last year, expanded the health capabilities of previous Apple Watch models with a new feature that measures the oxygen saturation of the user’s blood.

Fitbit also gained medical device clearances in the U.S. and Europe for its smartwatch electrocardiogram app to track users' heart rhythms for signs of atrial fibrillation. Some Fitbit devices offer a temperature tracking feature, using a sensor to estimate a user's personal baseline skin temperature. Fitbit devices also can track advanced sleep patterns at night.

Along with blood pressure measurements, there have been rumors that Apple has been working to include blood sugar readings and hydration level measurements from the wrist-worn gadget.

The tech giant works with sensor maker Rockley Photonics, which produces light-based sensors that operate similarly to the technology already built into the underside of the Apple Watch, with more basic hardware for measuring heartbeats, body temperature and oxygen saturation.