Apple Watch Blood Oxygen Is Finally Coming Back to Your Wrist

The fight for your pulse oximetry isn't over yet—but for the first time in over a year, U.S. Apple Watch users might finally have a path forward. After Apple disabled the blood oxygen feature on all new watches sold in America since January 18, 2024, the company appears to be working toward a technical solution that doesn't involve waiting until 2028. Here's what you need to know about the current status of this crucial health feature and what it means for your existing watch.

What you need to know:

• Blood oxygen monitoring remains disabled on Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 watches with part numbers ending in "LW/A" sold in the U.S. after January 2024
• Legal appeals are ongoing - Masimo's patents don't expire until 2028, but Apple continues challenging the ruling
• Technical workarounds are possible - Apple has demonstrated it can redesign sensor technology while preserving the hardware for potential future restoration

The patent war that killed your health data

Here's the thing: this whole mess started because Apple got caught using someone else's homework. In January 2023, a U.S. court ruled that Apple had infringed one of Masimo's pulse oximetry technology patents with the Apple Watch. The U.S. International Trade Commission backed up that ruling in October, forcing Apple to choose between stopping Apple Watch sales entirely or killing the blood oxygen feature. They chose the latter, and every new Series 9 and Ultra 2 sold after January 18, 2024 shipped with the sensor permanently disabled through software.

The irony? Masimo launched its own pulse oximetry wearable, the W1, in 2022—two years after Apple introduced blood oxygen monitoring with the Series 6. Apple even won a whopping $250 in a countersuit (yes, you read that right—two hundred fifty dollars). But Masimo's patents don't expire until 2028, which originally meant we'd be waiting until the Apple Watch Series 14 to see this feature return.

The ban particularly stung for athletes who'd integrated SpO2 tracking into training regimens, sleep apnea patients monitoring overnight oxygen levels, and users at high altitudes where blood oxygen fluctuations provide critical health insights. Unlike general wellness metrics, blood oxygen monitoring served specific medical and performance use cases that couldn't easily be replaced by other smartwatch features.

Why this feature actually matters for your health

Before we dive into the legal comeback possibilities, let's talk about why losing blood oxygen monitoring was such a big deal. Your blood oxygen level represents the percentage of oxygen your red blood cells carry from your lungs to the rest of your body. Most people maintain levels between 95-100%, though some people live normally with levels below 95%.

The Apple Watch Series 6's accuracy has been validated in multiple independent studies. Research published in Nature found the mean difference between conventional pulse oximeters and the Apple Watch was just 1.39% in healthy participants. These accuracy findings translate into real-world applications where precise monitoring matters. Another study showed the Apple Watch Series 7 had the lowest measurement error compared to other smartwatches, with 58.3% of readings falling within the accuracy range of medical-grade devices.

For athletes, blood oxygen data reveals how efficiently the body delivers oxygen during intense training or at altitude. Sleep apnea patients can track overnight patterns that correlate with breathing disruptions. High-altitude hikers monitor acclimatization progress through SpO2 trends. Even COVID-19 patients found value in tracking respiratory health recovery, though Apple always emphasized the feature wasn't intended for medical diagnosis.

PRO TIP: Blood oxygen data becomes especially valuable when tracked over time. Even though the watch occasionally produces outliers, chronic reductions in average SpO2 levels can indicate underlying health issues worth discussing with your doctor.

The potential comeback: how Apple might bypass the ban

Here's where things get interesting—and where we need to separate hope from current reality. While some sources have claimed Apple has restored blood oxygen functionality through recent software updates, research data from August 2025 indicates "no judgement has been made on Apple's appeal" and the feature shows "no sign of returning to Apple Watch any time soon."

Think of it like two different recipes for chocolate chip cookies that achieve the same delicious result through completely different techniques. Apple told U.S. Customs and Border Protection that its redesigned watch products "definitively do not contain pulse oximetry functionality" that infringes Masimo's patents. U.S. Customs and Border Protection decided that Apple's modifications were "sufficiently modified to fall outside the scope of the ITC's exclusion order."

The key insight here isn't that Apple has solved the problem, but that the company has demonstrated technical approaches that could eventually enable restoration. The hardware remains present in disabled watches—Apple chose software disabling over permanent hardware changes—which suggests engineering teams continue developing alternative measurement algorithms that achieve the same user value through different technical means.

What "redesigned sensor" means practically could involve different LED wavelengths, altered signal processing algorithms, or entirely new approaches to extracting oxygen saturation data from photoplethysmographic signals without triggering Masimo's patent claims.

What this means for your current Apple Watch

The beauty is in the balance: while we wait for legal resolution, the criteria for current functionality are clearer than Apple's usual release notes. If you own a Series 9 or Ultra 2, check your model number in the Apple Watch app under General > About > Model Number. Watches with part numbers ending in "LW/A" currently have the feature disabled, while earlier models that never lost the feature continue working as before.

For Series 6, 7, and 8 owners, nothing changes—you've had working blood oxygen monitoring this entire time. The same goes for Series 9 and Ultra 2 models purchased before January 18, 2024, which retained full functionality even through recent watchOS updates.

Here's the practical breakdown of what works where:

• Full blood oxygen availability: Series 6, 7, 8, and pre-ban Series 9/Ultra 2 models
• Currently disabled: Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2 models with "LW/A" part numbers
• Never supported: Apple Watch SE models (hardware wasn't included)

Rather than waiting for uncertain restoration timelines, users seeking blood oxygen monitoring might consider purchasing international Apple Watch models while traveling, as these retain full functionality when brought back to the U.S., or maintaining older Apple Watch models that preserve the feature.

Where do we go from here?

The absence of blood oxygen monitoring continues to demonstrate how patent disputes can eliminate essential health features that users rely on daily. First introduced with the Series 6 in 2020, this feature's removal created a noticeable functionality gap between U.S. and international Apple Watch capabilities that persists across multiple device generations.

Looking ahead, this case establishes important precedents for how patent law intersects with consumer health technology. Rather than accepting permanent feature loss or paying licensing fees, Apple's approach of developing alternative technical solutions while maintaining appeals could influence how other companies handle similar intellectual property challenges. The stakes continue growing as wearable technology has been identified as the number one fitness trend, and with 21% of Americans already using smartwatches.

The broader question isn't just when Apple might restore blood oxygen monitoring, but whether the company's technical and legal strategies will create sustainable frameworks for future health features. Patent disputes in wearable health technology are likely to increase as more companies develop overlapping biometric capabilities. Apple's experience navigating Masimo's patents while preserving hardware upgrade paths for potential future restoration could serve as a playbook for the industry—or a cautionary tale about the risks of developing health features in contested patent territories.