Apple Watch blood-oxygen feature returns in iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1

At the beginning of last year, Apple made the daring decision and mandated by the court to remove the blood-oxygen functionality from the Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 series in the United States on a patent dispute with the medical technology company Masimo. Since then, all the new watches (including the 10 series, which launched several months later) have been shipped with the disabled sensor, eliminating a functionality available from the 6 Series.

From now on, Apple has reactivated the blood oxygen functionality for Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Ultra 2. users. In a press release entitled “A blood oxygen update for Apple Watch in the United States”, said Apple, “users with these models in the United States which do not currently have the blood oxygen functionality will have access to the blood oxygen functionality Redessed by updating their paired iPhone towards iOS 18.6.1 and their Apple Watch in Watchos 11.6.1. ”

Apple says that the update, arrived on Thursday, was made in place by a recent American customs decision. To apply the update, open Parameters on your iPhone and go to General > Software updates And follow the prompts. Once your iPhone has updated, open the Watch Application on your iPhone and select General > Software updateThen follow the instructions to update your Apple Watch.

The new feature will now measure and calculate sensor data on the paired iPhone, and the results can be viewed in the respiratory section of the Health Application. Previously, users could take a blood oxygen measure at any time with the application of blood oxygen as well as to follow occasional basic measurements. It is not clear if this update will remove the possibility of taking instant readings on the watch.

Ancient watches that still have the activated blood-oxygen functionality will not be affected by the update, says Apple.