Today at their September 2024 event, Apple unveiled a series of major new health features coming to the Apple Watch and AirPods Pro 2. The new features, centered around sleep apnea and hearing loss prevention and assistance, will be released as part of software updates this fall.
Sleep Apnea Detection on the Apple Watch
Later this month, the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will gain the ability to detect signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea in adults who haven’t previously been diagnosed with the disorder. This detection will be based on a new metric called Breathing Disturbances, which will use the watch’s accelerometer to, in Apple’s words, ” detect small movements at the wrist associated with interruptions to normal respiratory patterns during sleep.” Apple says the data will be analyzed on a monthly basis to detect consistent signs of sleep apnea and send sleep apnea notifications.
In addition to watchOS 11, the Breathing Disturbances metric will be added to the Health app in iOS 18, where you will be able to consult and export the data to share with a healthcare professional.
Apple expects to receive marketing authorization for sleep apnea notifications from the FDA and other health authorities soon and plans to make the feature available this month in over 150 regions, including the U.S., the EU, and Japan.
