Apple Watch: High blood pressure warning for new and older watches

Hypertension is a common disease: According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), between 20 and 30 million people have a so-called hypertension in Germany alone. The worldwide assumes 1.3 billion adults who have to do with it. The common thing: If the symptoms are noticeable, the disease is often advanced. Many live undetected for a long time with the high pressure. This increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney diseases.

A health function for blood pressure was therefore very surprisingly quite high on the wish list of many Apple watch users. As far as the classic measuring device can remain in the drawer for checking, the development is unfortunately not yet. But at least the Apple Watch will be able to point out possible warning signs in the future so that those affected can have the suspicion checked. However, a sleep index is new to health functions that provides information about sleep quality.

Also available for older devices

The gratifying thing is: the high blood pressure feature will not only be available to buyers from the new Apple Watch Series 11 and the Apple Watch Ultra 3. According to Apple, owners of an Ultra 2 and the Series 9 and Series 10. The sleep index mentioned in the English Sleep Score is even available from the Series 6, on the Apple Watch SE from the 2nd generation, and all ultra models, provided at least one iPhone 11 with iOS 26 is available. In all cases, the installation of Watchos 26 on the clock is of course a prerequisite.

Apple is tracking down the high blood pressure using the optical heart sensor. He records how the user’s blood vessels react to the heartbeats. These records are evaluated by algorithm over a period of 30 days and users notify users for signs. The watch does not have to be worn day and night, but it is enough to wear it during the day. However, the function is only available to people aged 22 and over. Anyone who has already been diagnosed with high blood pressure cannot use them either. And pregnant women are also excluded.

Training data of 100,000 people

Apple developed the algorithm using machine learning. This evaluated data from studies with over 100,000 participants. Whether the function really works was checked with 2000 people in a clinical study.

Anyone who receives a notification will receive the advice to create a kind of measurement diary for seven days with the Health app of the iPhone. With the help of a classic measuring device, values ​​that the person concerned receives in the app can be determined. This data can help a doctor with the diagnosis. The measurement protocol can apparently also use people with diagnosed high blood pressure to write down control measurements at larger intervals. Apple expects that over a million people will receive notifications in the first year alone that they may have high blood pressure.

Notes for better sleep quality

The sleep index is to add the previous recording of sleep phases. For various aspects, points are awarded by the device. These are the duration of sleep, time in bed and the number of interruptions. The sum can be classified how high the sleep quality is. Such an index is known from other health gadgets such as fitness rings. According to Apple, users could derive what they can do with the function to improve their sleep.