Rumor: Apple Watch can measure blood oxygen

The Apple Watch can measure blood oxygen, according to 9to5Mac. The site has seen code from iOS 14 that points to that. It’s unknown if the feature will be possible with the current heart rate monitor or if it will require hardware that’s only in a new Watch.

Users will be notified if blood oxygen levels seem too low, 9to5Mac reports. It resembles the current report about abnormal heartbeat, the site claims based on the code it has seen. This does not indicate whether new hardware is required for the function. It would theoretically be possible to measure blood oxygen with the current heart rate monitor.

Also, Apple is said to be working on an upgrade to the implementation of the limited electrocardiogram that users can create with the latest versions of the Watch. It now works poorly if users have a heart rate between 100 and 120 beats per minute. An upgrade of the software and perhaps also the hardware should improve that.

The site has an excellent track record of publishing unannounced information about Apple software. Apple has announced new versions of software in recent years at its own developer conference WWDC. It is scheduled for June.