Apple gets FDA approval for Blood Pressure alerts on Apple Watch, coming to older models too

Apple's hypertension detection feature for Apple Watch has received FDA clearance and will launch next week with watchOS 26, expanding beyond just the newest models to include Apple Watch Series 9 and later, plus Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later devices.The feature will be available in 150 countries and regions, including the US, Hong Kong and the European Union when it rolls out on September 15. The tool uses data from the Apple Watch's optical heart sensor to analyze how blood vessels respond to heartbeats over a 30-day period, notifying users if signs of chronic hypertension are detected.Apple said the hypertension feature was developed with advanced machine learning and training data collected from studies with more than 100,000 participants.

The company validated it in clinical trials with more than 2,000 participants and expects the feature to notify over 1 million people with undiagnosed hypertension within its first year.About 1.3 billion adults worldwide are affected by hypertension, a primary risk factor for stroke, heart attack and kidney disease that can often be modified with lifestyle and medical interventions. The condition affects approximately 1.3 billion adults globally and often goes undiagnosed due to lack of symptoms.

Users who receive notifications will be encouraged to share results with a medical provider and are advised to monitor their blood pressure for seven days using a third-party cuff, following American Heart Association guidelines. All related data can be logged in the Health app on iPhone and exported as a PDF for doctors.