Will Apple reintroduce blood oxygen monitoring on Apple Watch?

According to reports I have read Masimo’s patent expires in 2028. So unless Apple manages to overturn the lawsuit or innovates a new design that does not infringe on Masimo’s patent we’ll have to wait.

Masimo apparently remains open to a licensing agreement with Apple but Apple is steadfast in their refusal to do so, thinking they are in the right.

There is no reliable data to suggest that sales of the Watch have suffered because of the lack of this feature and comments about this are very rare now in these forums.

It's not up to Apple.

It will depend on if, when and how the Blood Oxygen feature ban can be resolved between Apple and Masimo.

https://www.techradar.com/health-fitness/apple-watch-blood-oxygen-feature-isnt-returning-anytime-soon-as-company-fails-in-audacious-court-bid-to-get-ban-lifted

I concur with Lawrence and lkrupp. Get a pulse oximeter. I bought one for $24.99 that syncs with Health.

You should get a fingertip pulseoximeter. They are under $20, and you can use it whenever you want. The one on an iPhone is not continuous, so it is not a better solution than the stand-alone monitor: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=pulse+oximeter&crid=1NMBX05TUEU3W&sprefix=pulse%2Caps%2C106&ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-pd-dpltr-ranker_1_5

It doesn’t matter what apples wants; it’s up to masimo. They are the ones who made apple disable the blood oxygen sensor in the first place

If O2 sensing is that important to you buy an Android watch that includes the feature or buy a pulse oximeter . No sense beating a dead horse over something you have no control over.

You are right, information about this issue seems to be scarce. I had been upgrading my watch every year. I skipped this one because of losing the O2 function. To me it is a very important part of the Apple Watch health features. I am one of the lucky ones that was alerted to a heart problem and wound up in ER, so I am a firm believer in what the watch can do. It gripes my a** that this problem can't be sorted out between the two companies. I just hope my current watch last long enough to see that happen. The lack of information seems to suggest an attitude of just ignore it and it will go away.

KingmanMike wrote:

I am one of the lucky ones that was alerted to a heart problem and wound up in ER, so I am a firm believer in what the watch can do.

The O2 function is not what what the watch uses to alert you to heart issues.

I completely understand that, however the O2 value is still part of the “big picture”. The heart may be in sinus rhythm but not providing enough oxygen rich blood throughout the body, so getting a quick reading is important to me. I am 75 years old and after the close call I pay a lot more attention to heart rate and O2 levels.

I had the same experience with my Apple Watch. I’ve had the Apple Watch 4 with cellular for almost 5 years.

still works perfectly.