New Apple Watch Health Features Coming This Year, but Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Sensors Delayed

Apple is still planning to add body temperature monitoring and new health features to the Apple Watch this year, despite experiencing development problems with blood pressure and bloodglucose monitoring, according to Mark Gurman.

Accuracy has been an issue when testing the technology on employees, as Apple has reportedly been working on an updated sensor for the Apple Watch that is capable of determining if a user has high blood pressure. The feature can tell users if they have hypertension, instead of providing specific readings. It is said that Apple has been working on the feature for at least four years, but it is unlikely to be ready until at least 2024.

Apple is working on a feature to monitor blood sugar, but the feature is not expected to be available in a year. Enhancements to the Apple Watch and the Health app to help users with diabetes have been discussed by Apple.

In the immediate term, Apple is working on bringing new women's health features to the Apple watch and ios phone, as well as new sleep, fitness, and medication management features. The Apple Watch will have a body temperature sensor this year, with the feature initially designed to aid fertility planning. Future Apple Watch models could determine if a user has a higher than normal body temperature, but it is not likely to show an exact measurement.

As part of watchOS 9, Apple is planning to improve its existing atrial fibrillation detection feature with a new capability to measure how long a person is in a state of arrhythmia. There may be more metrics for running workouts in the Apple Watch app.

Improvements to the Health app that expand sleep tracking, as well as add new medicine management and women's health features, may be included in the next version of the app. The initial version of the medicine management tool that Apple is said to be developing is unlikely to include all of the features that the company has planned.

Gurman said that some employees have been unhappy with Apple's progress, arguing that enhancements are taking too long and not enough risks are being taken.