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I thought Apple Watch doesn’t have blood oxygen sensing anymore.

brandonb 1y ago
Blood oxygen sensing is disabled in the US (due to the patent lawsuit with Massimo), but it still estimates VO2Max and sleep stages. VO2Max is based on GPS and heart rate sensor measurements, processed by a deep learning algorithm that uses physiological ODEs (ordinary differential equations). Very cool algorithm. Apple Watch sleep stages (and sleep apnea detection) is based only on 3D accelerometer data.
infecto 1y ago
Just as an additional clarification. It’s only on new watches sold after that 2024 date. Only reason I have been reluctant to replace mine.
- jjcob 1y ago
  Do you get useful insights from blood oxygen data? The measurements seem pretty erratic on my Series 8 watch, and I'm not sure what conclusions I should draw from them. Do you suffer from a health condition that requires monitoring O2sat?
  - kridsdale1 1y ago
    When I had Covid I got value from tracking this metric. If it went below 90 I would have called 911.
  - eitally 1y ago
    Day-to-day, no value at all (I have it on my Garmin). Only in combination with respiration rate + HRV + RHR does it become a useful signal, and frankly, if all four of those are out of whack then the odds you feel sick or run down and don't need metrics to tell you so are very high!
  - devnulll 1y ago
    Due to spending more time in a chair than being active I have a bit more interactions with Gravity than most. :) This has led to fairly significant sleep apnea, which is most easily tracked via monitoring of O2 saturation. The Apple watch data isn't really useful for this at all as the frequency of monitoring is just too low. There are a bunch of ~$100 devices that you can get from Amazon that do a fantastic job monitoring O2 Sat for a night and have nice integrations into Apple/Android. I do wish the CPAP's offered this type of integration - that is, they had a Bluetooth receiver to which I could pair an O2 sensor, and have the data coupled with my breathing analysis. This would be nice to have in OSCAR (the open-source analysis package) or even in Apple Health. Instead, the manufactures like ResMed treat this data as a walled garden and try their hardest to require everything to go through a Sleep Doctor who pays them a non-trivial data subscription.
  - infecto 1y ago
    I really like collecting as much data as possible with my watch. I have found Apples analysis in the health app to be pretty helpful over longer periods of time. o2 probably the weaker of signals and to be honest I just like having it when I am sick. I will convince myself sick in bed I have Covid and then check my o2 and feel better.
- rangestransform 1y ago
  Also IIRC it’s only watches sold in the US, you can still get a Canadian apple watch with oxygen saturation monitoring
  - Teever 1y ago
    Is that so? It amuses me that Apple will block that EU mandated store stuff if you move a EUnphone to the US after a few weeks (at least I understand that to be the case) but doesn't do the same for this feature.
    - infecto 1y ago
      That’s correct.
jjcob 1y ago
VO2max is an estimate of your maximum oxygen consumption per minute per kg of body mass. It is not related to your blood oxygen level.
Analemma_ 1y ago
The hardware is still there in all new watches, it's disabled in software due to the ongoing Massimo litigation. It seems likely that one way or another it'll be resolved-- either by overturning the ruling in Apple's favor or Apple just gives Massimo a bunch of money-- and then it will come back.

Blood oxygen sensing is disabled in the US (due to the patent lawsuit with Massimo), but it still estimates VO2Max and sleep stages. VO2Max is based on GPS and heart rate sensor measurements, processed by a deep learning algorithm that uses physiological ODEs (ordinary differential equations). Very cool algorithm. Apple Watch sleep stages (and sleep apnea detection) is based only on 3D accelerometer data.

infecto 1y ago

Just as an additional clarification. It’s only on new watches sold after that 2024 date. Only reason I have been reluctant to replace mine.

jjcob 1y ago
Do you get useful insights from blood oxygen data? The measurements seem pretty erratic on my Series 8 watch, and I'm not sure what conclusions I should draw from them. Do you suffer from a health condition that requires monitoring O2sat?
- kridsdale1 1y ago
  When I had Covid I got value from tracking this metric. If it went below 90 I would have called 911.
- eitally 1y ago
  Day-to-day, no value at all (I have it on my Garmin). Only in combination with respiration rate + HRV + RHR does it become a useful signal, and frankly, if all four of those are out of whack then the odds you feel sick or run down and don't need metrics to tell you so are very high!
- devnulll 1y ago
  Due to spending more time in a chair than being active I have a bit more interactions with Gravity than most. :) This has led to fairly significant sleep apnea, which is most easily tracked via monitoring of O2 saturation. The Apple watch data isn't really useful for this at all as the frequency of monitoring is just too low. There are a bunch of ~$100 devices that you can get from Amazon that do a fantastic job monitoring O2 Sat for a night and have nice integrations into Apple/Android. I do wish the CPAP's offered this type of integration - that is, they had a Bluetooth receiver to which I could pair an O2 sensor, and have the data coupled with my breathing analysis. This would be nice to have in OSCAR (the open-source analysis package) or even in Apple Health. Instead, the manufactures like ResMed treat this data as a walled garden and try their hardest to require everything to go through a Sleep Doctor who pays them a non-trivial data subscription.
- infecto 1y ago
  I really like collecting as much data as possible with my watch. I have found Apples analysis in the health app to be pretty helpful over longer periods of time. o2 probably the weaker of signals and to be honest I just like having it when I am sick. I will convince myself sick in bed I have Covid and then check my o2 and feel better.
rangestransform 1y ago
Also IIRC it’s only watches sold in the US, you can still get a Canadian apple watch with oxygen saturation monitoring
- Teever 1y ago
  Is that so? It amuses me that Apple will block that EU mandated store stuff if you move a EUnphone to the US after a few weeks (at least I understand that to be the case) but doesn't do the same for this feature.
  - infecto 1y ago
    That’s correct.

jjcob 1y ago

VO2max is an estimate of your maximum oxygen consumption per minute per kg of body mass. It is not related to your blood oxygen level.

Analemma_ 1y ago

The hardware is still there in all new watches, it's disabled in software due to the ongoing Massimo litigation. It seems likely that one way or another it'll be resolved-- either by overturning the ruling in Apple's favor or Apple just gives Massimo a bunch of money-- and then it will come back.