• Apple could be planning to remove the blood-oxygen tracking feature from its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2.
• Healthtech firm Masimo sued Apple last year, alleging that the tech giant stole trade secrets to build blood-oxygen sensors on its new watches.
• Users who depend on the tracker should be wary of installing any updates on their Apple Watch devices in the next few months.

Recent legal troubles facing tech giant Apple found its latest Apple Watch devices – namely the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 subjected to a sales ban from December last year. Now after a few weeks that ban is being temporarily lifted, but the Cupertino, California firm may have to sacrifice a notable feature in the wrist-borne gadgets for the ban to be lifted completely.

This is the blood oxygen tracking feature – a functionality that grew in popularity in 2020 and 2021 amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this point, most smartwatches in the market now feature blood oxygen tracking of some form even from the most affordable brands.

Apple’s own Apple Watch ran amock of American medical equipment firm Masimo, as per a Bloomberg report, which sued the company and led to the sales ban last year. In their suit, Masimo alleged that Apple had stolen trade secrets from the company related to blood-oxygen levels.

Apple launched the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra Series 2 in September, alongside the latest Apple iPhone devices. New innovations for the wearables include a new 4-core Neural Engine that can process machine learning tasks at twice the speed of the watch’s predecessor.

Other innovations include an ECG app “similar to a single-lead electrocardiogram”, as well as what it calls a “breathtaking” and “remarkable” sensor that can take on-demand blood oxygen readings day and night.

Stealing this technology allegedly infringed on Masimo’s patented products. Meanwhile, according to Reuters, Apple alleged in a countersuit that Masimo’s suit was meant to “clear a path” for its own smartwatch rival. In 2022, Masimo launched its W1 watch, which tracks blood-oxygen levels.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favour of Masimo, leading to the sales ban in December. Apple appealed the ban, which was lifted on 27th December. Now the ITC is considering Apple’s appeal.

If this appeal fails on Apple’s part, the company may simply remove the blood-oxygen tracking feature to circumvent the Masimo suit and ban. The appeal process is likely to take several months, according to Apple.

Either way, customers who rely on the blood-oxygen tracking on their Apple Watch should not download any updates in the coming months as Apple could remove the feature in a software patch without notice even if the technology to allow the functionality is present.

[Image – Photo by Simon Daoudi on Unsplash]