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- The Blood Oxygen app can allow you to measure the oxygen level of your blood on-demand directly from your wrist, providing you with insights into your overall wellness. Measurements taken with the Blood Oxygen app are not intended for medical use and are only designed for general fitness and wellness purposes.
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The Blood Oxygen app can allow you to measure the oxygen level of your blood on-demand directly from your wrist, providing you with insights into your overall wellness. Measurements taken with the Blood Oxygen app are not intended for medical use and are only designed for general fitness and wellness purposes.
Using the blood oxygen sensor on Apple Watch, the Blood Oxygen app can help you assess oxygen levels in your blood and get insights into how well your body is absorbing oxygen and overall wellness. Features • Allows you to take on-demand blood oxygen measurements.
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- Apple Inc.
Monitor your blood oxygen level and heart rate effortlessly with our app and sync your Apple Watch to get alerts about low levels.* Are you worried about your oxygen levels dropping or wondering how your activities affect your blood oxygen?
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Oct 1, 2020 · The new Apple Watch Series 6 comes with a blood oxygen sensor and an accompanying app to give you more ways to monitor your heart and respiratory health. Together they measure your oxygen...
- Overview
- What is blood oxygen?
- What can cause blood oxygen levels to be low?
- How can you use blood oxygen data on the Apple Watch?
- What is a normal blood oxygen level?
- Which Apple Watch can measure blood oxygen?
- How does the Apple Watch measure blood oxygen levels?
- How to take a blood oxygen measurement on the Apple Watch
- Where to find blood oxygen measurements in Apple Health
- Are there other Apple Watch apps that can use the blood oxygen sensor?
How-to
By Michael Sawh
last updated 8 June 2022
The Apple Watch 6 and 7 has a Blood Oxygen app to measure saturation, but what does that mean, and how do you do it? We show you how...
(Image credit: Michael Sawh)
If you've been wondering how to use the Blood Oxygen app on your Apple Watch, you've come to the right place. Once a simple smartwatch that gave you another screen to keep tabs on your notifications, the Apple Watch has evolved to become one of those nifty little devices we can't live without.
Before getting into how and why Apple lets you measure it, let’s get into exactly what we mean by blood oxygen. In its simplest form, it refers to the amount of oxygen present in your red blood cells, which carry that oxygen all around the body.
That oxygen is the body’s fuel and it’s vital for every function it performs to keep us alive. If the body is struggling to take in the appropriate amount of oxygen it needs, it may struggle to carry out those functions properly and that’s when you might experience low blood oxygen levels and issues that can be as a result of those lower levels.
There’s a variety of causes for blood oxygen levels in the body to drop. Conditions like asthma, infections like pneumonia and respiratory viruses and illnesses like Covid-19 can impact on the body’s ability to get oxygen where it needs to be causing levels to fall.
Being in high altitude environments where oxygen in the atmosphere becomes lower than normal is also another scenario where you can experience blood oxygen levels to drop. You may then experience symptoms like headaches, dizziness, confusion and shortness of breath.
Right now, Apple will let you take on the spot measurements and monitor blood oxygen levels during the day and while asleep. Apple says the data and measurements generated by its blood oxygen sensor are only designed for general fitness and wellness purposes. So for those hoping they can use it in a similar way to a dedicated pulse oximeter device to offer more serious health insights that could allude to some issues tied to low blood oxygen levels, that’s not the case with the Apple Watch. At least, not yet it isn't.
So what does Apple mean by ‘general fitness and wellness purposes’? Well, Apple doesn’t go into any detail about that really, so it’s very much open to interpretation. One of the ways it could be utilised is in the altitude scenario we mentioned, keeping tabs on your body’s levels when oxygen concentration in the atmosphere is lower to see how it’s responding to the conditions. It’s something that Garmin does with the pulse ox sensor it includes in many of its watches.
It could potentially also offer a window into training recovery, especially as there’s an increased demand on oxygen use during exercise. Slightly lower blood oxygen levels may be an indication that you’re still recovering from a tough workout or block of training and may be a prompt to consider a rest day before hitting it hard again.
Again, to clarify, Apple will not prompt you based on whether you’re off for a hike at high altitude or working harder in workouts than normal. This is very much on the user to make use of the data in this way if they find it useful and insightful.
Like other smartwatches and fitness trackers that offer to measure blood oxygen levels, your measurements will be presented as a percentage. As stated by Apple and by the likes of key health bodies like the WHO, a blood oxygen level of 95-100% is considered normal. Below that, and it might be an indication of an issue. Again though, Apple states it...
Currently, the Apple Watch 6 and 7 are the only ones capable of monitoring blood oxygen levels. You can imagine the Apple Watch 8 and the next-generation Apple Watch SE will also pack the sensor technology when they arrive on the scene, too.
The Blood Oxygen app is available in certain countries and regions, which you can check here. Apple also says the feature is designed for users aged 18 and over.
The technology that makes it all happen is built into the optical heart rate sensor found on the back of the Apple Watch Series 6 and 7. Like its heart rate sensor, the process is all about lights.
When it’s time to take a measurement, that sensor shines red and green LEDs as well as infrared light onto blood vessels in the wrist. Unlike pulse oximeters, that light is not sent through the body. Instead, photodiodes that convert light into electrical current measure how much light is reflected back to the back of the Watch.
That data is then crunched by Apple’s algorithms to work out the colour of the blood that’s been detected. Bright red blood or Arterial blood, carries more oxygen while dark red venous blood carries less.
So it’s able to take measurements from that more oxygen-rich blood that’s taken from the heart and sent around the rest of the body to give you that blood oxygen level in a percentage.
The first thing you need to do is make sure your Apple Watch is running the latest version of WatchOS and you’re using an iPhone 6S or newer running iOS 14.
Next, go to the Watch app on your iPhone and then to the My Watch section. Scroll down to find the Blood Oxygen app and tap to open. From here you can toggle on the ability to take blood oxygen measurements.
You can also choose to enable the Watch to take blood oxygen measurements during sleep tracking and in Cinema modes. Or you can turn it off if you’re concerned the red light used to track it might become a nuisance.
Back on your Apple Watch, select the Blood Oxygen app. If it’s your first time taking a measurement, you’ll be given some tips to make sure you get a good measurement.
So things like making sure your Watch is snug on your wrist but not on too tight. Also keeping your watch screen facing up and resting your wrist on a table can improve readings too.
When you’re ready to take a reading, hit the digital crown and readings will take 15 seconds. Once completed you’ll get a measurement in a percentage and note that you can view your data in the Apple Health app.
If you want to see a record of all readings taken, along with a refresher on what the data means, head inside of the Apple Health app on your iPhone, go to Browse and then look for the tab called Vitals. If you’ve taken a blood oxygen measurement or been monitoring it during sleep, you’ll be able to view your data here.
You'll also be able to view daily, weekly, monthly and yearly data. Select Show More Blood Oxygen Data and you can also view blood oxygen level ranges over those same periods as well as daily averages.
Right now, the only way to make use of that blood oxygen sensor is by using Apple’s own Blood Oxygen app. That’s not to say that won’t change in the future.
Just like there are plenty of apps that now make use of Apple’s heart rate monitor technology, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if something similar happened with its blood oxygen sensor too.
Key Features: - O2 Log & Tracking: Monitor your blood oxygen levels (SpO2) with seamless auto-sync with your Apple Watch. - Automatic Notifications: Receive instant alerts for low oxygen levels and other critical health metrics.
Mar 9, 2022 · The Apple Watch blood oxygen app, available to those with the Apple Watch 6 and Apple Watch 7, can be used to administer at-home SpO2 readings. Similar to finger-based pulse oximeters,...
