Apple has updated its U.S. website to notify customers that the Blood Oxygen feature on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 has been disabled.
Apple has added a banner to its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 store webpages, while also removing all mention of the feature in its product comparison tool. The change was first reported by MacRumors.
While being disabled on new Apple Watch Models sold in the U.S. today forwards, the Blood Oxygen app will continue to be functional on previously sold Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models, as well as models sold outside of the United States, as the sales ban only applies to the U.S.
The Apple Watch models that go on sale will still include the Blood Oxygen app, but when a user attempts to open the app, they’ll see a message reading: “The Blood Oxygen app is no longer available. Learn more in the Health app on your iPhone.” When they go to the Health app on their iPhone, they will see a link to a support article on Apple’s website.
Apple's website has now been updated to reflect the lack of Blood Oxygen on Apple Watch Series 9 / Ultra 2. Banner at top of webpage, missing from health features section, and missing from the compare models list. pic.twitter.com/sAutmMDJJg
— 🅳🆈🅻🅰🅽 (@DylanMcD8) January 18, 2024
Apple engineers are reported to be “racing” to make changes to algorithms on the Apple Watch that measure a user’s blood oxygen level — a feature that Masimo Corp. has argued infringes its patents.
Apple was first banned from selling the Series 9 and Ultra 2 in December. Apple then appealed the decision in court, resulting in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit putting an interim stay in place while the court reviewed Apple’s request for a full stay for the length of the appeal. Apple was then allowed to temporarily resume sales of the affected Apple Watch mode
Masimo back in 2020 claimed Apple stole Masimo employees and stole trade secrets while the Cupertino firm was developing the Apple Watch. Masimo was seeking over $1.8 billion in damages and co-ownership of five Apple pulse oximetry patents that Masimo said used its technology.
Apple did indeed hire employees away from Masimo, hiring Chief Medical Officer Michael O’Reilly in July 2013, and then in 2014, it hired Cercacor Chief Technical Officer Marcelo Lamego (Cercacor is a Masimo spinoff company). Masimo claims that the two former employees shared Masimo’s intellectual property when they developed the Apple Watch, which Apple denies.
Apple’s appeal is ongoing.
