iOS 18.6.1 watchOS 11.6.1 bring Blood Oxygen monitoring to previously excluded Apple Watch Series 9, 10 Ultra 2 models

Apple announced on Thursday that it would release iOS 18.6.1 for iPhones and watchOS 11.6.1 for Apple Watches so that Blood Oxygen monitoring could make a comeback on certain models – specifically, the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Ultra 2.

The updates are now available at the time of this writing, and Apple said this update was made possible by a recent ruling made by U.S. Customs.

The update brings a redesigned Blood Oxygen monitoring system to Apple Watches that didn’t have access to the original Blood Oxygen monitoring feature. It works by grabbing data from the Blood Oxygen sensor on the Apple watch and then performing measurements and calculations on the paired iPhone.

Users can then view their results in the Respiratory section of the Apple Health app, giving a deep dive into just how oxygenated the user’s blood supply is.

Apple was careful to mention that Apple Watch users that had access to Blood Oxygen monitoring all along – those sold before Apple was barred from selling products found to be infringing on Masimo’s Blood Oxygen monitoring technology by the International Trade Commission (ITC) – will not see any change in today’s update. Instead, the update merely brings this feature to devices that didn’t have access to it before.

This means that some Apple Watch users will get access to the ‘redesigned’ Blood Oxygen feature, which works as a ‘workaround’ to the whole Masimo patent infringement debacle, while other Apple watch users will get to keep and continue using the Blood Oxygen feature that they’ve had access to all along.

While it still feels like a two-tier system at the moment, it remains to be seen whether Apple will incorporate a unified user experience in iOS & watchOS 26 or continue developing two different systems for two entirely different classes of users.

Blood Oxygen monitoring is just one of the core health monitoring features offered by the Apple Watch, followed by things like irregular heart rhythm detection, sleep apnea notifications, fall detection, sleep tracking, wrist temperature tracking, and many more.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/14/watchos-11-6-1-brings-blood-oxygen-monitoring-back-to-some-apple-watch-models/