Apple Watch Introduces FDA-Approved Hypertension Detection Feature
Apple has received FDA clearance for its revolutionary hypertension detection feature on Apple Watch. This groundbreaking technology, launching on September 19, 2025, will be available across more than 150 countries. It has the potential to alert over 1 million people with undiagnosed hypertension within its first year of release.
The feature operates by analyzing data from the optical heart sensor. It examines how blood vessels respond to heartbeats over 30-day periods. This is particularly significant as hypertension affects approximately 1.3 billion adults globally. Often, it goes undiagnosed due to the absence of symptoms.
“Using data from the optical heart sensor, the algorithm looks for chronic high blood pressure by analyzing how your blood vessels respond,” explained Dr. Sumbul Desai, Apple’s health vice president.
The technology was validated through extensive clinical studies. These involved over 100,000 participants across multiple research projects.
The hypertension detection feature will be available on Apple Watch Series 9 and later, as well as Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later models with watchOS 26. Users who receive notifications are advised to monitor their blood pressure for seven days using validated devices and consult healthcare providers.
Source: Apple Newsroom