Apple Watch's New Blood Oxygen Monitor

Apple Watch's New Blood Oxygen Monitor - a long waited for feature

Image: Apple

The upcoming Apple Watch Series 6 has a new feature a sensor that allows the watch to measure the blood oxygen level. Since; the watch on the wrist can be less accurate than the pulse oximeter you usually see in the clinic's used by the doctor on fingertips.

A pulse oximeter is a device now in trend to check the oxygen level all thanks to corona this device is a must now. More or less the same technology of oximeter is used in Apple, Garmin's, Fitbit watches.

How does this work?

Pulse oximeter combines the principle of SPECTROPHOTOMETRY  and PLETHYSMOGRAPHY  to non invasively measure the oxygen saturation in arterial blood. The detection and quantification of components are by unique light absorption characteristics of the protein in the blood. There  Red and infrared lights in the device. According to how much each light travels provides oxygen reading.

The Apple Watch Series 6 instead of sending that light through the body part it measures the light reflected may be the reason for less accuracy. Another reason being Wrist has the less superficial blood capillaries compared to fingers.

The Apple Watch is not the medical device and the company doesn't claim that the device is only for the people to understand the importance of fitness and health. During the pandemic, the low oxygen saturation level was one of the most important symptoms which lead to blew the trend of smartwatches with O2 reading.

Apple has collaborated with researchers to come up with the tech that detects health issues from asthma to COVID-19. Till then enjoy the new feature of the smartwatch - oxygen readings.