Sleep apnea, hearing aid and more: Apple goes big on health features in AirPods, Apple Watch

Apple health features

“I believe, if you zoom out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, ‘What was Apple’s greatest contribution to mankind?’ it will be about health.” This was Apple CEO Tim Cook in an interview in January 2019. A lot has changed in the last five years except Apple’s focus on health features in its devices — mainly Apple Watch. Even at the It’s Glowtime event, Cook mentioned that how every day he gets messages from people all over the world about the impact of Apple Watch. Apple has now placed even more emphasis on prioritising health by introducing quite a few new features.

Sleep apnea comes to Apple Watch

The Apple Watch is already quite a capable health monitoring device with heart rate tracking, ECG, SPo2 and more. Now, by using a new Breathing Disturbances metric, sleep apnea notifications come to Apple Watch. Apple said that the sleep apnea notifications are expected to receive marketing authorisation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other global health authorities soon, with availability this month in more than 150 countries and regions.

Apple Watch's new Breathing Disturbances feature leverages its accelerometer to monitor subtle wrist movements linked to disrupted breathing patterns during sleep. Every month, the smartwatch analyses this data and alerts users if it consistently indicates moderate to severe sleep apnea. Furthermore, users can view their nightly Breathing Disturbances in the Health app, where they are classified as elevated or not elevated, and can be viewed over a one-month, six-month, or one-year period.

AirPods Pro get hearing aid capabilities

This is a feature that has been works for a long time. Now, Apple AirPods Pro get an over-the-counter Hearing Aid capability for users with mild to moderate hearing loss. Using the personalised hearing profile from the Hearing Test, this new feature transforms AirPods Pro into a clinical-grade hearing aid. After setup, the feature enables personalised dynamic adjustments so users have the sounds around them boosted in real time. This helps them better engage in conversation, and keeps them connected to the people and environment around them.

All-new Vitals app

The new Vitals app on Apple Watch gives users a way to check in on their daily health status and view key overnight health metrics, like heart rate and respiratory rate, and gain better context when it comes to their health.