Apple watchOS 11.6.1 restores blood oxygen monitoring in the United States

Apple has released watchOS 11.6.1 in tandem with iOS 18.6.1 bringing a Blood Oxygen monitoring update in the United States

Apple have introduced a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users through an iPhone and Apple Watch software update..

Users with these models in the U.S. who currently do not have the Blood Oxygen feature will have access to the redesigned Blood Oxygen feature by updating their paired iPhone to iOS 18.6.1 and their Apple Watch to watchOS 11.6.1.

Following this update, sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app on Apple Watch will be measured and calculated on the paired iPhone, and results can be viewed in the Respiratory section of the Health app.

With watchOS 11.6.1 and iOS 18.6.1, Apple is rolling out a redesigned version of the feature that shifts calculation from the watch to the paired iPhone.

The watch still gathers the necessary sensor data, but processing happens on the iPhone, and results are displayed in the Health app.

After updating to iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1, the iPhone and Apple Watch will also retrieve an over-the-air file to activate the redesigned blood oxygen feature.

This process can take up to 24 hours, users can open the Health app on the iPhone and the ECG app on the Apple Watch to initiate the download sooner.

Apple blood oxygen monitoring

Back in December 2023, Apple withdrew the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 from sale because of the blood oxygen monitoring feature.

The watches were back on sale in January 2024 but the blood oxygen monitoring feature had been removed. And since then, all Apple Watches sold in the U.S. have lacked the feature. 

To update to watchOS 11.6.1, use the Watch app on iPhone by navigating to General > Software Update after installing iOS 18.6.1.