Apple Watch users in the USA will see a big health upgrade soon

Apple hasn't had much luck when it comes to the blood oxygen monitoring feature on its Apple Watch, having pulled it in the US due to legal issues.

That's now changed as it has announced the blood O2 feature is back on the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Ultra 2. There is a catch though.

The work around means that Apple can legally implement this again in the US, but only if you use it via the connected iPhone.

How does blood oxygen monitoring now work on the Apple Watch?

Apple has said that the blood oxygen monitoring feature has been redesigned in the US. This monitors blood from the app on the Watch, sends it to the iPhone for calculations, and is then viewable in the Health app under the Respiratory section.

Effectively, Apple is offsetting the actual processing of the data from watch to phone and that's how they've gotten around things. It's a simple solution, and one which shouldn't cause too many issues for the average user.

If you want to try this yourself you'll need to run the latest software updates, out later today, in the forms of iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1.

This arrives after a recent US customs ruling that allowed for the work around. This comes off the back of a long running patent dispute with health tech firm Masimo.

The rest of the world can still access the blood oxygen feature directly from their Apple Watch without the need for the iPhone work around or an update.

For the US, the legal proceedings are ongoing so the feature may work directly in the future.