Apple Watch Can Now Deliver High Blood Pressure Notifications in Over 150 Markets

Apple has introduced hypertension (chronic high blood pressure) notifications to compatible Apple Watch models in more than 150 countries and regions. This update comes after last week's clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), making the option available via watchOS 26 and iOS 26 RC. The release occurred just hours before these software updates reached the general public, MacRumors reports.

According to Apple, those who own an Apple Watch Series 9 or later or an Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later can update their devices to the latest version of watchOS to begin using the feature. Wrist Detection must be turned on, and users should be at least 22 years old, not pregnant, and not diagnosed with hypertension.

The feature reportedly uses the wearable's optical heart sensor to analyze how a person's blood vessels respond to heartbeats over a 30-day period. The Apple Watch uses new machine learning techniques to check your health data. If it finds signs that you may have high blood pressure, it will present a notification. Development and validation included data from more than 100,000 participants across various studies, and the system was further tested in a clinical study with over 2,000 people to ensure accuracy.

Hypertension notifications are now available across various markets, including the US, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and others throughout Europe and Asia, depending on regulatory approval. The feature remains unavailable in Canada for now.