With the release of iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1, blood oxygen readings have now been enabled despite the patent lawsuit surrounding the technology.
The “one weird trick” that Apple is using to get around the restrictions due to a patent lawsuit is to offload the data processing of blood oxygen readings from your Apple Watch to your iPhone running iOS 18.6.1.
Cool! This seems to work! But not all the time.
I have an iPhone 16 running iOS 18.6.1 and an Apple Watch 10 running watchOS 11.6.1 (both of which were purchased directly from Apple in the U.S.) and readings seem to only happen when I’m sleeping only; not even with on demand via the Apple Watch. During waking hours there don’t seem to be any automatic readings at all.
It seems like my Apple Watch can only do readings when I’m asleep with the caveat that the data is now viewable only in the “Health” app on my iPhone. But shouldn’t the blood oxygen readings happen throughout the day via my Apple Watch much like the way my heart rate readings happen? Or at least as an on demand reading via the “Blood Oxygen” app via my Apple Watch?
Screenshot of the “Blood Oxygen” app settings for my Apple Watch as seen on my iPhone; these seem to be the default settings:
