Apple plans to launch a new health feature that will help diabetes patients track blood sugar levels next year. Since its launch in 2015, Apple has provided its smartwatch with several health monitoring features, the most notable being the heart rate monitor, which has helped save many lives, along with the electrocardiogram that first appeared with the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018. The blood sugar monitor is expected to join these health features soon.
Over the years, there has been talk about adding a feature to the Apple Watch that would allow it to measure users' blood sugar levels. This is very important for insulin-dependent diabetes patients, who need to read their blood sugar levels before each insulin injection, as the amount of sugar in the blood determines the appropriate dose.
Currently, diabetes patients must draw blood for each test and place it on an expensive test strip, which is then inserted into a glucose meter for a reading. This process is both painful and costly, and if Apple Watch can record blood sugar levels without the need for blood draws and continuous purchase of test strips, it could see record sales.
Today, The Telegraph reported that Apple will add the blood sugar reading feature to its smartwatch in 2022. The newspaper states that Apple has been classified as the largest customer of a company called Rockley Photonics, which has developed next-generation sensors expected to be inside the Apple Watch by next year. These sensors can read certain signals from the user's blood by shining infrared light through the skin from the back of the smartwatch.
In addition to measuring blood sugar levels, Apple is looking to add other sensors to its smartwatch that would monitor users’ alcohol levels and blood pressure, according to the British newspaper Express.
