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Medicine Apple

Sleep Apnea Detection Is Coming To the Apple Watch 40

Posted by BeauHD from the what-to-expect dept.
Apple announced today that it's adding sleep apnea detection to the Apple Watch, including the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2. The Verge reports: Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes you to stop breathing as you sleep. Sleep apnea is a feature that wearables makers have been working on for some time, with Samsung getting cleared by the FDA for sleep apnea tracking with the Galaxy Watch earlier this year. Apple says it's using the accelerometer on its watches to monitor a new metric that it calls "breathing disturbances." You'll be able to see your nightly breathing disturbance values in the Health app.

The company expects to get FDA clearance for its sleep apnea detection feature soon, and it plans to launch the feature in more than 150 countries and regions. The company says its sleep detection was validated in a study that was "unprecedented" in size for sleep apnea technology.
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Sleep Apnea Detection Is Coming To the Apple Watch More

Sleep Apnea Detection Is Coming To the Apple Watch

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  • I'm surprised a software feature requires regulatory approval.

    Not surprised they're gating it to 9+.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xenx ( 2211586 )

      I'm surprised a software feature requires regulatory approval.

      As far as I understand it, they need the approval to be able to make any claims related to it. So, they could track and show the number but not provide any feedback unless they get approval.

    • If they claim "detect sleep apnea" then they are diagnosing a medical condition, which requires approval. if they didn't want the hassle they could have said it "detects snoring patterns" without need for approval.

    • I'm surprised a software feature requires regulatory approval.

      Depends on the feature. If Apple wants to claim their watch gives you some arbitrary "sleep goodness" rating then they don't require approval. If on the other hand they are claiming their feature provides a diagnosis of a medical condition then you absolutely need regulatory approval. The feature itself could literally mean the difference between life and death.

      E.g. "Honey you don't breath properly in your sleep." "Nonsense, my watch says I'm fine!" *Doesn't wake up the day after*.

      • Yeah I guess it makes sense. It's just interesting that the difference between those things is the words used rather than what the software does.

        I wonder if they could roll it out with the more mild messaging and then simply change the messaging once they get approval.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Honestly, I'm surprised someone wouldn't want regulatory approval for consumer devices making medical diagnoses.

      Seems like something that would be rather reassuring that it's not just Apple claiming you have a chronic medical condition that requires analysis and treatment by professionals, usually through a prescribed medical device (CPAP).

  • ...it says "Stop snoring and lose weight, you fat bastard!".

    Oh wait, that's probably my wife talking, hard to tell when half asleep.

    • Apple Wife is still in the RD phase. Gotta spend those billions on something.

    • Snoring != sleep apnea. In fact some people don't snore at all but have significant difficulties breathing at night. Those are the kind of people who end up on CPAP machines. The snorers are typically are fine with a Mandibular Advancement Device

  • If you're wearing your watch at night while you sleep, when does it get charged? My Apple Watch barely makes it through a single day as it is. Granted, mine is one of the older poverty-grade models, but unless something absolutely amazing has changed with battery technology, I'm pretty sure you still have to put the watch on its charger.

    Personally, I've also yet to find a killer app for the thing. I usually don't even bother wearing it except when I visit Disney World, where it functions as a NFC "Magic

    • Re: Call me crazy (Score:5, Informative)

      by topham ( 32406 ) on Monday September 09, 2024 @07:51PM (#64775841) Homepage

      It takes less than an hour to charge; you wake up and toss it in the charger while you shower. You do shower, right?

      Seriously though, if you wear it once in a while to track your sleeping you'll get plenty of information, doesn't mean you need to wear it all the time.

      • Even if it charges quickly, that's still antithetical to everything else I own that gets charged. When I get home, I plug my car in, plop my phone and watch (assuming I bothered to wear it that day) on their respective MagSafe chargers, and everything's good to go the next day.

        It's kind of the same reason I bought a 2nd EVSE even though one was more than fast enough to charge both EVs, if I went out and swapped cords between the cars before bed. It's just so much more convenient to plug in when I get home

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by unrtst ( 777550 )

          Even if it charges quickly, that's still antithetical to everything else I own that gets charged. When I get home, I plug my car in, plop my phone and watch (assuming I bothered to wear it that day) on their respective MagSafe chargers ...

          I don't get it. If that's your norm, then you don't need to change a thing except for wearing it at night if you want to wear it at night.
          * Daytime stuff with it on
          * Come home and plop on charger
          * When it's bedtime, put it on if you want to monitor sleep apnea
          * When you wake, if you didn't put it on at night, put it back on now
          Done.

          I still think the battery life is purposefully too short. Plenty of 3rd party watches have extremely good battery life, some measured in weeks or months. But your use case seems

      • Bath at night. Just a quick rinse in morning. I charge AW during meals or at times rarely use like work. AW is useful on the go when desire greater use of my hands. Donâ(TM)t like to sleep with it , not so comfortable. But for occasional sleep monitoring it would be manageable and tolerable. Still got original AW. Will consider 10 after new users feedback. Wanted always on for jogging available in newer versions but a couple of seconds to see HR was not that inconvenient. Kind of know range based on

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by e3m4n ( 947977 )

        The home sleep studies are pretty damn accurate already. The tiniest nasal camula and a pulse O2 for your finger. Thing is accurate enough to detect 67 events per hour and a plummeting o2 sat at one point. If you suspect apnea, dont wait for a watch. Go get a sleep study done at home.

        • Iâ(TM)ve had sleep studies before with varying results from mild to moderate apnea, likely depending on my weight. It would be nice to keep track of it more often because I donâ(TM)t do well with CPAPs (too many sinus infections). Im going to hold out until it actually gets FDA approval and there are some positive anecdotes out there.

          • If you've already been diagnosed with sleep apnea, why are you waiting for a less sensitive instrument than the purpose-specific equipment you've already been diagnosed with to tell you that you still have sleep apnea? Or maybe inaccurately tell you that you don't?

            You've already been diagnosed with it. This new feature will do absolutely nothing for you, so waiting for the FDA to put their stamp on it doesn't do anything for you.

            You need a therapeutic device in order to prevent the apnea from happening.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        An hour is still a substantial charge to do every day, and needing to do a near full charge every day is going to severely limit the non-replaceable battery's lifespan.

        My Mi Band 6 cost £20 and I charge it once a fortnight. It does heart rate monitoring and step counting, and can notify of events on my phone (but I don't use that).

        Maybe if I suspected I had sleep apnoea I might try something like an Apple Watch, but my first thought would be a dedicated device to do that. Aside from the cost, th

        • I have a Casio smartwatch that has the HR monitor on full time and only needs to be charged once every few weeks. It trickle charges via solar. I trust Casio to make a good watch, they have been doing it for many more years than tech companies.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Thanks, I'll have a look at those. My Mi Band is a few years old now and I'm generally very happy with it.

    • I have a charger in my offices (home / work). The watch charges pretty fast, and when I'm sitting at my desk there's not a whole lot of need for it - any reminders or alarms will show up on my screen anyway.

      Ever since I learned about creating different focuses (I was late to the party - IIRC I found out about that feature here on Slashdot), I've found the watch much more useful for work stuff. I have a number of things that will fire during work hours but will not bother me outside of that window. It's cer

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Shmoe ( 17051 )

      The newer ones charge alot faster.. i just take it off before I get in the shower and it's full by the time I'm ready to leave.

    • OK. You are crazy for buying an Apple product.

      Happy now?

      • OK. You are crazy for buying an Apple product.

        Perhaps, but the insanity is beginning to wane. After hearing today's announcements, I'm starting to think the reality distortion field needs a new ZPM. [fandom.com]

    • Heh, I *only* wear my apple watch to sleep, for sleep tracking.

      But the answer is 'wake up, put on charger, do morning routine, put back on before leaving for/starting work.'

      Or 'get home, put watch on charger.'

    • Is this anything like the Samsung 'snore monitor' feature?
      My Galaxy 5 Pro needed to charge every 3 or 4 days, then I turned on the snore monitor.
      The watch then required charging EVERY day.

      I wonder what they did with the data.
      You could review the recordings in their Health app but you needed to be online and you are not allowed to download the recordings.
      Very suspicious.
      Perhaps needless to say but I turned that feature off.
      Unfortunately it left the watch permanently unable to last 4 days which had been the n

    • Because it's super hard to put it on the charger while you're in the shower?

      Or while you are sitting at your desk not moving and thus not getting any health data other than resting heart rate?

      Of all the things to gripe about, this one might be one of the dumbest. If you don't want a smart watch, or don't find it useful, then don't buy one and keep it to yourself because nobody cares about if it's useful to you or not, other than you and whoever is trying to sell you a product you don't want.

  • Will sell... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by devloop ( 983641 )
    Will sell your apnea data to the insurance cartels.

    • Re:Will sell... (Score:4, Informative)

      by bug_hunter ( 32923 ) on Monday September 09, 2024 @08:23PM (#64775897)

      Apple claim that health data is encrypted and doesn't get onsold, and to date I don't believe they've been found in violation of this.

      https://www.apple.com/legal/pr... [apple.com]

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