Good news! Apple's new feature will also come to older models

Wearable technology is no longer limited to fitness tracking; it also offers lifesaving health features. Many smartwatches have become users' health companions with numerous innovations, from heart rate monitoring to fall detection. Apple, at its iPhone 17 event on the evening of September 9th, introduced the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Series 11 and announced a new feature called hypertension notifications. Now, there's good news for users of older Apple Watch models.

'HYPERTENSION NOTIFICATIONS' FEATURE IS COMING TO OLD MODELS TOO

According to a report in MacRumors, Apple announced that its new hypertension detection feature, initially exclusive to the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch Series 11, will be expanded to older Apple Watch models as well.

This feature will be available for Apple Watch Series 9 and later, as well as Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later, with watchOS 26. FDA approval is expected soon, and the feature will be available in over 150 countries this month.

Hypertension detection uses an optical heart sensor to analyze blood vessel responses over a 30-day period and alert users to signs of chronic high blood pressure. Hypertension affects approximately 1.3 billion adults worldwide and can often go undiagnosed because it is often asymptomatic.

Apple announced that its hypertension notifications are developed using machine learning and trained with data from studies involving more than 100,000 participants. The technology has also been validated in clinical trials with more than 2,000 participants. Apple anticipates that the feature will notify more than 1 million people with undiagnosed hypertension in its first year.

Users who receive the notification are advised to track their blood pressure with a third-party blood pressure monitor for seven days and share the results with their healthcare professional.