I upgraded from the Apple Watch SE to the Apple Watch Series 10 and couldn’t be happier. Well, I could be happier if the Apple Watch Series 10 tracked my heart rate accurately during each workout, but that’s a can of worms we don’t need to open again.
Overall, the Apple Watch Series 10 is an amazing upgrade, especially when it comes to battery life. The wearable continues to surprise me, and I’ve been using it daily since late September.
The Apple Watch Series 10 is so good that a few weeks ago, I said I probably wouldn’t even consider upgrading to a new model anytime soon. At the time, I said a new Apple Watch would need at least one of three big features for me to consider an upgrade: Better battery life, blood pressure monitoring, or blood sugar monitoring.
Fast-forward to today and Mark Gurman said that Apple is readying blood pressure support for the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3. I think that’s a must-have feature for a wearable device at this point in my life. It’s also a pretty big deal that I’m already considering replacing the Apple Watch Series 10 with the Series 11.
I’m in my early 40s, so I’m already thinking about what lies ahead from a health perspective. That’s why I’m more active and why I run marathons, which the Apple Watch Series 10 handles spectacularly.
I’m anticipating heart issues, which are inescapable. I might delay the onset of high blood pressure, but I won’t avoid it. There’s also the risk of diabetes that I have in the back of my head. I want my wearables to track more advanced features than heart rate and temperature.
I want the Apple Watch to detect high blood pressure as early as possible. The same goes for high blood sugar. That’s why rumors that Apple is on the verge of deploying these features are exciting. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard them, either. Gurman mentioned them before. But 2025 might be the year when one of them arrives.
The Bloomberg reporter detailed Apple’s purported plans for the Apple Watch this year in his latest Power On newsletter.
Gurman said Apple will bring blood pressure sensing support to both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 models this year. Initially, the feature will not support actual readings. You won’t get values like you do when measuring it with a blood pressure cuff.
Instead, the Apple Watch’s algorithms will reportedly be able to tell you whether your blood pressure is within normal limits or whether you’re experiencing hypertension. Gurman compared it to Apple’s apnea detection feature:
The blood-pressure feature… is designed to work in a similar way to Apple’s sleep apnea detector. It won’t give users specific readings — such as diastolic or systolic levels — but it will inform them that they may be in a state of hypertension.
The temperature sensor works similarly in current Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra models. You don’t get a value from Apple, though third-party apps will give you one. Instead, you can see whether or not you’re within your normal range.
That’s still better than nothing. The idea here is to catch the early onset of high blood pressure so I can address it immediately. There will be other signs, so I won’t rely on the Apple Watch alone. And, as I continue to age, I’ll start measuring my blood pressure with proper tools. I could do the same for blood sugar, by the way. But the Apple Watch will do these things on its own, passively, which will become an important tool in my toolbox.
With all that in mind, if the Apple Watch Series 11 does get blood pressure support this year, I will definitely upgrade from the Series 10. Hopefully, Apple will fix the heart rate tracking issues I’m experiencing during workouts by then.
Separately, I wonder whether the blood pressure sensing feature will need special sensors or if it’s just algorithms.
If it’s the latter, it would be incredibly cool for Apple to enable the functionality on the current high-end Apple Watch models, including the Apple Watch Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. That’s one scenario where I wouldn’t have to upgrade the hardware to get the newest health features. But that’s just wishful thinking at this point. I don’t expect Apple to actually bring these new marquee features to older models.
