Apple Watch's New Sleep Apnea Detection Feature Approved in Canada

[MacRumors]

Health Canada this week published approval of watchOS 11's sleep apnea detection feature on the Apple Watch Series 10, Apple Watch Series 9, and Apple Watch Ultra 2. The feature launched in the U.S. and over 150 other countries and regions earlier this month, and Apple is now permitted to make the feature available in Canada.

It is unclear when Apple will expand the feature to Canada.

Sleep apnea is a potentially serious disorder in which a person's breathing repeatedly stops and starts while they sleep. The detection feature uses the Apple Watch's accelerometer to "monitor small movements at the wrist that are associated with interruptions in normal respiratory patterns." If these disturbances occur frequently over multiple nights, they may be associated with sleep apnea, according to Apple.

Apple says the feature was developed using "advanced machine learning" and an "extensive data set of clinical-grade sleep apnea tests," and then validated in a clinical study. The feature is intended to detect signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea in adults who have not already been diagnosed with the disorder, according to the company.

Apple Watch users can view their nightly Breathing Disturbances in the Health app on the iPhone, with disturbances classified as "elevated" or "not elevated."

Article Link: Apple Watch's New Sleep Apnea Detection Feature Approved in Canada

 

[redbeard331]

Crazy how the the original Apple Watch Ultra, which is identical to the “2”, is being left out of everything.

I guess this is the new Apple, all your devices are obsolete after one year.

 

[Devyn89]

Crazy how the the original Apple Watch Ultra, which is identical to the “2”, is being left out of everything.

I guess this is the new Apple, all your devices are obsolete after one year.

It has a different SIP with a different processor, it’s not identica. They could still likely activate the feature, it would just use more battery. I have zero way to know that and it’s purely an assumption though.

 

[Devyn89]

Hopefully it’ll be part of 11.1 so that update is actually useful

 

[redbeard331]

It has a different SIP with a different processor, it’s not identica. They could still likely activate the feature, it would just use more battery. I have zero way to know that and it’s purely an assumption though.

Nah, Apple wants you to buy a new watch already, the original ultra is being left out of everything as if it’s ten years old or something. All Apple cares about is money these days.

 

[jz0309]

Crazy how the the original Apple Watch Ultra, which is identical to the “2”, is being left out of everything.

I guess this is the new Apple, all your devices are obsolete after one year.

It is NOT identical.
Do some research

 

[jz0309]

Nah, Apple wants you to buy a new watch already, the original ultra is being left out of everything as if it’s ten years old or something. All Apple cares about is money these days.

This is just rubbish…

 

[Jason2000]

Crazy how the the original Apple Watch Ultra, which is identical to the “2”, is being left out of everything.

I guess this is the new Apple, all your devices are obsolete after one year.

Wow. Your watch is obsolete. So nothing works now. Hmmm. That is bad.

 

[redbeard331]

It is NOT identical.
Do some research

So the ultra 1 doesn’t have an accelerometer??

 

[jz0309]

So the ultra 1 doesn’t have an accelerometer??

The S3/4/5/6/7 etc have an accelerometer - you stated Ultra and Ultra 2 are identical, they are not.
This feature requires neural cores, read up on what that is and how it is used. I’m done

 

[davidg4781]

Is this using the blood oxygen saturation thing? Is that still even in the AW10 or are they still dealing with the patents?

 

[redbeard331]

The S3/4/5/6/7 etc have an accelerometer - you stated Ultra and Ultra 2 are identical, they are not.
This feature requires neural cores, read up on what that is and how it is used. I’m done

I don’t know why you’re offended because people ask questions or expect more from Apple. The article says the watch uses the accelerometer, if the original ultra has an accelerometer it should have this feature too.

This isn’t the regular watch either, this is the Ultra top of line, I expect it to be able to have basic stuff like this for at least 3-4 years before being left out. Same thing for it not being able to play music as if it doesn’t have a speaker.

 

[Crzyrio]

So the ultra 1 doesn’t have an accelerometer??

ummm:

The S9 is a big upgrade from the S8
- 30% Faster
- Updates to GPU/CUP + Added NPU
- S8 was based of the A13 7nm architecture
- S9 is based of the A15 5nm architecture

The addition of the NPU is the likely gate for a lot of features tbh.

 

[legacyb4]

Nah, Apple wants you to buy a new watch already, the original ultra is being left out of everything as if it’s ten years old or something. All Apple cares about is money these days.

Okay, if you say so?

 

[BrianM_CAN]

Crazy how the the original Apple Watch Ultra, which is identical to the “2”, is being left out of everything.

I guess this is the new Apple, all your devices are obsolete after one year.

Look back at the first generation of any product they have made - there tend to be limits on support time, and by the 3rd version it is typically a much better product (if they get that many iterations)

Even going back to things like the
iMac - the original Bondi rev/a had pretty limited video processor and vram.
Mac mini (orignal 2005 version) only got 2 major OS updates after release (to 10.4 then 10.5) - later models were dramatically better.
All of the Core Solo or CoreDuo model Macs (Mac mini, MacBook, MacBook Pro) - after the switch from PowerPC to Intel - these initial models had very limited support compared to Core2Duo and later models.
iPods - There are some models in here that likely had very limited support, possibly like the square nano one.
iPhone - first gen didn't last long at all - even the 3G had limited support timeframe compared to later models (mixture of processing & memory limits)
iPad - original iPad was not supported very long, and did not support some OS features just a couple of years later (ram was one of it's weak points)
Apple Watch (Series 0) - only supported to WatchOS 4 - even the $10,000 18-Karat Gold "Watch Edition" so price clearly doesn't factor into these decisions. Even the Series 1 that I was given as a gift only had 3 OS updates (to WatchOS 6) before it was dropped - I had to replace it when Outlook calendars stopped supporting WatchOS 6.

Some things get few or never even get later hardware iterations - eMate, the G4 Cube, 12" MacBook (only got 2 hardware versions before it was dropped as a product - and only 3 or so OS updates), eMac (for the public at least - it was around a couple years before as EDU only). G5 Tower (limited OS support after, and the Intel version while the case looked externally similar, was vastly different inside). Vision Pro may be on this list, or the previous one if they do later Pro models - we'll have to wait and see.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Crazy how the the original Apple Watch Ultra, which is identical to the “2”, is being left out of everything.

I guess this is the new Apple, all your devices are obsolete after one year.

Incorrect you're just unaware of the difference. Sorry you wish hardware was magic but it isn't. Nor is it a mustache-twirling conspiracy. Your Ultra does everything it did the day you bought it. No whining.

 

[nfilipek]

I have problems with weather app on apple watch. It takes a long time to display actual weather info. It may be a bug.

 

[dumastudetto]

I have problems with weather app on apple watch. It takes a long time to display actual weather info. It may be a bug.

If it's an older Apple Watch, it can run slow.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I don’t know why you’re offended because people ask questions or expect more from Apple. The article says the watch uses the accelerometer, if the original ultra has an accelerometer it should have this feature too.

This isn’t the regular watch either, this is the Ultra top of line, I expect it to be able to have basic stuff like this for at least 3-4 years before being left out. Same thing for it not being able to play music as if it doesn’t have a speaker.

It uses the accelerometer for the data collection, but sends that data to the NPU to be made sense of. No NPU, no apnea detection.

They could presumably do that math on the GPU or CPU even, but that increases power consumption on a device with less-than-stellar battery life.

 

[tazdevl]

Iirc due to the IP lawsuit that Masimo won, they can’t use pulseox. Shame because that would be the gold standard and best way to determine apnea.

Frankly, working in the med device space, I’m surprised it’s taken Apple this long to come up with it.

Imo on of their bigger dysfunctions is medical specialty bias on their project teams that’s caused some not insignificant delays.

Apple acquired some IP from a Seattle startup, that utilizes both motion and auditory cues.

I question the effectiveness of the auditory piece because in my case my wife snores louder than I do. Unsure how it can differentiate between the two especially if I have my hand in between both of us and were facing each other.

 

[Shirasaki]

Australia when? 2029?

 

[supertomtom]

Australia when? 2029?

Hopefully TGA won’t take that long to approve. 😅 not holding my breath tho.

 

[robfoll]

Australia when? 2029?

Due to the TGA being unbelievably slow. Why on earth do we need the TGA to approve something like this which is already ratified and improved by far more thorough authorities than them? It is only Australian chauvinism.

 

[zzmd]

The most helpful sleep apnea app is the one that integrates Sp02 capabilities. Whoops Apple f’d this one up. By all means don’t license the technology from Masimo. Apple is being stubborn and short sighted. ill just keep my ultra 2 watch which still has this technology. I won‘t being upgrading my watch anytime soon.

 

[svish]

Good to know about this.