Apple pushes into sleep apnea detection but health care integration remains unclear

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Apple Watch’s new sleep apnea feature will detect the dangerous disorder where people have interrupted breathing.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

By Mario Aguilar

Sept. 9, 2024

Health Tech Correspondent

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple on Monday announced a new Apple Watch feature that will warn users they may have sleep apnea. It’s the latest advance in the company’s decade-long effort to sell its wearable as a tool that can help people live healthier lives.

Additionally, the company announced more hearing health features for its wireless earbuds. The company’s AirPods will be able to conduct a hearing test and later this fall will be able to be used as a “clinical grade over-the-counter hearing aid,” Apple’s vice president of health Sumbul Desai said in a prerecorded announcement video.

The new sleep apnea feature will use the watch’s accelerometer to detect the dangerous sleep disorder in which people have interrupted breathing. At least 25 million Americans suffer from the condition that can result in daytime tiredness and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and other negative health outcomes. However, it remains unclear how this new feature will fit into or modify the clinical practice of sleep medicine — an ongoing challenge for the data generated by wearables.

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Mario Aguilar
Health Tech Correspondent
Mario Aguilar covers technology in health care, including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, wearable devices, telehealth, and digital therapeutics. His stories explore how tech is changing the practice of health care and the business and policy challenges to realizing tech’s promise. He’s also the co-author of the free, twice weekly STAT Health Tech newsletter.