Apple Watch may soon measure your blood oxygen levels

Apple may soon more and important health-focused features to its Apple Watch. Currently, the smartwatch can detect irregular heartbeat. In the future, Apple Watch can even detect blood oxygen levels.

According to a 9to5 report, the mention of the new feature was spotted in an iOS 14 code snippets. The report points out that Apple Watch had the capabilities of measuring blood oxygen levels using the heart rate monitor onboard. The company introduced a superior heart rate monitor on Watch Series 4 along with electrocardiogram features. The ability to measure blood oxygen, however, hasn't been available yet on Apple Watches.

Right now, there's no word on how Apple will implement this feature. The report, however, speculates it could be part of Apple's next Watch Series 6 or could come to the recent versions through WatchOS 7 update, expected to roll out later this year.

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Apple, however, will not be the first company to offer blood oxygen measuring feature on its wristwear. Fitbit earlier this year added the feature via the SpO2 sensor on its Charge 3, Ionic, Versa, Versa Lite, or Versa 2 smartwatches.

According to the report, blood oxygen levels between 95-100% are considered safe. If it drops below 80% it may affect heart and brain functionality. It also points out that cardiac arrest or respiratory problems are quite common due to the low blood oxygen levels. Considering how Apple Watch has functioned for heart beat monitoring, it could alert users when there's a sudden drop in blood oxygen levels.