Medical professionals call hypertension the silent killer. “Nearly half of American adults have high blood pressure, and many don’t know it,” says the American Heart Association. “High blood pressure has no obvious symptoms, but it can raise the risk of heart attacks, stroke and other health problems.”
There may be no obvious symptoms to you and me, but your Apple Watch may have just gained the ability to sniff it out, thanks to a free update that rolled out to several recent models of Apple Watch.
a new Apple Watch feature, for free
Updates that introduce new features to existing products always feel a bit disorienting. In this age, when we’re pushed constantly to buy, buy, buy for the sake of consumption, replacing perfectly good items with new ones we don’t need, it’s a welcome reversal that breathes new life into the things we already own.
So it is with the latest update for the Apple Watch. Apple launched watchOS 26 on September 15, which brings hypertension alerts for high blood pressure to several Apple Watch models.
“Hypertension notifications feature is intended for users 22 years or older, without a previous diagnosis of hypertension, and who are not pregnant,” says Apple’s fine print.
Your watch will alert you if you show consistent signs of chronic high blood pressure over a 30-day period, so you don’t have to worry about a spike over a stressful work project or family vacation throwing you into a spiral of worry due to a premature alert.
The Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple Watch Series 9—which released in September 2023—or later can make use of the new blood pressure monitoring feature after they update their watch to watchOS 26. Your Apple Watch may update to watchOS 26 automatically, but you can check by going into your settings and clicking “check for updates.”
The post The Apple Watch’s New Update Will Alert You to High Blood Pressure appeared first on VICE.
