Something is happening with your Apple Watch blood oxygen – and it’s headed to court

The US Customs and Border Protection agency is being sued by Masimo, a company that develops medical monitoring technology. The reason? Why, Apple, of course: and to be more precise: the Apple Watch.

Masimo has filed the lawsuit over the Custom’s recent decision to permit Apple to import Apple Watches equipped with blood-oxygen reading capabilities despite an ongoing patent dispute.

In its filing, Masimo argued that Customs reversed a previous ruling without notice, allowing Apple to bring back pulse oximetry technology in its watches. The company said it only discovered the agency’s August 1 decision after Apple publicly announced the return of the feature last week.

As we told you, this would surely make many end users happy, since access to the blood oxygen tracking feature was disabled on the latest Apple Watch models for nearly a year.

The health tool, first introduced in 2020, was removed from Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 units sold in the US after medical technology company Masimo accused Apple of infringing on its patents that have to do with pulse oximetry tech.In late 2023, the US International Trade Commission sided with Masimo, which led Customs officials to block Apple from selling watches with the feature enabled.

Rather than pull its newest models from store shelves, Apple left the sensor hardware in place but disabled the function on US devices, meaning customers could still buy the watches but could not take a blood oxygen reading. An outstanding move.

This move allowed Apple to maintain sales while it searched for a legal and technical solution that would comply with Customs’ order.

That solution (that is now dragging Apple back to court again) is in the form of two software updates, iOS 18.6.1 and watchOS 11.6.1. With these updates, blood oxygen readings will once again be available, but wait until you hear how it all works.

Instead of being processed directly on the watch, the measurements are now calculated on the paired iPhone. Users will find their results in the Health app under the Respiratory section rather than in the Blood Oxygen app on the watch itself. Apple said this change aligns with the revised terms of Customs’ approval.

Masimo contended that Customs’ approval was issued without the company’s participation and lacked adequate justification, undermining Masimo’s legal protections.

The company told the court that Customs is responsible for enforcing ITC exclusion orders, not creating exceptions that weaken them. Masimo is now asking a Washington court to overturn the agency’s decision and maintain the block on Apple Watches containing the disputed technology.