The Apple Watch Series 7 can measure blood sugar levels.

At some point in its development, the Apple Watch has transformed from an ordinary smartwatch into a device with medical functions. It’s only recently that the gadget has been equipped with sensors that can diagnose the condition of the body according to various indicators.

But when the 2nd generation was released, it became clear that the built-in heart rate monitor can detect a wide range of diseases and other disorders – from hypertension to coronavirus infection. But it should be noted that diagnosing anything using neural networks is still an activity of little credibility. So it’s worth doing something a little more exciting.

As a result, Apple has decided to equip its device with a glucose meter, and the Apple Watch can now be used to measure blood sugar levels.

How the watch detects sugar levels

To do this, sensors are used, the principle of which is roughly the same as that of a heart rate monitor. Infrared light is transmitted through the skin, and in this way the desired values are detected, after which a final calculation is made on the basis of these values.

Apple has been considering equipping its smartwatch with a non-invasive glucometer for quite some time. Back in 2017, Tim Cook repeatedly said that he was testing the device himself. In addition, he admitted to wearing the device, which detects sugar levels, on a regular basis for several weeks.

But gradually the glucose meter became less and less talked about, and by 2018 it was no longer talked about at all. After that, plans to equip the Apple Watch with such a device were not voiced for a long time, and there weren’t even any such rumours.

Smart glucometer

It’s important to note that the device that measured Tim Cook’s blood sugar levels wasn’t necessarily actually built into the Apple Watch. The following circumstances raise doubts about this.

• Cook has not claimed that sugar measurement is a regular feature of the watch. There have been no such reports from analysts or insiders. 
• At one event, Cook had to take the glucometer off his arm to avoid receiving notifications of sugar changes. If it had been a smartwatch, he could have simply switched the feature off.
• At that time, artificial intelligence and neural networks were not advanced enough, and one could not count on no errors in sugar level estimation without special equipment.

In any case, the idea of an Apple Watch with a glucometer reached its practical realization. It can’t be called a full-fledged medical device for changing sugar levels, as its functions are severely curtailed. There are several reasons for this at once, but we’ll focus on the two most obvious.

Firstly, it is a non-invasive device that determines sugar levels based on what the blood looks like, without analysing it. In addition, there are serious doubts that Apple will call its watch a real glucometer, as such claims have to be accounted for, and the company certainly doesn’t need such accountability.