- Ban on Apple Watch blood oxygen metrics lifted
- A judge has now dismissed the appeal against that decision
- Apple fans could soon see the blood oxygen feature return completely
Apple has been involved in a long-running dispute with medical technology company Masimo over its best smartwatches, with the latter claiming that all of Apple’s best watches infringe its patents.
In December 2023, that led to an import ban on several Apple Watch models in the US, including the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. However, in a momentous move, that legal decision was recently overturned, and now a judge has refused to hear Masimo’s appeal, scoring a big victory for Apple.
Specifically, Masimo had asked the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to reinstate the import ban that was recently lifted against Apple Watch models. That decision was made in March and ruled that Apple’s devices did not infringe Masimo’s patents. But an ITC judge refused to accept Masimo’s request (via PakGazette) and the case was closed as a result.
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What does that mean to you? Simply put, it means you’ll soon be able to buy an Apple Watch with the blood oxygen feature enabled. If you want an Apple Watch and that kind of medical monitoring is important to you, that will be great news.
While this latest development might seem to put an end to the back-and-forth between the two companies, Masimo still has other options. It could appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, although the company has not yet commented on whether it will do so. Time will tell how far he wants to go before ending the dispute.
It’s not over yet
The original court ruling against Apple meant that the Cupertino company was forced to disable the blood oxygen function on all of its top Apple Watches, completely depriving users of the ability to check their health in this key way.
Apple later came up with a solution whereby users could take a blood oxygen reading on their watch and then display that statistic on their iPhone, apparently dodging the lawsuit. But it was still inferior to being able to measure blood oxygen levels and see the result on the same device.
However, now that Masimo’s appeal has been rejected, none of that should be necessary. The way has been cleared for Apple to restore its blood oxygen measurement function to its wearable devices and bring back a long-missing tool on its devices.
Speaking after Masimo’s appeal was rejected, Apple said: “We thank the ITC for their decision, which ensures that we can continue to offer this important health feature to our users. For more than six years, Masimo has waged a relentless legal campaign against Apple, and almost all of its claims have been rejected.”
However, given that Masimo can still appeal (and that Apple appealed against a separate $634 million judgment it lost in November 2025), we may not have seen the end of this long saga.
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