If you bought an Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 without the pulse oximeter, you still might get it

If you bought an Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 without the pulse oximeter, you still might get it،

Remember late December and mid-January when we had a new story about the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 almost every day? To refresh your memory, health tech company Masimo had sued Apple for infringing on some patents related to the pulse oximeter found on the two aforementioned Apple Watches. An International Trade Commission (ITC) judge ruled that Apple had indeed infringed some of the patents.

The ITC issued an exclusion order stating that the watches in question could be barred from importation into the United States unless Apple pays to license the patent, modifies the functionality so as to no longer infringe the patent or removes the pulse oximeter from the incriminated models. After removing the Apple Watch Series 9 And Apple Watch Ultra2 U.S. Apple Stores, both online and physical, Apple received a two-week temporary reprieve from the import ban while it appeals the ITC's decision. Eventually, the temporary stay ended and Apple had to remove the affected products from its US stores again.

President Biden could have made all of this go away by using his veto stamp on the exclusion order, but he failed to do so. Apple tried to find a way to offer the pulse oximeter without Masimo's patents, but couldn't find a solution. As a result, it now sells both watches without the pulse oximeter, used to measure the amount of oxygen in a person's red blood cells. It measures how well your body pushes oxygen to your extremities like your arms and legs. A low reading could be a sign of hypoxia, which means not enough oxygen is reaching your body's tissues.

The Pulse Oximeter feature on the Apple Watch – If you bought an Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 without the pulse oximeter, you might still get it

The pulse oximeter function on the Apple Watch

According to MacRumorsTHE original order from Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) which allows Apple to import Apple Watch models into the United States with the pulse oximeter disabled, reveals how Apple got rid of this feature on the Apple Watch Series 9 And Apple Watch Ultra2. Once paired with an iPhone, a necessary step in setting up an Apple Watch, both models lost the pulse oximeter function. Trying to run it on affected units displays a warning to users that it is not available.

Apple had to provide Masimo with the code used to disable the pulse oximeter feature on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models. To ensure that Apple didn't make it easy to return the feature, they had to a jailbroken Apple iPhone running an older version of iOS and paired it with Apple Watch models that couldn't get the pulse oximeter to work. Masimo became upset when he discovered he could restore functionality by doing this.

Masimo argued that this meant Apple hadn't actually removed the pulse oximeter from the affected watches. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol disagreed and said Apple had done enough to say the new design Apple Watch Series 9 And Apple Watch Ultra2 the designs did not infringe Masimo's patents. So, when the patents infringed by Apple expire in August 2028, or if Apple wins its appeal, those who purchased both Apple Watch models without having access to the pulse oximeter will be able to ask Apple to reinstall the functionality quickly.