Blood oxygen measurements use a bright red light that shines through the skin of user’s wrist. Via the Blood Oxygen app on Apple Watch Series 6 or later, users can measure the percentage of oxygen their red blood cells carry from their lungs to the rest of the body. Knowing how well oxygenated your blood is can help you understand your overall health and wellness.
Note that the back of the Apple Watch needs skin contact for the Blood Oxygen app to get accurate readings. Wearing your Apple Watch not too tight or too loose, with room for your skin to breath, helps ensure successful Blood Oxygen measurements. The band should be snug but comfortable, and the back of your Apple Watch needs to be touching your wrist.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan dismissed the proposed class action with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again. He plans to explain his reasons by Aug. 31.
The plaintiff Alex Morales, a resident of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, said he paid an inflated price for his Apple Watch based on his mistaken belief that its blood oxygen app would measure blood oxygen levels “without regard to skin tone.”
His amended complaint, filed in May, cited decades of reports that similar pulse oximetry devices were “significantly less accurate” when measuring blood oxygen levels of nonwhite people.
Morales said the real-world impact of this bias was not addressed until the COVID-19 pandemic led to “greater awareness of structural racism” in society.
