Apple Watch’s latest update drops a lifesaving feature for Indian users: here's how it works

Apple is bringing a new hypertension notification feature in India which will alert users when it notices signs of chronic high blood pressure and encouraging them to seek medical diagnosis. Notably, the Cupertino based tech giant had introduced the feature with the watchOS 26 update in September but the feature is only now making its way in India.

“Hypertension is the leading modifiable risk factor for heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease, and impacts approximately 1.3 billion adults globally. It is frequently undiagnosed because it often has no symptoms, many people do not see a doctor regularly, and even during a clinical visit, it can be easily missed with a single measurement.” Apple said in a statement

Apple stated that the new kinds of notifications will provide users with valuable insights which can begin to make potentially lifesaving behavioural changes or start treatment in order to reduce the risk of serious, long term health events.

The Cupertino based tech giant says that the hypertension notifications are grounded in rigorous scientific validation and are developed with advanced machine learning and training data from multiple studies that totalled over 100,000 particiapants.

The performance of the new feature is also said to have been validated in a clinical study that had over 2,000 participants. The company admits that the hypertension notifications will not detect all instances of hypertension but states that it will still manage to notify over 1 million users with undiagnosed hypertension in the first year alone.

“If users receive a hypertension notification, it is recommended that they log their blood pressure for seven days using a third-party blood pressure cuff and share the results with their provider at their next visit, which is consistent with the latest American Heart Association guidelines for the diagnosis and management of hypertension.” the company further noted

The new feature is eligible on all watches running on the watchOS 26 which is Apple Watch Series 9 or later devices, or Apple Watch Ultra 2 or later devices. You also need to have iPhone 11 or later device running on the latest iOS 26 interface.

Meanwhile, the user must also have wrist detection enabled on their Apple Watch in order to get the hypertension notification.