Apple has officially launched FDA-cleared hypertension notifications on compatible Apple Watch models. The feature is now rolling out to more than 150 countries and regions, including the U.S., EU, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, with further markets expected as regulatory clearances expand.
Hypertension affects nearly 1.3 billion adults worldwide and is often undiagnosed until it leads to serious complications such as heart attack, stroke, or kidney disease. Apple Watch hypertension notifications aim to close this gap by enabling passive monitoring directly from the wrist, giving users earlier alerts and the chance to seek medical advice sooner.
The feature uses the optical heart sensor to measure how blood vessels respond to heartbeats. Data is collected passively during waking hours and analyzed over 30-day periods. If consistent signs of hypertension appear, users receive a “Possible Hypertension” notification along with actionable insights in the Health app on iPhone.
Apple developed the technology through years of research and validation. It was trained on data from more than 100,000 participants across diverse age groups, races, and health profiles, and then tested in a pivotal study involving over 2,000 people who also used traditional blood pressure cuffs for comparison. Results showed a specificity rate above 92% and strong sensitivity for Stage 2 hypertension, demonstrating reliability across different demographics and skin tones.
Apple Watch Series 11 is the first model to ship with the feature enabled out of the box. Apple Watch Series 9 and later, as well as Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later, gain it through the upcoming watchOS 26 software update. Apple estimates the feature could help more than a million people in its first year alone by alerting them to a condition they may not know they have.
With the global rollout of hypertension notifications, Apple Watch continues to grow beyond fitness tracking into preventive healthcare, offering users an early warning system for one of the most common and dangerous conditions worldwide.
