Blood Pressure Measurement Through A Stretchable Cuff Could Be Apple Watch’s Next Feature

Apple could be planning to add a blood pressure measurement done through a stretchable cuff that may feature in the next Apple Watch releases, a recently disclosed patent revealed.

The patent was filed on the US Patent and Trademark Office dated Oct. 16 and published on Thursday.

The band is no ordinary smartwatch strap as it will have the capability to gather accurate blood pressure measurements. A part of the patent said that the stretchable blood pressure cuff will come with an inflatable bladder kept against that limb of the Apple Watch wearer. An inextensible cuff will secure the bladder so that a user may have consistent monitoring of parameters.

“The various pressures in the inflatable bladder that restrict and/or stop blood flow through the vessels in the limb may be measured and used to determine one or more physiological parameters of a user such as blood pressure of the user,” the patent said, Apple Insider reported.

The planned stretchable blood pressure measuring cuff will ease the Apple Watch users of the discomfort of feeling the inflating and deflating wrist band especially if the measurement has to be done more often.

Since the blood pressure monitoring cuff will act as a regular band, the wearer will get so used to having it on. Periodical monitoring of blood pressure measurement can be done constantly.

Apple does well in creating watch bands that measure users’ heart rates in beats per minute accurately. Now Apple is going to the next level and will try to incorporate bands with sensors that will accurately measure a wearer’s blood pressure.

Apple currently uses third-party applications for its watch in order to accurately measure blood pressure. However, a user needs to use an accessory such as a cuff to do this, so the tech giant is working out ways on how to gather blood pressure measurements without the need to use the accessories on third-party apps, NDTV reported.

The patent, however, does not provide details on when the feature will roll out or assure customers that the feature will actually launch.