Apple Watch Series 8’s health features: What we know so far

Apple is scheduled to launch the Apple Watch 8 by fall this year and it is expected to bring in some much-awaited features, at least on the health front. According to Mark Gurman, the Apple Watch Series 8 is expected to be a significant upgrade over the Apple Watch Series 7.

Reports suggest that the Apple Watch Series 8 might offer an improved version of the atrial fibrillation detection feature that should be able to “calculate how often someone is in a state of atrial fibrillation over a certain period”. This feature is going to be called the “afib burden detection” and is being tipped to roll in with the next version of the Apple Watch’s OS (watchOS 9) which Apple is going to announce at the upcoming WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) that’s scheduled for June.

Apple is also expected to include a new low power mode with the new watchOS that should allow some of the apps on the watch to work when the watch is on low power. Currently, when the watch goes on low power, it only displays the time. Post the new update on the OS, it might be able to do more.

Some tipsters are of the opinion that the Apple Watch 8 might feature a body-temperature sensor, but “it will initially only help with fertility planning”. According to reports, a “later version could help you determine if you have a higher-than-normal body temperature but it may not display an actual measurement”.

Additionally, the new Apple Watch is expected to ship with new watch faces and new workout modes and new metrics related to running.

Gurman suggests that features like blood pressure measurement might now be a part of the Apple Watch till 2024 or 2025 and the non-evasive blood sugar monitoring is not expected till much later. Apple is reportedly testing another new tech on employees that “apparently won't tell you systolic and diastolic readings, but will instead alert you if it suspects you might have hypertension”.

The Apple Watch Series 8 is likely to be accompanied by a budget SE model and a premium rugged model which will be targeted at athletes.

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