Which Apple Watches have Blood Oxygen availability?

The Blood Oxygen sensor on the Apple Watch is a nice tool to help those that require frequent monitoring of their oxygen levels. It can provide data that can help treat people who have lung issues, heart problems, and even blood issues. Unfortunately, support for the Blood Oxygen sensor is limited in the United States due to Apple’s ongoing legal battle:

The removal of the Blood Oxygen feature is the result of an intellectual property ruling from the United States International Trade Commission, which Apple is appealing.

The Blood Oxygen feature is no longer available on units sold by Apple in the United States on or after January 18, 2024. These are indicated with part numbers ending in LW/A. Learn how to identify your Apple Watch.

To make it easier I have made two lists here to show you which Apple Watches do and don’t support Blood Oxygen availability in the United States.

With Blood Oxygen availability:

1. Series 6

2. Series 7

3. Series 8

4. Series 9 model numbers NOT ending in LW/A.

5. Apple Watch Ultra 1

6. Certain Apple Watch Ultra 2 Natural Titanium models NOT ending in LW/A.

Without Blood Oxygen availability:

1. Series 9 model numbers ending in LW/A

2. Apple Watch Ultra 2 model numbers ending in LW/A. This includes all Black Titanium models.

3. All Series 10 models.

If you own a Series 9 or an Ultra 2 in Natural Titanium, you need to go to your Apple Watch app under General > About > Model Number, to see if your watch has Blood Oxygen capabilities.

I have a Series 10 which doesn’t support Blood Oxygen at all, but it is confirmed with the LW/A at the end of my model number.

This patent dispute will eventually get resolved, and once that happens, Apple will resume Blood Oxygen availability for all watches that had it disabled.

If you are buying online through a 3rd party retailer or on eBay, make sure you check the model number so you can tell if the watch has Blood Oxygen capability.

You can also get the model number from the box:

This one has Blood Oxygen enabled…

This one doesn’t.

How about other countries?

If you live in one of the countries where Blood Oxygen is supported (almost every country except the USA), all Series 6 models and higher have Blood Oxygen availability, except the Apple Watch SE and SE2.

If you are traveling abroad, it might be worth buying your Apple Watch from abroad since it will have Blood Oxygen enabled, and you can bring it back to the States and not lose functionality.

Update 1/9/25 @ 7:37PM - changed the description of the Apple Watch Ultra 2 from “Slate” Titanium to “Black”Titanium.