iOS 18.2 beta was released today for developers, and it brings a lot of new features – most of them related to Apple Intelligence. However, there are a few other changes, and one of them is related to the Apple Watch’s sleep apnea detection feature. With the update, users in Canada can finally enable the new health feature.
Apple Watch sleep apnea detection coming to Canada
Apple says sleep apnea notifications are available in more than 150 countries, but Canada is not one of them. That’s because health-related features must be approved by regulators from each country. Health Canada gave Apple permission to enable the new feature in the country back in September, but sleep apnea detection remains unavailable to users there.
Interestingly, the first iOS 18.2 beta enables sleep apnea detection for users in Canada who own a compatible Apple Watch.
Sleep apnea detection was introduced with watchOS 11 for Apple Watch Series 9 and later. The feature uses the Apple Watch accelerometer to detect potential breathing disturbances during sleep. Here’s how Apple describes it:
Sleep is an important area of health as it impacts a person’s overall physical and mental wellbeing. Sleep apnea is a prevalent disorder in which breathing momentarily stops during sleep, preventing the body from getting enough oxygen. The condition is estimated to impact more than 1 billion people worldwide, and in most cases, goes undiagnosed. If left untreated, it can have important health consequences over time, including increased risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cardiac issues.
Breathing Disturbances is an innovative new Apple Watch metric that uses the accelerometer to detect small movements at the wrist associated with interruptions to normal respiratory patterns during sleep. Every 30 days, Apple Watch will analyze breathing disturbance data and notify users if it shows consistent signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea so they can speak to their doctor about next steps, including potential diagnosis and treatment.
It’s unclear at this point whether Apple will wait for the release of iOS 18.2 to enable sleep apnea detection in Canada or whether the company will release a small update before that just to turn the feature on in the country. The RC version of iOS 18.1, which is expected to be released next week, doesn’t enable the feature for users in Canada.
More about iOS 18.2
iOS 18.2 brings additional Apple Intelligence features. This includes Image Playground, Genmoji, ChatGPT integration, and Visual Search for iPhone 16 models.
For now, iOS 18.2 beta is only available for devices compatible with Apple Intelligence. That means iPhone 15 Pro or later and M1 iPads or later. Of course, the update will eventually be available for other devices too. Apple previously suggested that iOS 18.2 will be released to the public in December.
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