Apple Watch Can Now Alert You to Signs of High Blood Pressure in Canada

Apple's new hypertension notifications feature for Apple Watch is now available in Canada. The feature, which works passively in the background, can alert users to consistent signs of chronic high blood pressure, a capability first announced with the Apple Watch Series 11 last month.

Using data from the optical heart sensor, the watch analyzes how a user's blood vessels respond to heartbeats. The algorithm works in the background over 30-day periods and will notify a user if it detects consistent signs of hypertension.




Apple says the feature is a significant step in health screening, noting that hypertension is a "silent killer" that often goes undiagnosed. The company cited Dr. Heather Ross, head of cardiology at University Health Network's Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, who called the feature a "true breakthrough" and a "real game changer" for improving early diagnosis.

The feature was developed using machine learning trained on data from studies with over 100,000 participants and was validated in a separate clinical study. Apple expects it to notify over one million people with undiagnosed hypertension in its first year. If a notification is received, the company recommends users log their blood pressure with a cuff and share the results with their doctor. The Health app now includes a logging feature to support this.

Hypertension notifications are not intended for users under 22, those previously diagnosed with hypertension, or during pregnancy. The feature is part of watchOS 26 and is available on the new Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3, as well as older models including the Series 9 and Ultra 2.

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