Fitbit Is One Step Ahead Of Apple With Blood Oxygen Monitoring Feature

Fitbit has started rolling out its new blood oxygen tracking feature to some of its wearables which include the Iconic, the Fitbit Charge 3, Versa Lite, Versa, and Versa 2. With this new feature, Fitbit is one step ahead of Apple as the Cupertino giant hasn’t equipped its Apple Watch with this feature yet.

Users who are living in the US, according to a report, starting to seeing SPO2 or blood oxygen monitoring data appear in their smartwatches. While it is stated in the Fitbit app that the data is roughly calculated, it is something that no other popular wearable has offered yet. Blood oxygen data can help users know if there are any issues with their breathing. If there are wide variations in data, it could be possible that the user is suffering from sleep apnea.

The Iconic launched in 2017 already had a sensor that could read SPO2 data. Fitbit later equipped other smartwatches with that sensor. But the feature wasn’t enabled. And a software update has changed all of that.

There are rumors about how Apple would eventually equip its Apple Watches with sleep tracking capabilities which will include sleep apnea detection. Apple also haves some patents regarding this area. However, we will have to wait and see if this year Apple Watches will come with this feature or not.

Another smartwatch that focuses on health-tracking features is Withings ScanWatch which was unveiled at CES 2020. The device is waiting for the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval. Among health features, the ScanWatch also has an SPO2 sensor to measure blood oxygen levels. However, there is no information available about the price as well as the ship date of the ScanWatch.

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