Apple Watch Hypertension Notifications expand to Canada with watchOS 26

Apple has begun offering Hypertension Notifications on Apple Watch in Canada, expanding a feature that the company first launched in the United States and more than 150 other countries. The capability, available beginning October 8 for users running watchOS 26, will notify eligible wearers if their watch detects consistent signs of chronic high blood pressure based on data collected over time.

The feature operates using the Apple Watch optical heart sensor to analyze how blood vessels respond to heartbeats. An algorithm runs passively in the background, reviewing about 30 days of sensor data and flagging patterns that Apple says are consistent with hypertension. Apple emphasized that the tool does not measure blood pressure directly, does not produce a blood pressure reading, and does not require calibration. Apple said the feature underwent "rigorous scientific validation," drawing on machine learning trained with data from more than 100,000 participants and then validated in a clinical study of more than 2,000 participants.

Hypertension Notifications are available on Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, Series 11, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Ultra 3 models; the Apple Watch SE...