Apple’s Big Health Move in India: Watch Gets Sleep Apnea Alerts, AirPods Pro Gain Hearing Test Feature

Apple on Thursday announced the arrival of two of its biggest health-focused features in India. The Cupertino-based tech giant says it has received regulatory approval to roll out Sleep Apnea Notifications on supported Apple Watch models and the Hearing Test feature on AirPods Pro in the country. Both features are designed to help address major health challenges, including undiagnosed sleep apnea and hearing loss. The features, however, are still said to maintain user privacy through on-device processing and encrypted health records.

Apple Watch Sleep Apnea Notifications Arrive in India

In India, Sleep Apnea Notifications is available for compatible Apple Watch models. This includes the Apple Watch SE (3rd generation), Apple Watch Series 9 and later models, as well as the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and newer variants. The feature is intended for adults aged 18 years and above who have not already been diagnosed with sleep apnea.

The company says more than one billion people globally suffer from sleep apnea, while nearly 80 percent of cases remain undiagnosed. Left untreated, it increases the risk of hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.

Sleep Apnea Notifications leverage the Apple Watch's accelerometer to monitor breathing disturbances during sleep. It is claimed to analyse trends over a rolling 30-day period to identify persistent signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea. The algorithm automatically recalibrates every 30 days.

When the Apple Watch detects a pattern consistent with sleep apnea, users receive a notification and can generate a detailed PDF report through the Health app. The report can then be shared directly with physicians via email, messaging apps, or other platforms. As per Apple, the sleep apnea algorithm was developed using over 11,000 nights of sleep data collected from 4,700 participants across diverse age groups, genders, body types, and ethnic backgrounds.

AirPods Pro Get Clinical-Grade Hearing Test Feature

Alongside Sleep Apnea Notifications, Apple has also announced the arrival of the Hearing Test feature in India. It is available on AirPods Pro (2nd generation) and AirPods Pro (3rd generation). It is said to focus on hearing assessment and screening. Meanwhile, the Hearing Aid functionality is still being finalised for the Indian market and is expected to be introduced later.

According to Apple, the Hearing Test is accessible through the Hearing Help section on iPhone and iPad. The entire process takes approximately five minutes and evaluates hearing across eight frequencies ranging from 250Hz to 8,000Hz. Users can tap the screen whenever they hear a tone played through the earbuds, and each tone is repeated three times for better detection accuracy.

The system is first said to perform a background noise analysis to make sure the surrounding environment is quiet enough for reliable results. It also conducts an Ear Tip Fit Test to verify the acoustic seal inside the ear canal. Upon completion, users receive hearing metrics measured in decibels of Hearing Level (dBHL), along with a complete audiogram stored in the Health app.

The company says users can export the results and share them with healthcare professionals via the Health app. The hearing assessment is claimed to have been validated against traditional pure-tone audiometry in a study involving 200 participants and produced results within 2dBHL of clinical gold-standard testing.

Apple added that its platform now covers 18 health categories across the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods Pro. The company emphasised that all health data remains encrypted both on-device and in iCloud, and the company itself does not have access to the decryption keys.