Apple Watch Rolls Out Hypertension Alerts in India After Regulatory Nod

Apple has officially rolled out its much-awaited Hypertension Notification feature for Apple Watch users in India, following regulatory clearance. Although the feature doesn’t provide real-time blood pressure readings, it is designed to alert users if their smartwatch detects signs of persistent high blood pressure based on long-term trends in heart data.

Hypertension, often referred to as a “silent killer,” affects more than 1.4 billion people globally. What makes it particularly dangerous is that nearly 40 percent of those living with the condition are unaware of it. In India too, hypertension has become almost endemic, with studies indicating that one in three adults may suffer from it—yet diagnoses remain low due to its lack of early symptoms.

To address this growing health challenge, Apple introduced a hypertension detection capability earlier this year for Watch Series 9 and later, as well as Apple Watch Ultra 2 and newer models. The feature is now available for Indian users.

Apple explains that the new Hypertension Notification works as a one-time alert system, designed to inform a user if there are indications of chronic high blood pressure. Using the optical heart sensor, the Watch collects daily cardiovascular data and applies specialised algorithms to examine how blood vessels respond to heartbeats. Once enough information is gathered over a 30-day period, the Watch can identify consistent patterns that may suggest hypertension.

Adam Phillips, a cardiologist at Apple, highlighted the significance of this tool. “As a clinician in a cardiologist, it's something that we see so often that people come in having had hypertension for years and years and just not know it because it's an asymptomatic disease,” Phillips told a famous publication. “So having this feature at the scale that Apple operates at available to our users is really huge.”

He also emphasized the rigorous development behind the feature. “We develop our feature with a lot of rigour in both the development phase and the clinical validation phase, and we developed (Hypertension Notification) with over a hundred thousand participants in development and then clinically validated it with over 2000 participants,” he said. “We expect to notify over a million people in the 1st year alone.”

How the Feature Works — and What It Cannot Do

While the feature provides an important early warning, Apple clarifies that it does not measure blood pressure on demand, unlike cuff-based devices. Instead, it relies entirely on long-term heart sensor data to spot trends that might indicate latent hypertension.

Setting up the feature requires users to activate it in the Health app and provide essential information, including age. Only those aged 22 and above are eligible to use the feature. Additionally, individuals who already have a diagnosed case of hypertension—or those currently taking medication for it—will not receive this alert, as the feature is designed specifically for undetected cases.

If the Watch does detect signs of hypertension, it nudges users toward taking clinically approved follow-up steps. Phillips adds that after notifying the user, “it will give (users) next steps that are really actionable for, for them to go check their blood pressure (and) log in at home” with a standard blood pressure monitor.

With hypertension continuing to be a major health concern in India, Apple’s new feature could help countless users catch the condition earlier and seek timely medical advice.