Apple is planning on introducing blood oxygen tracking to its wearable ecosystem, according to 9to5Mac, who discovered this in snippets of iOS 14 code. Currently, it is unknown whether this is a feature that will be introduced with iOS 14 in the summer or the Apple Watch Series 6 in the fall.

Blood oxygen saturation can be an important variable in sleep health, and tracking oxygen saturation may help in diagnosing sleeping disorders, such as sleep apnea. Apple is rumored to have an increased focus on sleep technology with its next release of the Apple Watch, and this leak appears to support this theory.

With Google’s recent acquisition of Fitbit, it remains to be seen how Apple will choose to improve its position in the Consumer Sleep Technology patent space. Apple has a single patent application for monitoring vital signs during sleep, but there is no coverage for blood oxygen monitoring. Could we see an increase in sensor-based filings or a related acquisition in the near future?