How to Detect Sleep Apnea with Apple Watch: How to Enable the Feature

Already installed watchOS 11? Your Apple Watch can detect sleep apnea. Here’s how to enable the feature!

watchOS 11 detects sleep apnea

Apple has officially announced the Apple Watch Series 10! One of the smartwatch’s most important features is sleep apnea detection. This health feature is part of watchOS 11 and detects breathing disorders during your sleep. Sleep apnea is a common condition in which you temporarily stop breathing during sleep. With the Apple Watch, sleep apnea can be detected faster.

That’s important, because many people don’t know they have sleep apnea. If the condition isn’t treated in time, it can have health consequences, according to Apple. Sleep apnea increases your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart problems and high blood pressure. Apple is bringing sleep apnea detection to not only the Apple Watch Series 10, but also the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 with watchOS 11.

Enable sleep apnea detection

To receive notifications if your Apple Watch may be detecting sleep apnea, you’ll first need to enable the feature in the Health app on your iPhone. Apple is bringing the feature to Apple Watches with watchOS 11, so make sure to update your watch to the latest software version first. Here’s how to enable sleep apnea detection on Apple Watch Series 9, 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2:

Have you enabled the function? Then your Apple Watch needs at least thirty days to detect sleep apnea. For this, your Apple Watch uses the accelerometer. This registers small movements at your wrist, in the same way the smartwatch also recognizes your normal breathing. In watchOS 11, a new function has been added under the name ‘Respiratory Disturbances’.

This new metric tracks interruptions in your breathing that could indicate sleep apnea. Interruptions in your breathing are normal, so Apple Watch needs at least 30 days to analyze enough data. If this data shows that your breathing is regularly disrupted, Apple Watch will alert you that you may have sleep apnea.

More about sleep apnea detection

You can find the information from your Apple Watch about possible sleep apnea in the Health app on your iPhone. There you can see an overview of all interruptions in your breathing pattern during sleep. With ‘Breathing Disturbances’ you can also see how restless you are in your sleep. Does the data indicate sleep apnea? Then you can export a PDF of all the data, so that your GP can view it.

As soon as your Apple Watch detects possible sleep apnea, it is recommended to visit a doctor. The collected data in the Health app can help with the conversation with the doctor. Please note that in order to collect this data, you must of course wear the Apple Watch during your sleep. Do you want to test the new function, but your Apple Watch does not support sleep apnea detection? Then check out the best prices of the Apple Watch Series 10 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 here: