Areport from Mark Gurman at Bloombergsheds new spark on one of Apple ’s most close rumor projects : non - invasive glucose monitoring for the Apple Watch . In fact , the report says that the project has been researched within Apple for over 12 years – back to the goal of the Steve Jobs era and years before the release of the first Apple Watch .
Several companies and academic institutions have been working on way to reliably measure line of descent glucose levels without pierce the tegument for decades . Over half a billion adults in the world have diabetes , and the ability to measure blood scratch without breaking the skin would be life - changing for them . What ’s more , the measurement could provide useful data for those front to ameliorate their health and fitness , even if they do n’t have diabetes .
The project apparently has “ hundreds ” of engine driver working on it as part of the Exploratory Design Group ( XDG ) within Apple , where it simply goes by the project designation “ E5 . ” Prior to being a part of that group , the labor was run out of a secret Apple - have startup called Avolonte Health LLC that seem to have nothing to do with Apple . The first study began back in 2010 when Apple acquired a startup called RareLight .
Apple ’s approaching practice a process foretell optical absorption spectroscopic analysis . laser utter specific wavelengths of luminousness into the peel in areas where substances leak out out of capillaries . The visible light is absorbed by glucose and reflected back to the sensor , where an algorithm then determines a individual ’s blood glucose storey .
According to the Bloomberg report , Apple has tested the system on one C of human race over the past decade , include those without diabetes , prediabetics , and diabetics , compare its results to traditional parentage - drawing methods . After several recent “ major milepost , ” the project is now considered to be at a “ proof of concept ” degree .
Do n’t expect theApple Watch Series 9to feature this technology when it is introduced in the spill – or even next class ’s rumored Apple Watch X. Past devices have sit atop a table , and the researchers are now work out on a smaller interpretation roughly the size of an iPhone that could be strapped to a person ’s bicep . It still has a long mode to go before it is shrunk down to a spirit level where it could be incorporated into the Apple Watch .
