Apple Watch Blood Glucose Monitoring Likely Still 'Three to Seven Years' Away

[MacRumors]

Blood glucose monitoring technology designed for the Apple Watch is unlikely to launch for several years, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman believes.

In February, Gurman reported that Apple has made major progress with its noninvasive blood glucose monitoring technology, allowing diabetics and others to test their blood glucose levels without needing to prick the skin for blood testing.

Apple's system apparently uses a silicon photonics chip to shine light from a laser under the skin to determine the concentration of glucose in the body. In Bloomberg's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple "still needs to perfect the algorithms and on-board sensors" to bring the technology to market. Crucially, the company also needs to "shrink it down to the size of a module that can fit in the small and thin package that is an Apple Watch." Gurman believes this process "will take another three to seven years at least."

Apple began working on alternative glucose monitoring methods following its aquisition of RareLight in 2010. The company then used a startup called Avolante Health LLC to develop the technology at a secret facility before moving it to the Exploratory Design Group (XDG).

Apple has been conducting human trials for the past 10 years and seeks to be able to warn Apple Watch users if they are prediabetic to encourage lifestyle changes before diabetes develops. It is believed to be holding early discussions about getting regulatory approval for the technology.

Article Link: Apple Watch Blood Glucose Monitoring Likely Still 'Three to Seven Years' Away

 

[izyreal]

This is one of those features where I’ll believe it when I see it. I suspect it’ll never be done.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

This is probably the most anticipated feature. Hopefully, Apple can actually pull it off.

 

[senttoschool]

If it's easier, they should add this feature to the wrist band and sell a special edition of either the Watch or wristband depending on if it can be removed.

The benefit would outweigh the ability to switch bands.

 

[LeeW]

Still a great feature if it does come to the watch. So many would benefit from it.

 

[darngooddesign]

This episode discusses some of the issues related to non-invasive monitoring.

‎The Vergecast: Apple glucose monitor rumors, Marvel fatigue, and podcast misinformation on Apple Podcasts

‎Show The Vergecast, Ep Apple glucose monitor rumors, Marvel fatigue, and podcast misinformation - Mar 1, 2023

podcasts.apple.com

 

[filmantopia]

This is one of those features where I’ll believe it when I see it. I suspect it’ll never be done.

They've apparently already had the breakthrough that proves it's possible. It's just shrinking it down at this point. Sometimes big advances do happen. When they do, some of us aren't ready for it because we've always only lived in the world before X was possible.

 

[PsykX]

This is probably the most anticipated feature. Hopefully, Apple can actually pull it off.

Honestly if a company can pull this off in a smart watch, the smart watch will be considered free.

Glucose devices are close to being free, but their consumables.... whew. 0.60 CAD/test.
So if you need to test every day, 220 CAD/year. Seems like a subscription product to me. And you have to take notes and build a graph and interpret it yourself before your doctor if you're a bit more serious about your health.

 

[MayaUser]

So after im dead....maybe

 

[mjcharlton71]

A private buyer (not on NHS prescription) would pay around £100 every four weeks for one of the flash glucose monitoring systems… having this functionality as non-invasive monitoring would be amazing.

Still definitely years and years away though.

 

[cdsapplefan]

They've apparently already had the breakthrough that proves it's possible. It's just shrinking it down at this point. Sometimes big advances do happen. When they do, some of us aren't ready for it because we've always only lived in the world before X was possible.

Yeah they found it was possible to be able to achieve this. The next big hurdles will be shrinking the device to micro size and getting government approval for this. The government is not just gonna want apples trials but there own trials before they can give the seal of approval. Consumers would be depending on this device for there glucose health, so it has to be fully working with no malfunctions or errors and fully accurate.

 

[surfzen21]

If they cant shrink it down maybe they will offer it as an exclusive in a 60mm Ultra. The only size they can fit it into.
🥲

 

[Motawa]

So it's 10 years away

 

[cwwilson]

Soooo.... Vaporware.

Still, this would be a life-changing feature for millions, hopefully at some point it can be done but at this point it's probably best to just forget about it for the foreseeable future (like the release of Elder Scrolls 6).

 

[neuropsychguy]

This is one of those features where I’ll believe it when I see it. I suspect it’ll never be done.

It will happen. The technical aspects are figured out. Miniaturization and reliability/validity are not there yet. They will happen with more iterations of the engineering. The validity comes from finding the correct variables that correspond highly enough with gold standard readings of glucose. That’s the biggest challenge but machine learning will help a lot.

 

[michaeljk]

"Apple has been conducting human trials for the past 10 years and seeks to be able to warn Apple Watch users if they are prediabetic to encourage lifestyle changes before diabetes develops." If this quote from the article is true, it means that Apple's version of blood glucose monitoring is so inaccurate, it will be completely useless to those of us who already have diabetes. It also may be Apple's way of leaking information ahead of any announcement to curtail hopes of a system accurate enough to be used by anyone who actually needs to know their blood glucose levels with any kind of precision. As a Type 1 diabetic for the past three decades, I continue to have noninvasive glucose monitoring on my radar, but don't watch it very closely because the "news" of some breakthrough has not materialized. I think it likely that, in the next 30 years, something useful will be created, but maybe not before I am gone.

 

[macmac30]

Little wonder that RKLY went bankrupt…

 

[Howard2k]

Apple: adds blood sugar monitoring to S12
MR Forum: it’s really no different to S11, come on Apple!

 

[siddavis]

I’m sure it’ll be included in the car and/or standalone TV.

 

[Pezimak]

I have to say I think a literal revolution in sensors is required for this to work. Every method to take glucose and auger levels involves a drop of blood. I'll be shocked if Apple is first to market with an approved reliable none invasive method of measuring it.

 

[xnu]

Both the Glucose and the VR headset will require an Apple Car to function.

 

[scrapesleon]

Don’t worry Tim might force the developers to push it out early like the AR glasses

 

[randian]

How accurate though? The FDA allows glucose strips to be +-15% 95% of the time, which is pretty outrageous if you ask me.

 

[Pezimak]

"Apple has been conducting human trials for the past 10 years and seeks to be able to warn Apple Watch users if they are prediabetic to encourage lifestyle changes before diabetes develops." If this quote from the article is true, it means that Apple's version of blood glucose monitoring is so inaccurate, it will be completely useless to those of us who already have diabetes. It also may be Apple's way of leaking information ahead of any announcement to curtail hopes of a system accurate enough to be used by anyone who actually needs to know their blood glucose levels with any kind of precision. As a Type 1 diabetic for the past three decades, I continue to have noninvasive glucose monitoring on my radar, but don't watch it very closely because the "news" of some breakthrough has not materialized. I think it likely that, in the next 30 years, something useful will be created, but maybe not before I am gone.

Exactly, the only real big change seems to have been those little puck sensors you can wear now that measure your levels, and wirelessly communicate them to a handheld reader. But they are still invasive requiring something to enter the skin.

 

[RalfTheDog]

This is not intended to judge how much insulin you need. This is intended more for lifestyle changes. When you eat this food, what does it do to your glucose? When you run five miles, what does that do to your glucose? It does not need to be accurate enough to tell you how much of a shot you need to save lives. It could prevent many people from ever needing to start insulin.