Apple is expected to announce the next device in its Apple Watch lineup in September, but the rumored body temperature sensor may not work at launch.
The Apple Watch 8 has long been thought to include a way to monitor the temperature of the wearer’s skin. The tool will offer many benefits, including being able to better track sleep cycles, possibly indicating if you have a fever, and even detecting if you are ovulating.
However, a new report from MacRumors suggests that fever detection may not be ready when the Apple Watch 8 launches.
It would be a huge shame if that turned out to be the case. Sleep monitoring and home tracking tools are great, but in our more health-conscious world, the possibility of spotting signs of an underlying fever would be a game-changer.
If my Apple Watch thinks I might have a fever, I’ll make an informed decision about whether I should go out or step back and avoid passing on the wrong thing, whether it’s Covid or something else that could make my friends and family sick.
This disappointment follows similar news that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 has a new infrared temperature sensor that hasn’t been used properly. Like the rumored Apple Watch 8 sensor, the Galaxy Watch 5 will use skin temperature monitoring to more accurately track the wearer’s sleep.
Although Samsung has talked about the feature several times ahead of the Galaxy Watch 5’s launch, it’s not yet enabled — but if so, it’s coming “in the near future.”
As for Apple, it’s unclear if the fever detection tool could be added to the Watch 8 via a post-release firmware update, or if it’s a hardware issue that won’t change until the inevitable launch of the Apple Watch 9. We’ll have to wait and see what Apple announces in September.
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