Apple’s efforts to use the Apple Watch as a noninvasive glucose meter appears to be making progress, and has reportedly reached a “proof of concept” stage, although it could still take years to reach the market.
Per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, it will still take time to become part of the Apple Watch, but the research has passed a significant milestone. Unspecified sources, seemingly within Apple, say that after 12 years they have reached what they call a proof of concept stage.
This implies that Apple believes the technology is working, but it will still need to be shrunk down to Apple Watch size. It’s been rumored that the company’s engineers are currently working to create an iPhone-sized prototype that would then be strapped to person’s leg.
The system, which once occupied a table top, has been tested by Apple on hundreds of people over the last 10 years. Each result was then compared to traditional tests that involve taking blood samples. The project had reached a significant milestone, but the small research team on the project recently had a major setback. Its leader, Bill Athas, died suddenly in late 2022.
It’s been rumored that the work has been taken over by some of Athas’s deputies, including Apple managers Dave Simon and Jeff Koller, who report to Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies.
It’s also been reported that there was a 2022 Homebrew project that saw one Apple Watch owner create a complication and watchOS app that worked in conjunction with a third-party glucose monitor.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider and Bloomberg