Apple has switched on its hypertension (or high blood pressure) notification feature in Australia, after the nation’s medical regulator approved the technology’s use in December 2025.

The feature was enabled by a server-side update from Apple on Wednesday, and requires an Apple Watch Series 9 and later or an Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later running watchOS 26.

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved the feature for local use on 4 December, which Information Age was first to report.

That was after the hypertension notification capability, first announced in September 2025, had been available for months in more than 150 countries.

Hypertension can be a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and other health problems.

Cardiologist and chief medical advisor at the Heart Foundation, Professor Garry Jennings, told Information Age in December that the TGA’s approval of Apple’s hypertension feature was “a good thing”.

Jennings said the feature may help raise awareness of blood pressure issues, but added there was “no guarantee” someone did not have hypertension if their Apple Watch did not alert them to it.

Hypertension feature uses AI to check blood vessels

Apple’s hypertension notification feature uses the optical heart sensor on the back of compatible Apple Watch models to analyse the wearer’s blood vessels over 30-day periods.

The feature uses machine learning — a branch of artificial intelligence — and data from several studies involving more than 100,000 people, Apple said in September.

“Its performance was then validated in a clinical study of over 2,000 participants,” the company said.

“While hypertension notifications will not detect all instances of hypertension, with the reach of Apple Watch, the feature is expected to notify over 1 million people with undiagnosed hypertension within the first year.”


Apple says its hypertension notifications feature uses AI to detect possible signs of high blood pressure. Image: Apple

Apple's hypertension notification feature is designed for use by adults aged 22 and over who are not pregnant and have not been previously diagnosed with hypertension.

The feature is “not intended to replace traditional methods of diagnosis, to monitor hypertension treatment effect, or to be used as a method of blood pressure surveillance”, according to its listing on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).

Samsung’s latest Galaxy smartwatches also have a Blood Pressure app which is designed for users 22 and older, but it requires calibration using a TGA-approved upper-arm, cuff-based blood pressure monitor.

Google is also carrying out a study with up to 10,000 participants in order to enable hypertension screening on its Pixel Watch devices.

Apple Watch still missing 5G in Australia

Apple debuted 5G cellular connectivity on the Apple Watch Series 11 in September 2025, and quickly made the technology available in markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, India, and China.

Apple has not commented on when Australian Apple Watch users could expect 5G connectivity to become available locally, but Information Age understands the company is awaiting regulatory approval and must reach deals with telecommunications providers.

Australian Apple Watch users previously waited almost two months to use the company's sleep apnoea notifications feature on their devices after it was approved by the TGA in late May of 2025.

Local Apple Watch users also waited more than two-and-a-half years for some of the device’s heart health features to be approved by the TGA and enabled for local use.

Apple’s electrocardiogram (ECG) and irregular heart rhythm notification features launched in the US in December 2018, but were only made available to Australian users in May 2021.