Seven new countries—including Australia and Brazil—gain the 30-day passive heart health feature
Apple is significantly expanding the reach of its ‘Hypertension notifications’ feature, rolling it out to seven additional countries this week.
Apple Watch users in Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Turkey can now access the tool, which was first introduced with watchOS 26 back in September.
This expansion brings the total number of supported countries and regions to 170, marking a major step toward Apple’s goal of identifying over 1 million people with undiagnosed high blood pressure.
The feature differs from a standard spot-check cuff; it uses the Apple Watch’s optical heart sensor to passively analyze how blood vessels respond to the heart’s beats while the user is still.
How the notifications work
At the core of this feature is the smartwatch’s heart sensor, which analyzes blood vessel responses to detect consistent signs of chronic high blood pressure. The algorithm then reviews this data over 30-day periods, looking for consistent patterns that correlate with hypertension.
If the watch detects a persistent trend, it notifies the user and provides a PDF report that can be shared with a clinician. It functions similarly to the existing Apple Watch AFib and Sleep Apnea notifications, operating in the background to catch ‘silent’ conditions before they lead to serious long-term health events.
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While the feature took time to clear regulatory hurdles—notably waiting for FDA and local equivalents to verify the algorithm’s accuracy—it is now a cornerstone of Apple’s proactive health suite. Though it’s currently only accessible on the Series 9-11 and Ultra 2-3, we fully expect it to be part of all future non-SE Apple smartwatches.
