Why is blood oxygen app not available?

Question

Why is blood oxygen app not available?

I have an Apple watch series 10 and an iPhone 15promax. Both updated to the latest .1 system versions. But when I go to set up blood oxygen on the phone, it says the app is not available on my device. The watch was purchased in the US and has a part number ending in LW/A, so would appear to meet the requirements. I have restarted both the watch and the iPhone, but that doesn't change anything. Why am I doing wrong, and what do I need to do?

Apple Watch Series 10

Posted on Aug 18, 2025 08:12 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Aug 18, 2025 11:29 AM in response to Yale Linguist

Yale Linguist wrote:

Thanks for the tip. Strange, and undocumented. But unfortunately it didn’t work for me. I set up the ECG app and took a reading, but (even after a restart) the blood O2 app is still “unavailalble”.

Try unpairing and re-pairing the watch.

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Answer 2

Aug 18, 2025 01:46 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

Did that (big hassle, some things still not completely restored). Health app still shows "unavailable" for blood O2 app. But now the app appears on the watch! And once I change the app's settings to allow recordings, it now appears in the Health app too. So the problem is apparently solved, but which thing I did to make that happen isn't completely clear. Probably the unpairing/re-pairing IMHO.

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Answer 3

Aug 19, 2025 06:55 AM in response to Yale Linguist

Yale Linguist wrote:

Probably the unpairing/re-pairing IMHO.

I've never had unpairing and re-pairing not return everything (except maybe cards in Apple Wallet?) Mac to where it was before. But I don't keep a lot of things like podcasts or music or photos on my watch. Someone else I know said they were missing a couple of things but nothing major.

Glad you got it working again. So weird that some people, like me, had no issues - I updated, it worked, and yet it seems that a bunch of people are having problems. They all seem to be fixable. But still.

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Answer 4

BobHarris

Level 9

56,471 points

Aug 18, 2025 08:50 AM in response to Yale Linguist

For some odd reason, you have to first take an ECG reading via your Apple Watch, and that enables the Blood Oxygen capabilities.

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Answer 5

Aug 18, 2025 11:00 AM in response to BobHarris

Thanks for the tip. Strange, and undocumented. But unfortunately it didn’t work for me. I set up the ECG app and took a reading, but (even after a restart) the blood O2 app is still “unavailalble”.

Reply