It seemed like a feature exclusive to Watch 11, but Apple’s fine print says otherwise.
Apple Watch 11 spotlighted hypertension notifications at launch.
The fine print shows Series 9 and Ultra 2 owners also benefit.
Older Apple Watch models make upgrading less urgent for health monitoring.
Apple product launches are among the most anticipated, intensely hyped tech events of the year, especially the September iPhone extravaganza. The entire tech industry pauses when Apple does its thing because there’s usually at least something genuinely interesting and new.
For me, the attention grabber this time was the new hypertension alerts coming to the Apple Watch 11. It was the first thing the presenters mentioned, and it’s the first slide on the Apple Watch 11 page on the Apple site.
In fact, I was about to preorder an Apple Watch 11 just for that feature. I started writing my article to tell you about it when I decided to visit the Apple Watch 11 page and make sure I had the details correct about pricing and availability.
But the relatively prominent footnote in the middle of the promotion grabbed my attention. Sometimes, health features take a while to be released because of regulatory approvals. I decided to read the footnote to get all the details.
Here’s what it says in bigger print:
As of September 9, 2025, hypertension notifications are currently under FDA review and expected to be cleared this month, with availability on Apple Watch Series 9 and later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later.
