Apple Watch glucose monitoring is reportedly a few years away from release

Since long before even the Apple Watch’s release, non-prick glucose monitoring has been rumoured to be coming to Apple’s wearable.

Lately, however, those reports have died down — at least until now. According to Bloomberg, no-prick blood glucose monitoring is in the “proof-of-concept stage” and could come to market once Apple can shrink the technology down to work in an Apple Watch.

Bloomberg says the tech utilizes a laser to gauge the glucose concentration under the skin. This technology is aimed at those with diabetes or those that are prediabetic, with an emphasis on preventing Type 2 (adult onset) diabetes.

The publication says that the project has been in development since 2010 following the purchase of blood glucose monitoring startup RareLight. The company behind the technology operated outside of Apple as Avolonte Health, but eventually was combined with the tech giant’s Exploratory Design Group, with direct oversight from CEO Tim Cook and hardware lead Eugene Kim, alongside other executives.

An actual Apple Watch capable of no-prick glucose monitoring is still likely years away from release, but this report says that it’s closer to now than it has been in the past.

Over the years, Apple has added several heath-focused sensors to the Apple Watch, bringing the ability to detect atrial fibrillation, low blood oxygen levels and ovulation cycles to the wearable.

Source: Bloomberg