Apple’s effort to turn its devices into health-centric tools is paying off more and more. Thus, in anticipation of the arrival of a sensor for monitoring blood glucose in the Apple Watch, new reports indicate that a next generation of devices could have a hydration sensor, after years of research.
According to the information published by appleinsider, Apple has been separately granted a patent that refers to a hydration sensor in the Apple Watch. His proposal is that Apple Watch takes regular, periodic measurements to calculate a user’s hydration, and do so using a watch strap.
The Apple Watch could also measure hydration levels
The Apple patent describes current techniques for the same purpose as “cumbersome and unreliable.” The inventor of the patent, Alexander W. Williams, also notes that the lack of reliability is specifically due to “the variety of measurements that must be taken manually.”
“The hydration level of a user has a significant impact on the health of a user,” says the patent. “Dehydration can affect performance and is associated with several deleterious health consequences, including heat stroke. Heavy drinking can lead to hyponatremia, fatigue, confusion, coma, and even death.
“For example, some hydration monitoring techniques involve testing fluid samples, such as urine or blood, from the user. “Some techniques require analyte sensors to react chemically with sample fluids.”
To achieve the result Apple proposes to include electrodes to measure the electrical properties of perspiration. “These properties” can represent a concentration of electrolytes in perspiration, which in turn represents a level of hydration of the user. “
Nowadays, there are many applications for iPhone and Apple Watch They are designed to remind users to drink often and not too much. However, as for the actual measurement, the patent says that typical techniques are “Generally invasive, expensive or unreliable”.
While this patent has recently been revealed as it has just been granted, a version was originally released in March 2018. So while there is no guarantee that the feature will come, for example, the Apple Watch Series 7, the company has been developing this idea for several years.