The New Apple Watch Could Tell You If You’re Sick

Thanks to an impressive array of tracking technologies, the Apple Watch has become as much a health-monitoring tool as it is a smartwatch. The next iteration, Apple Watch Series 8, looks to add to that reputation. The latest leaked information suggests the Series 8 will be the first smartwatch to monitor internal body temperature. Here’s what we know. 

It’ll Take Your Temperature (Sort of)

In April, it was widely reported that Apple’s Series 8 set out to augment the watch’s tracking apparatus with body-temperature tracking. Because “body-temperature tracking” could mean many different things, speculation was both rampant and more or less worthless. Apple insider Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported more specifics over the weekend.

Gurman wrote: “The body-temperature feature won’t give you a specific reading—like with a forehead or wrist thermometer—but it should be able to tell if it believes you have a fever. It could then recommend talking to your doctor or using a dedicated thermometer.”

Thus, according to Gurman, the Series 8’s most talked-about new tech is the halfway point between a hand to the forehead and a typical oral thermometer. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s certainly less momentous an update as some expected

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The Apple Smart Health Watch

The update, while minor, is further evidence that Apple values its watches as health accessories first and, well, anything else they might be after that. Reliable Apple reporters have suggested the company will be introducing technology that tracks blood pressure, sleep apnea, diabetes, a thermometer for fertility tracking, and even a car crash detection system. The rub: no one knows when those features will arrive, only that they’re in development.  

When Can You Get One?

There’s always a certain level of astrological chakra reading that goes into identifying release dates for new tech, especially tech as anticipated as anything Apple releases. Smart money says early- to mid-September, assuming no catastrophic delays befall the release between now and then.