Apple exploring AirPods that take your temperature and monitor posture: report

Apple is reportedly exploring new health-focused options for its AirPods, in line with The Wall Street Journal. Features may embrace utilizing the earbuds to take wearers’ temperature, monitor their posture, and enhance their listening to. The WSJ notes that it’s not clear if the latter perform differs considerably from AirPods’ present “Conversation Boost” characteristic.

According to the WSJ, these capabilities “aren’t expected by next year and might never be rolled out to consumers or the timing could change.” In different phrases, it sounds just like the iPhone maker is simply exploring these new well being options, reasonably than actively engaged on integrating them with merchandise due out within the subsequent yr or two.

Adding these sensors would make sense for Apple. The firm has more and more marketed its merchandise on the energy of their well being and health purposes, although to date, most of this consideration has been centered on the Apple Watch. Reports final month urged the corporate was wanting into including numerous sensors to the wearable, together with monitoring blood strain, temperature, sleep high quality, blood oxygen, and blood sugar.

Integrating well being options into industrial merchandise is hard work, although, principally due to the issue in assembly the excessive bar of medical regulatory requirements. This inevitably results in delays. It was reported in June, for instance, that the subsequent Apple Watch would add temperature monitoring, however this perform by no means appeared in September’s Apple Watch 7.

Unfortunately, the WSJ’s report doesn’t embrace a lot element about Apple’s plans for the AirPods. Taking temperature from somebody’s ear is commonplace, although, and there are many posture devices available on the market that use digital sensors to alert wearers once they’re slouching. Apple has already proven it’s concerned about utilizing AirPods as a listening to assistant of some kind, although the earbuds should not really permitted for this objective by the FDA.