Blood oxygen app is not available in your region

thirumaal wrote:

Apple Pay is based on financial services and need some approvals from government and also from central bank but blood oxygen measuring is my personal problem

That is not true. In order to use that function, the device has to be approved by the health service in your country for use as a medical device.

Too many people think that the process for getting medical devices, drugs, etc. approved is you fill in the application and turn it on and the health agency issues their approval. And far too many government health agencies foster this fiction. In almost all government health agencies there are regulations written for approving items as a medical device but often these are ambiguous at best. So the real procedure is for the applicant to meant with representatives of the agency and submit a list of questions. This will usually result in a longer list of questions and data requests coming back from the government agency. All of these steps are usually confidential and neither side is allowed to discuss it. Then when all of that is worked out the applying company can fill out the application and go through the formal public process. In some countries, such as the US, the company wanting approval has to be invited to submit an application.

Apple wants the Watch to be approved in all countries where they sell it? Why would they not? But they are not in charge of the process.

Neither you nor I know who asks who. But over the last two years since Apple Watch 4 has been released, more countries have been added. There is clearly a process, which I imagine is rather extensive for a device to be approved in a country to be used for health purposes, such as heart monitoring and blood oxygen levels. You don't have a clue how long a government may take to approve a feature. Or even if they WILL approve a feature. To assume it is Apple's fault is wrong.

A completely unrelated example. I drive a Mercedes E Class. My car was released over 2 years ago. In Europe, they have active lighting system for the front lights. Mercedes applied to the US DOT to get permission to open this feature in the US. To this very date, the DOT has not approved them for use on US highways. Yet the active lighting system is built into my car and is infinitely better than what is allowed to be used in the US. Do I get mad at Mercedes? Of course not. It's my own country who is at fault for not approving a safety feature which would provide much better visibility while driving at night and could be turned on in car as the technology is already built in.

Apple WON'T reply to you here or in this forum. This is a user to user only forum. Did you click the list in the post just above your post? I'm guessing you didn't so I've copied it to post here, which demonstrates your comment that Apple is only focusing on USA EUROPE & CHINA, couldn't further from the truth:

Branded Services: Blood Oxygen app is supported in the following countries:

• Argentina
• Aruba
• Australia
• Austria
• Bahamas
• Bahrain
• Barbados
• Belgium
• Bermuda
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• British Virgin Islands
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Cayman Islands
• Chile
• China mainland
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Gibraltar
• Greece
• Guadeloupe
• Guam
• Guatemala
• Guernsey
• Guyana
• Honduras
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Iceland
• India
• Indonesia
• Ireland
• Isle of Man
• Israel
• Italy
• Jamaica
• Japan
• Jersey
• Kazakhstan
• Kuwait
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Macao
• Malaysia
• Mayotte
• Mexico
• Montserrat
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Oman
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Philippines
• Poland
• Portugal
• Puerto Rico
• Qatar
• Republic of Korea
• Reunion Island
• Romania
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• South Africa
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Turkey
• Turks and Caicos
• United Kingdom
• Ukraine
• United Arab Emirates
• Uruguay
• United States
• US Virgin Islands

So who should seek authorization? The government or Apple? Did other countries seek authorization for the feature? I don’t think so. Apple failed to seek the authorization.

Contact the App developer please.

There are many apps which are not designed and developed for all countries / regions.

Apple Pay is not available in India.

Mobile or Watch brand selection is an individual choice based on many parameters. Such as Money, Feature, Status, Aesthetic, Utility, User-Friendliness, Availability, Warranty Coverage, Service Support, Resale value, Technology and many other factors.

I have followed the conversation and I am disappointed.

If Apple has decided to sell the Watch Globally, then they have the obligation to ensure that an important feature works as communicated in their marketing communications or they disclose that information to buyers listing the countries they have approval for.

Then it becomes the buyers choice and we will all respect Apple for such disclosure.

I bought two of the series 6 watch for myself and my Wife and our main reason was ECG and Blood Oxygen measurements to our surprise it will not work in our Region/Country. We are in Ghana.

If Samsung’s own is working, why can’t Apple Watch work? I know you wouldn’t want to comment on how your competitors do their business but just as you brought in Mercedes-Benz example we have no option but to compare Apple and Samsung.

I think Apple can do better.

We love the brand so Apple correct this misleading impression.

Every morning I will try to set it up hoping that you have corrected it.

I’m disappointed on this as a Sri Lankan buyer of watch 6, my main requirement of Apple Watch was to track blood oxygen and ECG. Apple did a great marketing campaign on above features, but failed to put the small print that some of the innovations will work in a part of the world. As some of the people argue that it is the role of each country’s government to give necessary approval, how come Samsung got approval for such features in Sri Lankan?

If above assumption is true, it means Samsung is going farther ahead than Apple, to give a more inclusive customer experience.. bad choice by me this time..

You don't have to work for Apple to know for sure, many more companies than Apple apply for approval.

Seriously I was so upset, realizing blood oxygen doesn’t work in my region. What’s really the point having a series 6😒. I waisted my money

I have no doubt it's Apple who has to seek approval. But since I don't work for Apple, I wouldn't know for sure.

I agree it's amazing anything is approved in this country.

Then why samsung blood oxygen works ? did they took approval ?

Since Apple isn't here they won't reply. This is a user-to-user technical support site operated by Apple.

You are somewhat misinformed. You need to campaign the health ministry people in your country. When iPhone 4 was released with Heart Monitoring, it took a long time for other countries to approve the feature in their regions (I believe there are still some countries it has never been approved for still). This has NOTHING to do with Apple not providing a feature you thought you were paying for. This has EVERYTHING to do with your government not having approved the feature in your country.