Hypertension/high blood pressure function in Apple Watch Series 11 in Australia

Like many of the health-related features on an Watch, that function may also be considered a medical device and would require approval by the Aussie authority that approves such devices.

Volunteers here in the Apple Support Communities wouldn't have that sort of info.

Apple lists functions and countries that have approved them here;

watchOS 26 - Feature Availability - Apple

Australia is not listed as a country where the Hypertension function is available.

M1 Mac mini, macOS 15.6.1;  Watch, Series 10 GPS-only, watchOS 11.6.1; iPhone 16, iOS 18.6.2; TV 4th Gen, tvOS 18.6 HomePods, audioOS 18.6

The watch has not yet been released. Visit Apple.com/watch for details and features.

No, the delay has nothing to do with updating documentation - if that were the case, it would have been done already as a priority. This is a major selling point that only received FDA approval after the launch event. Apple will need TGA approval before enabling hypertension tracking in Australia, so expect a lengthy wait.

In Australia, hypertension monitoring will require approval from the TGA, who are notoriously slow at approving new technology such as the features on Apple Watch. Australians had to wait more than two years for the ECG feature to be approved after it was released in other countries. You should expect another lengthy delay before hypertension monitoring is available here.

Purchasing the Watch in the UK might enable the feature at first, but once you bring it back to Australia and install a software update, the feature will be disabled.

As for the Watch 11 and Ultra 3, the 5G connectivity feature is also not supported by Australian telcos such as Telstra. This is not Apple’s fault, but rather the result of companies like Telstra failing to innovate. For the foreseeable future, you can expect your new watch to be limited to 4G LTE.

if you live in Australia, there is little reason to upgrade if you already own an Ultra 2 or Watch 10.

looks like I'll have buy from the UK

That won't work unless you never intend to update the watch's operating system.

If you purchase a watch in a country where a function is permitted and then take that watch to a country where the function is not permitted, the function will be removed from the watch the first time you update it. watchOS updates are country specific.

not really since the product is not out in the market yet, it leaves them time to update their various documentations

Correction to my post above: checking TGA data the authority approved the Sleep Apnea app in May this year, so it took about 8 months to approve the function. But a possible implication of that is that Apple might not seek approval until it announces the product. So it announced the hypertension function Wednesday am, maybe it has only just now, in the last day or so, sought TGA approval. And TGA has to do its due diligence so I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see it in Australia until next May.

My understanding is that this function will need to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). My recollection is that it took the TGA 12 months to approve the ECG function and 11 months to approve the Sleep Apnea function. One can only hope that this time the approval process will be quicker.

It's highly unlikely that Apple waited until the last minute to apply for medical device approval or that all the countries listed approved with one day's notice.

Not all of the countries in the list have an approval authority, but some/many of them do.

Dah•veed, I agree that it would seem unlikely for Apple to wait to the last minute, but it is a possible explanation for the delays that have occurred.

And yes, not all the countries in the list have an approval authority, but some do. Canada for example. As I recall Canada approved the ECG function only a little before Australia. I presume the others take the attitude that if the FDA is happy they are happy.

Given Apples normal opaqueness in these sort of issues I guess we wait and see. And hope we do not have a serious hypertension related illness in the meantime 😀

This conversation is getting ridiculous. Apple's not at fault here.

If someone is at risk of an illness related to hypertension, they're a fool to sit waiting around for an Watch, when there are approved wearable devices already on the market. As well as a slew of home blood pressure monitoring devices.

Ciao, I'm out of here.

In Australia, 5G is also not supported on the Watch 11 or Ultra 3 at launch. It is meant to be a main selling point, but that is not Apple’s fault - the blame lies with the telcos for failing to innovate and leaving us around five years behind the trend. Looking at you, Telstra! 👀 Expect to have only 4G LTE connectivity on your Ultra 3 for at least the next couple of years.