New Lawsuit Claims Apple Watch Blood Oxygen Sensor is Racially Biased

Apple is being sued again, this time for the alleged ineffectiveness of the Apple Watch blood oxygen reader. 

The federal class-action lawsuit claims the blood oxygen sensor in the Apple Watch provides inaccurate results for people of color.

USA Today reported, “The suit, filed Saturday on behalf of plaintiff Alex Morales in New York, draws on old and new pandemic-era literature that shows that pulse oximeter technology is ineffective in measuring blood oxygen levels in darker skin tones, according to Morales’ attorney Spencer Sheehan.”

The device measures the blood oxygen at the wrist instead of the fingertip as pulse oximeters do. Apple claims on its website that “permanent or temporary changes” to the skin can affect the device’s ability to read the blood oxygen level such as tattoos, but does not mention the color of one’s skin. 

According to the lawsuit, Morales bought the Apple Watch between 2020 and 2021 and believed the watch would measure his blood oxygen levels regardless of his skin tone. 

He claims he “would not have purchased” or “paid as much” for the watch if he had known the ineffectiveness of the sensor, USA Today reported. 

The lawsuit claims “Apple violated several laws, including New York state law, and a federal multi-state class action law that prohibits “deceptive business practices” and alleges that “Apple committed fraud and unjustly enriched itself by misrepresenting its product’s capability,” per USA Today’s report.