If you've been following the Apple vs Masimo saga closely, you know it's the kind of legal back-and-forth that directly shapes which health features actually land on your wrist in the US. The latest twist? Another loss for Masimo, and another quiet win for Apple, just not the kind that fixes things for current Apple Watch owners.
What just happened in court
According to a new report, an April 24 filing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia confirms that all parties have agreed to dismiss Masimo's complaint against the International Trade Commission (ITC) and US Customs and Border Protection. The dismissal is with prejudice, which means Masimo can't refile this exact complaint.
This is a separate track from the ITC ruling we covered last month, when an ITC judge determined that Apple's redesigned Apple Watch models don't infringe Masimo's blood oxygen patents. The District Court complaint was Masimo's attempt to challenge how CBP cleared Apple's redesign in the first place.
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Apple isn't fully in the clear yet
The Blood Oxygen feature is still not running on the Apple Watch Series 9 or Ultra 2 as originally marketed. | Image by Apple
However, the saga isn't completely over. Masimo can still appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, with a notice deadline of June 16, 2026. So while Apple has racked up multiple wins recently, the door isn't fully shut.
For now, though, there's no immediate threat of a new Apple Watch sales ban in the US. That's a real sigh of relief for Cupertino, especially after years of redesigns, software workarounds, and the brief import ban that pulled the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 off shelves back in late 2023.
Apple keeps winning these patent fights, but does that change how you think about the Apple Watch?
No. I want pulse oximetry on the watch, not on my iPhone.
48.48%
Yes. Legal wins make me trust the roadmap again.
13.64%
I'd rather buy a Galaxy Watch or Pixel Watch at this point.
19.7%
I never cared about blood oxygen, just the rest.
18.18%
66 Votes
Why this matters if you own (or want) an Apple Watch
Here's the catch nobody at Apple is putting on the marketing slides: blood oxygen is still not running on the Apple Watch itself in the US. Apple's workaround, in place since August 2024, processes the readings on your paired iPhone instead, and that's how the redesigned models keep clearing customs.
If you bought an Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2, Series 10, or Series 11 in the US, you're getting a watered-down version of what Apple originally pitched. It's the same workaround we flagged a full year ago, so progress for actual users has been pretty much zero.
The bottom line on Apple's quiet streak of wins
We'll definitely be keeping an eye on this saga because health features are exactly the kind of thing many consider when picking a wearable. Apple winning the legal battles is great for shareholders, but if on-device pulse oximetry is a deciding factor for you, this latest dismissal doesn't move the needle.
If Masimo skips the appeal, Apple finally has breathing room to maybe restore the feature properly, but the patents in question reportedly don't expire until August 2028. Until then, the cleanest experience is on competing wearables that ship blood oxygen on the device itself, no iPhone middleman required.
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Johanna Romero is a Senior News Writer at PhoneArena, covering mobile technology news across Android, iOS, wearables, and the Google ecosystem she knows best. Drawing on 15 years in IT and tech support from 2007 to 2022, she brings a user-friendly eye for the practical features and lesser-known tricks readers care about. Google named her an official #TeamPixel member in 2022, and she also reviews the latest devices on her YouTube channel, JoJo the Techie.
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