Apple restores Blood Oxygen on U.S. Apple Watches via iOS 18.6.1 after Customs greenlight

Design‑arounds after patent exclusions are a well‑worn path: in 2012 HTC pushed a software tweak to bypass an ITC exclusion over Apple’s ‘data detectors,’ and in 2018 Apple issued an iOS update in China to address Qualcomm claims. Apple’s SpO2 reroute echoes that lineage, but with a twist—shifting computation off the wearable to escape specific claim language. The deeper trend is the weaponization of health‑tech IP as consumer devices encroach on regulated medical territory, making border agencies (ITC and Customs) de facto tech policymakers. Customs’ nod doesn’t settle validity or infringement; it merely says the redesign is outside the scope of the exclusion, while the Federal Circuit appeal runs on. Over decades, such rulings shape product architecture: functions migrate across device boundaries to thread legal and regulatory needles, fragmenting user experience by market (U.S. watches now differ from the rest of world) and entrenching ecosystem lock‑in (you need an iPhone nearby to see results). On a 100‑year horizon, this episode is a minor feature tweak but a telling data point in how IP regimes, not just engineering or consumer demand, steer the evolution of personal health computing—much as the 2003–2006 RIM–NTP standoff ended with a $612.5M settlement that redirected the mobile email industry’s trajectory.