The Apple Watch may become a popular gadget among diabetics, as the device will come with an app that will let them keep track of their glucose levels.
The app, created by medical device maker DexCom, will be tasked with continuously monitoring the user's blood sugar levels, according to The Wall Street Journal. This data will then be transferred into a graph on the device's screen for users to look at and review.
There are currently 29 million people in the U.S. who have diabetes, with between 5 and 10 percent of them having Type 1 diabetes. People with this condition have trouble converting glucose into energy and need to take insulin and constantly monitor their blood sugar to make sure it isn't at a dangerous level. If a person's blood sugar is too high or too low, it can result in life-threatening conditions.
DexCom's app will work with a small monitor that Apple Watch owners will wear around their abdomen like a body sensor and use to measure glucose levels every five minutes, CNET reported. Collected data will then be sent to a remote handheld device, then to the owner's iPhone before being sent to the watch. Users won't have to check their iPhone or DexCom's handheld device for the information.
Apple has been looking to release its high-tech watch as a health and fitness tracker, but the Food and Drug Administration requires such health devices and apps to have regulatory approval. While the FDA refers to glucose-monitoring software as Class III, which meant they need the highest level of regulatory approval, such guidelines have changed since the creation of NightScout, a system that keeps track of glucose levels over the Internet.
Under the FDA's new rules, DexCom's monitors will still be Class III devices since they can't directly connect to the body, but apps that only show data on mobile devices will be Class II, which means they don't need prior approval, the Journal reported. However, these apps still need to be registered with the agency.
DexCom will release two different apps for Apple Watch, with one designed to show the user the data and the other designed to show the data to another person, such as a doctor who might need to monitor the user's glucose levels, CNET reported.
Diabetics will have to wait until the Apple Watch's release in April to try these apps out.
