Future AirPods and Beats devices could include a built-in heart-rate sensor
Code found in Apple’s latest beta of iOS 18 contains a reference to unreleased AirPods Pro or Beats with a heart-rate sensor.
On Monday, Apple issued its release-candidate version of iOS 18, making it available to the general public. The operating system reportedly contains a string that references wireless earbuds equipped with a heart-rate sensor, which Apple has yet to announce.
The string in question is used by an operating system component that controls the setup process for Apple’s various wireless headphones and earbuds, such as those belonging to the company’s AirPods and Beats lines of products.
“Wear both earbuds during workouts to track and send your heart rate to Apple Health. Manage in Bluetooth settings,” the text reads.
This latest discovery from 9to5mac appears to corroborate previous rumors about upcoming AirPods devices. Apple’s own patents and patent applications, filed throughout the years, also indicate that the company has been working on improved AirPods with heart-related sensors.
Patent filings from 2017 suggest that Apple wants to use a photoplethysmograph (PPG) sensor at one end of an earbud to monitor the user’s heart rate. PPGs do this by shining a light onto abutting skin and measuring variations in reflectivity. These variations can then be used to characterize blood flow.
Other Apple patent filings contain references to things such as an electrocardiogram sensor, impedance cardiography, galvanic skin response, VO2 sensing, and thermometers included in the device. Patents dating as far back as 2014 indicate Apple considered adding heart-rate sensors to its wireless earbuds.
According to anonymous sources cited in Monday’s report, the new heart-rate sensor is expected to make its debut in 2025 with Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 and PowerBeats Pro 2 wireless earbuds. While PowerBeats Pro 2 were officially announced on September 4, and will be available in 2025, it is unclear if they will actually feature a new heart-rate sensor.
At its Glowtime event on Monday, Apple announced AirPods 4 with Active Noice Cancellation and USB-C charging. During the same event, the company announced that AirPods Max would be updated to use USB-C and that AirPods Pro 2 would receive new software features.
Along with its AirPods-related announcenemts, the company showcased Apple Watch Series 10 and the new iPhone 16 range. New AirPods Pro were not announced, meaning that they could debut in 2025 instead.
