The Apple Watch was originally a lot more health oriented

Across the world right now are countless people eagerly awaiting April and the launch of the Apple Watch, even if it’s features aren’t that different from other smartwatches on the market. It wasn’t always that way, though, and it sounds like Apple’s earlier ideas were a lot more focussed on user health.

According to The Wall Street Journal Apple originally conceived the idea of the Apple Watch as a wearable health monitor. That means instead of just coming with the standard heart rate monitor and pedometer you get in most smartwatches, Apple wanted it to be able to track an awful lot more. Things like blood pressure, heart-rate, stress, and possibly even glucose levels.

That would have been incredibly impressive, and would have certainly given Apple an even bigger boost over the competition. Apparently the only reason this device never came to be is because Apple deemed the current sensory technology as not being up to scratch. As it turned out a number of different things could affect the readings, including the tightness of the watch’s strap and how hairy the user’s arms were.

That’s a shame really, because that device would have been a fantastic addition to the wearable world. Plus if BGR is correct and Apple did want the Apple Watch to monitor blood glucose, it would have made it an incredible medical breakthrough. Not to mention life changing for diabetics across the world.

We’ll just have to wait and see whether any of these features come to be in future iterations of the Apple Watch. Maybe we’ll see some of them in the Apple Watch 2.