Apple’s smartwatch may soon play a bigger role in personal health than ever before. New research indicates that the Apple Watch, when paired with data from the Health app, could potentially predict pregnancy with striking accuracy—adding another layer to the device’s evolving role in wellness monitoring.
The discovery stems from Apple’s ongoing Heart and Movement Study, which investigates how everyday health data can reveal significant life changes. By analyzing trends in resting heart rate, heart rate variability, step counts, and general activity over several days, researchers developed predictive models that identified pregnancy with a reported 92% accuracy rate. For comparison, the same system showed 82% accuracy in forecasting diabetes and 76% in predicting infections.
The study drew from an extensive dataset, including more than 400 pregnancies across nearly 400 participants, alongside information from over 24,000 non-pregnant women under 50. What made the difference, researchers noted, was not second-by-second readings but the ability to recognize consistent patterns that develop over a week or more. These long-term signals reflect the physical and behavioral changes that naturally occur during pregnancy.
If further validated, this technology could allow users to recognize pregnancy earlier than traditional testing methods, offering peace of mind and potentially guiding earlier access to care. Still, Apple has emphasized that the feature is not available to consumers yet and remains in the research phase.
Experts caution that such advances also bring ethical and privacy challenges. In regions with restrictive reproductive laws, sensitive health data could create risks for users if not properly protected. Apple and other tech companies will likely face increasing pressure to safeguard this kind of information, ensuring users have full control over how their personal health data is used.
This research underscores the growing role of wearable devices in healthcare. By leveraging artificial intelligence and everyday data, the Apple Watch continues to evolve from a fitness tracker into a powerful diagnostic tool. While pregnancy prediction is still experimental, it offers a glimpse into the future of consumer technology—where a device on your wrist could provide early insights into some of life’s most important health milestones.