Apple Wins Another Round in AliveCor Legal Battle Over Heart Rate Tech
Apple wins AliveCor lawsuit over Apple Watch heart rate tech—court backs lawful product improvements, not antitrust violations.
Matilda
Apple Wins Another Round in AliveCor Legal Battle Over Heart Rate Tech
Apple Wins AliveCor Heart Rate Tech Battle In a major legal win for Apple, a federal appeals court has upheld a 2024 ruling that cleared the tech giant of antitrust allegations tied to changes in its Apple Watch heart rate monitoring system. The decision directly answers a question many consumers and developers have been asking: Did Apple unfairly block third-party heart health apps like AliveCor’s KardiaBand? According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the answer is no—Apple’s software updates were legitimate product enhancements, not anti-competitive maneuvers. Credit: Google The dispute centers on Apple’s 2018 shift from its older Heart Rate during Physical Observation (HRPO) algorithm to a newer, more advanced Heart Rate Neural Network (HRNN) in watchOS 5. AliveCor, maker of the FDA-cleared KardiaBand ECG accessory, claimed this change intentionally crippled its ability to detect irregular heart rhythms—effectively sidelining a key competitor just as Apple prepared to launch its…