There is no FDA-approved glucose watch. As of February 2024, the FDA has not authorized, cleared, or approved any smartwatch or smart ring that measures or estimates blood glucose levels on its own. If you’ve seen products online claiming to read your blood sugar from your wrist without breaking the skin, the FDA explicitly warns against buying or using them.
The FDA’s Warning on Glucose Watches
In February 2024, the FDA issued a safety communication with an unusually blunt message: “Do not buy or use smartwatches or smart rings that claim to measure blood glucose levels.” The warning applies to any wearable that claims to measure glucose without piercing the skin, regardless of brand or manufacturer.
The concern isn’t just that these devices are unproven. It’s that inaccurate readings can be genuinely dangerous. If you have diabetes and rely on a faulty glucose reading to decide how much insulin to take, you could end up with dangerously low blood sugar. The FDA notes this can lead to mental confusion, coma, or death within hours. That’s not a theoretical risk; it’s the reason glucose monitors go through rigorous regulatory review before reaching the market.
What About Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch?
Neither Apple nor Samsung sells a watch that measures blood glucose. Both companies have been reported to be developing non-invasive glucose sensing technology, but neither has submitted a product for FDA review or received any form of clearance. The listings you may see on Amazon or other marketplaces for “glucose monitoring smartwatches” are not from these major manufacturers and have no FDA authorization.
The technical challenge is enormous. Measuring glucose through the skin without a needle requires detecting tiny chemical signals through layers of tissue, sweat, and variable blood flow. Optical sensors, radio-frequency sensors, and other approaches have been explored for decades, but none has yet proven accurate enough to pass FDA standards. A UK-based company called Afon Technology developed a radio-frequency wrist sensor and initially hoped to launch by early 2024, but there’s no public evidence of progress through the regulatory process.
What the FDA Has Approved for Wrist-Based Glucose Data
While no watch can measure glucose on its own, there is an FDA-cleared system that delivers glucose readings directly to an Apple Watch. The Dexcom G7 continuous glucose monitor received clearance for a “Direct-to-Watch” feature that lets its watch app connect straight to the G7 transmitter, a small sensor worn on the body that reads glucose through a tiny filament under the skin.
This is a key distinction. The glucose measurement still happens through a sensor inserted just below the skin surface. The watch simply receives and displays the data. With the Direct-to-Watch feature, you don’t need to keep your iPhone nearby for the Apple Watch to show real-time glucose values and alerts. You do need a compatible iPhone to set up and enable the feature initially, but after that, the watch communicates with the sensor independently.
This is currently the closest thing to a “glucose watch” that has FDA clearance, and it still requires wearing a separate body-worn sensor. The watch itself is just the display.
Why FDA Clearance Takes So Long
A truly non-invasive glucose watch would represent an entirely new type of medical device. There’s no existing FDA-cleared product like it, which means a manufacturer can’t use the standard 510(k) pathway that lets new devices piggyback on the safety record of similar products already on the market. Instead, a company would likely need to go through the De Novo classification process, which is designed for novel devices that don’t have a predicate. The FDA evaluates whether the device can be safely classified and what special controls it needs.
Even established continuous glucose monitors face accuracy challenges. Certain medications and supplements, including high-dose acetaminophen and vitamin C, can cause falsely elevated glucose readings on current FDA-cleared sensors. A non-invasive wrist sensor would face these same interference issues plus entirely new ones related to reading glucose through intact skin. Any company seeking approval would need to demonstrate accuracy across a wide range of real-world conditions: different skin types, temperatures, hydration levels, and physical activities.
What You Can Use Right Now
If you want glucose data on your wrist today, the realistic option is a continuous glucose monitor paired with a smartwatch. The Dexcom G7 with its Direct-to-Watch feature on Apple Watch is the most seamless version of this setup. Other CGM systems, like those from Abbott (Libre), also have companion apps that can push notifications to smartwatches, though they typically require a phone as an intermediary.
These systems require a prescription and involve wearing a small sensor, usually on the back of your upper arm or abdomen, that’s replaced every 10 to 15 days. They’re primarily intended for people with diabetes, though some are marketed to a broader wellness audience. The sensors measure glucose in the fluid just below your skin and transmit readings every few minutes, giving you a continuous stream of data rather than the single snapshot a finger prick provides.
If you’ve come across a cheap smartwatch online that claims to read blood sugar from your wrist with no additional sensor, skip it. It hasn’t been through FDA review, and the readings it produces could be random numbers dressed up to look like medical data.