A week after Apple an event to launch the new iPhoneApple Watch and AirPod models, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an Apple Watch feature that can detect sleep apnea in device wearers.

The sleep apnea detection tool comes four days before the launch date of the new Apple Watch Series 10, which launches on September 20. However, owners of existing Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 models can start using the sleep apnea feature today by downloading Apple’s newly released watchOS 11 software.

People who suffer from sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly at night and therefore feel tired in the morning. If sleep apnea goes undetected, it can cause heart problems and other complications in severe cases. Loud snoring can sometimes be a symptom. According to health organizations such as the American Heart Association, an estimated 1 billion people worldwide are affected by this condition, which often goes undiagnosed.

According to the FDA’s approval notice, Apple Watch’s sleep apnea feature is not a diagnostic tool, but rather an over-the-counter device designed to measure the wearer’s risk of sleep apnea. Apple says the new Breathing Disorders health feature is a metric that acts as a “smart watchdog for users’ health.”

The feature works through an accelerometer on the watch, which Apple says detects “small movements on the wrist associated with interruptions in normal breathing patterns” during sleep. Every 30 days, Apple Watch analyzes data on breathing disorders and alerts users with a consistent pattern of sleep interruptions to see a doctor for a possible diagnosis of sleep apnea.

“Enabling consumers everywhere to reliably detect the presence of abnormal breathing patterns during sleep has the potential to help detect a woefully underdiagnosed and serious condition like sleep apnea,” Sairam Parthasarathy, professor of medicine at the University of Arizona and director of the Health Sciences Center for Sleep, Circadian and Neurosciences Center for Sleep, UA Health Sciences, said in a statement. “This is a huge step forward in improving public health.”

The FDA has given the green light to the sleep apnea feature, shortly after the agency approved Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 as non-prescription hearing aids for users with mild to moderate hearing loss as the tech giant continues to cement its position as a player in the health technology market. Hearing experts praised the agency’s approval of the new earbuds as a positive for the OTC hearing market and for the approximately 30 million Americans who suffer from mild to moderate hearing loss.