News

Apple Rumored To Be Trialing Blood Glucose Management

The Cupertino company is reportedly exploring the benefits for pre-diabetic users, though public release plans remain uncertain.

Published

2 years ago

October 27, 2024

Nour Nasir

Apple

Apple is reportedly exploring new ways to monitor blood glucose levels, this time focusing on software-based solutions. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple has already tested an app specifically aimed at helping pre-diabetic users manage diet and lifestyle choices. While Apple currently has no plans to launch the app to the public, it may influence future health-focused offerings.

The app was reportedly tested internally, with Apple identifying potential employee test subjects using blood test data. Participants were chosen if they were at risk of developing Type-2 diabetes and given software to actively monitor their blood sugar via various devices available on the market, logging glucose changes in response to their food choices. The app tracked these trends, correlating dietary adjustments to blood sugar levels.

Gurman mentions that Apple has since paused the app’s testing to concentrate on other health-related features. Apple’s Health app currently lacks a meal tracking feature — something that’s readily available on competing platforms. The report also suggests Apple could eventually integrate third-party glucose-tracking capabilities into its own ecosystem.

Also Read: Apple Watch Gets UAE Approval For Sleep Apnea Detection

The recent experiments by Apple are said to be separate from the company’s long-term goal of developing a non-invasive method for monitoring blood glucose levels — a project that has been under exploration for around 15 years. Apple’s current prototype device for non-invasive glucose monitoring is reportedly about the size of an iPhone and uses laser technology to penetrate the skin with light.

Gurman speculates that Apple’s initial consumer version may take the form of an alert system that notifies users if they are at risk of pre-diabetes, with specific blood glucose level readings possibly arriving in later versions of the device.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.