AliveCor failed again this week to revive its antitrust case against Apple. A federal appeals court ruled in Apple’s favor, ending AliveCor’s claim that Apple illegally dominated the Apple Watch market for heart rhythm apps.
This decision follows Apple’s earlier win in a related patent fight. Together, the rulings close two major legal fronts that AliveCor used to challenge Apple’s heart-health features on the Apple Watch.
Court’s decision
On January 8, 2026, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling for Apple. The judges rejected AliveCor’s argument that Apple monopolized heart rhythm analysis on Apple Watch.
The court reviewed AliveCor’s claim that Apple changed watchOS in a way that hurt third-party developers. AliveCor said Apple stopped sharing data from an older heart-rate algorithm that its SmartRhythm feature relied on. At the same time, Apple introduced its own Irregular Rhythm Notification feature.
AliveCor argued that this move weakened its app while favoring Apple’s own software. It claimed this behavior violated antitrust law.
Judges disagreed
The judges ruled that Apple acted within the law. They said Apple had no legal duty to keep sharing proprietary technology with competitors.
As the court stated, “The panel affirmed, on different grounds, the district court’s summary judgment in favor of Apple Inc. in medical-technology company AliveCor’s antitrust action alleging monopolization in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”
The ruling explained that companies generally do not have to provide competitors continued access to internal systems. The judges also found that AliveCor did not meet any recognized legal exception that would force Apple to share its technology.
The data dispute
The court also rejected AliveCor’s argument that Apple controlled an essential data resource.
It noted that Apple’s own heart rhythm feature relies on different data. That data, the judges said, remains available to third-party developers through existing APIs. Because of this, the court concluded that AliveCor was not blocked from the market in a way that violates antitrust law.
This decision ends AliveCor’s antitrust challenge against Apple. It also follows Apple’s earlier victory in the patent case, where AliveCor’s claims were invalidated, and the threat of an Apple Watch import ban was removed.
For Apple, the ruling reinforces its right to change its software and APIs, even when those changes affect third-party apps. For developers, it underscores a hard reality. Platform owners can update their systems and are not required to preserve older technologies for competitors.
You can read the full ruling through the court’s official filing.
