Connected Care: 3 Predictions for the Future of Wireless Healthcare

The future of wellness will be increasingly wireless. Bluetooth and other short-range wireless technologies are now central to the evolution of modern healthcare. What began with step counters and early fitness trackers has expanded into a diverse ecosystem of connected devices that support personal wellness, help people manage chronic conditions at home, and create new models of clinical care delivery.

The scale of this shift is what stands out. According to ABI Research, 477 million wireless wearables are expected to ship annually by 2029, highlighting the widespread adoption of these devices and how they’re becoming central to people’s daily health routines.

Looking ahead, several distinct trends are shaping the future of connected healthcare. Together, the predictions presented below point toward a landscape where personal devices, home health tools, and structured clinical monitoring programs increasingly work together to deliver continuous, data-informed insight.

Prediction #1: The Rise of Wearables for Personal Health and Wellness

Wearables have long served as the average consumer’s first foray into connected health. Early devices centered on simple activity and sleep tracking. However, improvements in sensing, battery life, and wireless connectivity have transformed them into multi-sensor systems capable of gathering in-depth information about a person’s health throughout the day.

More than 70 million Bluetooth-enabled smart rings will be shipped annually by 2029, according to ABI Research.

Market research and forecasts from the 2025 Bluetooth market update reflect this expanding role. Forecasts suggest that 34 million sports, fitness, and wellness trackers equipped with Bluetooth will be shipped this year alone, and adoption continues to accelerate.

Smaller and more discreet form factors are emerging as serious alternatives to wrist-worn devices. Bluetooth smart rings, for example, are projected to grow rapidly, with more than 70 million units expected to ship annually by 2029. The ability to wear them all day long gives them an advantage in collecting continuous physiological data with minimal user friction.

These devices aren’t replacing traditional wearables but complementing them. Together, they reflect a broader trend: People are increasingly comfortable integrating passive health insight into everyday life. Reliable wireless performance plays an important role here, enabling wearables to synchronize frequently without interrupting battery life or user experience.

Prediction #2: Consumer Electronics Expand Medical Insights Beyond the Clinic

Beyond consumer-oriented wearables, a significant number of devices are designed specifically to support people managing their health at home. This includes blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, thermometers, connected scales, glucometers, and a growing class of wearable patches.

These devices may not always be worn continuously, but they support self-management through periodic measurements that help people track chronic conditions or monitor recovery.

By 2029, annual shipments of Bluetooth wearables for healthcare purposes will reach 200 million, according to ABI Research.

These categories are growing in parallel with wellness wearables. By 2029, 200 million Bluetooth healthcare wearables are expected to ship globally, representing a substantial share of the broader wearables landscape. At the same time, 60 million Bluetooth home health-monitoring devices will ship annually by the end of the decade, reflecting the steady adoption of tools that help people record key health metrics in home environments.

This segment illustrates a critical bridge between personal wellness and more structured healthcare use. It includes both continuous and intermittent measurement devices. While they’re often used independently, many form the technological base for more formal care models.

Prediction #3: Remote Patient Monitoring Becomes a Pillar of Medical Care

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) programs represent the convergence of personal healthcare devices and clinical workflows. They make it possible for providers to observe chronic conditions over time, track recovery after procedures, and intervene earlier when concerning patterns emerge.

Growth projections indicate the rise of RPM. Estimates show that 26 million Bluetooth patient monitoring devices will ship annually by 2029, including connected blood-pressure cuffs, pulse oximeters, continuous glucose monitors, ECG patches, and other sensors designed for clinical-grade data collection. These devices gather longitudinal information rather than single in-clinic measurements, giving clinicians a more complete view of a patient’s condition over time.

ABI Research estimates that approximately 475 million wearable devices will be shipped with Bluetooth per year by 2029.

Demographic forces also reinforce this shift. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.4 billion people will be 60 years or older by 2030, rising to 2.1 billion by 2050. As populations age and health systems face rising demand for chronic care management, scalable wireless monitoring tools will play a critical role in supporting care outside traditional facilities.

RPM doesn’t rely exclusively on wearables. Still, wearables increasingly enhance monitoring programs by offering continuous context around movement, sleep, recovery, heart rate variability, and other trends that support early detection. In practice, RPM blends a mix of intermittent home devices and continuous wearable sensors, each delivering different types of insight.

The Connected Health Ecosystem Ahead

Across wellness wearables, home health devices, and remote patient monitoring systems, wireless connectivity will continue driving a shift from episodic check-ins to a more continuous view of personal health.

As these devices become more embedded in daily routines, they will be expected to operate reliably with minimal power, integrate smoothly with smartphones and cloud platforms, and produce measurements that remain consistent across environments. Comfort and ease of use will remain essential, since continuous data depends on tools people can adopt without friction.

Looking to 2026 and beyond, the momentum behind connected health is set to accelerate. Wearables will evolve further, and household devices will become an even more common part of self-management. On top of that, remote patient monitoring will expand as care models move toward more distributed, data-driven approaches.

The future of connected health will be shaped by how effectively these technologies work together to deliver timely insight, support clinical decisions, and help people stay healthier wherever they’re located.