If you’re a Samsung Galaxy Watch user currently living in the United States then you’re in luck, as your watch now has another feature in its arsenal: blood pressure tracking.
As of yesterday, Samsung has started a rollout of adding blood pressure tracking to existing Galaxy Watches in the US, going as far back as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, which first came to market back in 2021.
Blood pressure tracking was already available on certain Galaxy Watches elsewhere in the world, but its inclusion on US devices was dependent on approval from the Government’s Food and Drug Administration, which has now been granted – at long last, just nine months after the Galaxy Watch 8 series went on sale.
The feature can be used to monitor your blood pressure and let you know if there’s anything to be concerned about. Given that high blood pressure is a key cause of heart disease, this is a great feature to have on hand to hopefully motivate users to improve their cardiovascular health.
Samsung
There is a key caveat, though, as Samsung states that in order for the feature to work as intended, users will need to calibrate their watch every 28-days with the help of an upper arm cuff. This probably won’t be an issue for users who obsess over their health data, but it does make the process a bit more convoluted for the average user who may not even own one.
Note that Galaxy Fit devices are not included in this update. The phased rollout started on 31 March, so keep checking for available updates. You need Wear OS 4 and Android 12 or later.
Keeping up with the Joneses
It’s no surprise that Samsung has brought this feature to its watches, given that hypertension alerts were a huge part of the Apple Watch Series 11’s marketing campaign.
Still, without bringing a cuff into the mix, smartwatches are limited on the accuracy of the data that they can provide – it’s similar to the conundrum of trying to get non-invasive blood sugar readings into a smartwatch, something that Apple has been rumoured to be working on for quite some time.
There is an alternative currently available in the Huawei Watch D2, which features an inflatable cuff as part of its watch band and we’ve yet to see any other brands attempt to replicate this design.
The news comes hot on the heels of Google’s first-look announcement of a new Fitbit device, which looks to mimic the display-less Whoop Strap 5.0.
As consumers choose between the best smartwatches, the best fitness trackers and even the best smart rings, it only makes sense for companies to bolster their feature sets to retain users.