Six years after its debut in South Korea, you still need a traditional blood pressure cuff to calibrate it monthly.
Samsung is rolling out blood pressure tracking to its smartwatch users in the US, following years of availability elsewhere. The update, for Galaxy Watch 4 models or later with at least WatchOS 4.0, lets users monitor heart rate and systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
The feature doesn’t allow Galaxy Watches to independently measure blood pressure; instead, it requires a third-party cuff for baseline blood pressure levels and periodic recalibrations every 28 days. This limitation was evident when Samsung introduced blood pressure tracking in South Korea over six years ago.
Samsung can now offer blood pressure monitoring in the US by classifying it as a “wellness feature” rather than a medical one after years of trying to get FDA clearance—a similar approach was used by fitness tracker maker Whoop last year.
Galaxy Watch users need to download the Samsung Health Monitor app to use the feature, supported on Galaxy phones running Android 12 or later. Samsung plans to add a new passive monitoring feature to the app “later this year” for blood pressure trend observation over time.
Samsung describes the US rollout as “phased” in its press release, so it may take some time for all eligible Galaxy Watch owners to receive it — better late than never, right?