Samsung has released their Health Monitor app in South Korea, which enables them to track blood pressure thanks to the Galaxy Watch Active 2 smartwatch. Pre-release on schedule; Samsung earlier said the application would be released in the third quarter of this year after obtaining approval from the South Korean Food and Drug Administration in April.
Green Watch Active 2 still won’t work as a full replacement for a traditional cuff of blood pressure; in fact, you need to use one to rate the app every four weeks. That would be great, but eye-based sensors can only measure changes in blood pressure rather than provide accurate readings themselves. With traditional learning as basic, the Samsung app should be very effective at tracking time trends or during doctor visits.
Samsung said that the Health Monitor app will also support ECG (electrocardiogram) heart monitoring from the third quarter this year in South Korea. That’s a feature that Apple introduced with the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018, or is still offering traditional blood pressure tracking services.
Samsung has not announced details of plans to bring these features outside of South Korea. Any such efforts will be subject to approval from local regulatory agencies.