Samsung have reported it received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their upcoming irregular heart rhythm notification feature on the Galaxy Watches.
It is meant to work alongside the FDA-cleared EKG feature and arrive on the upcoming Galaxy Watch 6.
It is quite similar to Fitbit’s AFib monitoring feature functionally. This was introduced last year, following Apple’s release of the EKG spot-checks.
The irregular heart rhythm notifications do not require the user to do anything, unlike the EKG measurements. Once it has been enabled, the Galaxy Watch will continue to monitor for irregular heart rate rhythms. It will only alert the user should a certain number of measurements be irregular. The user will then be prompted to take an EKG.
This is meant to become part of the upcoming One UI 5 Watch update announced by Samsung last week.
In a press release Samsung said it will come “first to the upcoming Galaxy Watch devices later this year” before expanding to previous editions.
There are plans to open a One UI 5 Watch beta later this month, to existing Galaxy Watch 4 and 5 users. It is however unclear whether this new addition will be part of said beta.
This feature fits in with Samsung’s goal to make the Galaxy Watch devices a more holistic health tool.
Most of these updates are a way to close the gap with other makers of smartwatches.
