I am surprised that there is no blood pressure monitor yet in the watch. That seems easier to do, especially as you can take a basic BP reading on the phone using your camera and 3rd party apps.
This would be massive. A major breakthrough for diabetics and also everybody else.
There have been numerous pointers over the last couple of years to technology getting there at last. Huawei's Richard Yu slipped up last year at a watch presentation and said it had glucose monitoring before quickly correcting himself. There is no way that the word 'glucose' could get into that sentence except if it was on his mind for some other reason.
Whatever we get and from whatever companies, it probably won't be a bulletproof implementation off the bat, but it will be a game changer nevertheless. Especially while people are asleep.
I’ve heard this functionality referred to as a “holy grail” of tech bio monitoring — a little bizarre to think Apple and Samsung would achieve it in the very same year...
I’ll admit right up front that I know absolutely nothing about blood pressure but quite a bit about blood glucose levels. From my very limited understanding of blood pressure, you’d need some additional sensors for that to work. Most right now use that cuff that goes fully around your arm and certainly doesn’t work on the wrist. So, just as with the BG, it would have to be a whole new way of measuring it without having anything go around your wrist. Very curious what is being done in that space.
A Galaxy Watch 3 would measure your blood pressure on the wrist if you were in South Korea or Australia (I
don't know where else it has been certified already).
Unless I’m remembering incorrectly, Samsung requires you to use a traditional cuff first before using that and it needs calibrated on a regular basis. That’d be a non-starter for Apple. Apple’s approach of integrating with existing cuffs seems like a better solution and one that is more accurate.
I’ve heard this functionality referred to as a “holy grail” of tech bio monitoring — a little bizarre to think Apple and Samsung would achieve it in the very same year...
They won’t. Reset expectations here. This will likely be a “your BG level is trending high. You may be pre-diabetic” thing versus a “Your BG is 97 and rising at 3mg/dL” thing. It will likely be able to detect high levels which are easier to detect and watch those trends overtime. Won’t be a real-time sensor for diabetics.
Actually, there is a company that is very close to perfecting this. They will call theirs the U-Band. The company is KNOW labs. Also trades under this symbol $KNWN. They are currently undergoing testing at Mayo Clinic. This stand-alone wrist band will measure blood glucose levels ACCURATELY, and will be used to replace blood glucose monitoring. Of course it has to be trialed and then FDA approved, so no telling how long, maybe mid 2022.
I would have preferred blood pressure monitoring over glucose monitoring..
They are likely working on something there as well but it may not be possible with just an optical sensor like BG monitor is. In the US, there are 88 million that are pre-diabetic and 35 million are diabetic. That is a staggering number of people and higher than the number of people who have high blood pressure which is around 108 million. Both of these are problem areas that need additional research but Apple can only do so much and only fit so much into the watch. If they are able to use an existing sensor and offer a feature that would have potential benefits for up to 123 million people, probably a good choice to make.
Well as far as the technology is concerned, I believe it's much easier to build a blood pressure monitor in the watch as compared to a glucose monitor. I don't think there is any non-invasive glucose monitoring device out there right now, let alone fitting it into a tiny watch..!
I’ll admit right up front that I know absolutely nothing about blood pressure but quite a bit about blood glucose levels. From my very limited understanding of blood pressure, you’d need some additional sensors for that to work. Most right now use that cuff that goes fully around your arm and certainly doesn’t work on the wrist. So, just as with the BG, it would have to be a whole new way of measuring it without having anything go around your wrist. Very curious what is being done in that space.
I was at the dentist just last week, and they used a wrist sphygmomanometer to measure my BP. The cuff was slightly bigger than my Apple Watch band (which I had to remove to get the measurement) and had a display about the same size as my 44mm S6, maybe a little bigger. It seemed reasonably accurate, based on what I know about my BP trends.
So the technology already exists. Now we just need Apple to wave its magic wand.
I’ll admit right up front that I know absolutely nothing about blood pressure but quite a bit about blood glucose levels. From my very limited understanding of blood pressure, you’d need some additional sensors for that to work. Most right now use that cuff that goes fully around your arm and certainly doesn’t work on the wrist. So, just as with the BG, it would have to be a whole new way of measuring it without having anything go around your wrist. Very curious what is being done in that space.
A Galaxy Watch 3 would measure your blood pressure on the wrist if you were in South Korea or Australia (I
don't know where else it has been certified already).
Unless I’m remembering incorrectly, Samsung requires you to use a traditional cuff first before using that and it needs calibrated on a regular basis. That’d be a non-starter for Apple. Apple’s approach of integrating with existing cuffs seems like a better solution and one that is more accurate.
You are correct that the Samsung Watch 3 requires calibration with a traditional cuff, but to me (and probably to you) that would be reassuring. For now I link my BP monitor to the app, but having it on my smartwatch directly would be convenient.
With that said I would think only a very few of us would benefit from constant monitoring by BP or ECG/EKG sensors. Yes there are those few that should under a doctors recommendation. My doctor asked me to check mine three times a day for two weeks, but otherwise told me an occasional check is all that should be necessary. Same with the 6-lead EKG monitor we have, no need to use it often. Constant glucose monitoring on the other hand would be a HUGE benefit for (pre)diabetics, and useful even for those with a family history.
I’ll admit right up front that I know absolutely nothing about blood pressure but quite a bit about blood glucose levels. From my very limited understanding of blood pressure, you’d need some additional sensors for that to work. Most right now use that cuff that goes fully around your arm and certainly doesn’t work on the wrist. So, just as with the BG, it would have to be a whole new way of measuring it without having anything go around your wrist. Very curious what is being done in that space.
A Galaxy Watch 3 would measure your blood pressure on the wrist if you were in South Korea or Australia (I
don't know where else it has been certified already).
Also recently certified for use in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, and the UK
I’ll admit right up front that I know absolutely nothing about blood pressure but quite a bit about blood glucose levels. From my very limited understanding of blood pressure, you’d need some additional sensors for that to work. Most right now use that cuff that goes fully around your arm and certainly doesn’t work on the wrist. So, just as with the BG, it would have to be a whole new way of measuring it without having anything go around your wrist. Very curious what is being done in that space.
A Galaxy Watch 3 would measure your blood pressure on the wrist if you were in South Korea or Australia (I
don't know where else it has been certified already).
Unless I’m remembering incorrectly, Samsung requires you to use a traditional cuff first before using that and it needs calibrated on a regular basis. That’d be a non-starter for Apple. Apple’s approach of integrating with existing cuffs seems like a better solution and one that is more accurate.
On Samsungs homepage it says
"It requires a one-time calibration when
using the app for the first time."
Not sure whether you have a blood pressure problem yourself. I have one and
this is what I've been doing for years.
Putting on the cuf every day at least once and
measure my blood pressure.
I take it also on my travels (well since COVID I
haven’t had any, but this will change soon)
With Samsung
Galaxy Watch 3 or Watch Active 2 I would calibrate it only once. That’s it. For
me and many other people this would be the perfect solution. I don’t know how “Apple’s
approach of integrating with existing cuffs seems” would be better. Even if I had to calibrate it once per month, it would be a huge improvement, but again only once is sufficient.
The reason why I
hadn’t buy it yet was that it was not certified in EU and therefore not
available. But this changed today. According to Sammobile
“Samsung announced today that it’s expanding the
blood pressure and ECG tracking features of the Galaxy Watch 3 and the Galaxy
Watch Active 2 to 31 more countries.“
The EU countries all included which is perfect for me.
I’ll admit right up front that I know absolutely nothing about blood pressure but quite a bit about blood glucose levels. From my very limited understanding of blood pressure, you’d need some additional sensors for that to work. Most right now use that cuff that goes fully around your arm and certainly doesn’t work on the wrist. So, just as with the BG, it would have to be a whole new way of measuring it without having anything go around your wrist. Very curious what is being done in that space.
A Galaxy Watch 3 would measure your blood pressure on the wrist if you were in South Korea or Australia (I
don't know where else it has been certified already).
Also recently certified for use in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, and the UK
Thank you. Just read your post after found it out myself.
Comments
This would be massive. A major breakthrough for diabetics and also everybody else.
There have been numerous pointers over the last couple of years to technology getting there at last. Huawei's Richard Yu slipped up last year at a watch presentation and said it had glucose monitoring before quickly correcting himself. There is no way that the word 'glucose' could get into that sentence except if it was on his mind for some other reason.
Whatever we get and from whatever companies, it probably won't be a bulletproof implementation off the bat, but it will be a game changer nevertheless. Especially while people are asleep.
I'm anxiously waiting for this.
So the technology already exists. Now we just need Apple to wave its magic wand.
With that said I would think only a very few of us would benefit from constant monitoring by BP or ECG/EKG sensors. Yes there are those few that should under a doctors recommendation. My doctor asked me to check mine three times a day for two weeks, but otherwise told me an occasional check is all that should be necessary. Same with the 6-lead EKG monitor we have, no need to use it often. Constant glucose monitoring on the other hand would be a HUGE benefit for (pre)diabetics, and useful even for those with a family history.
On Samsungs homepage it says
"It requires a one-time calibration when using the app for the first time."
https://www.samsung.com/au/support/mobile-devices/measure-bp-on-samsung-watch/
Not sure whether you have a blood pressure problem yourself. I have one and this is what I've been doing for years.
With Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 or Watch Active 2 I would calibrate it only once. That’s it. For me and many other people this would be the perfect solution. I don’t know how “Apple’s approach of integrating with existing cuffs seems” would be better. Even if I had to calibrate it once per month, it would be a huge improvement, but again only once is sufficient.
The reason why I hadn’t buy it yet was that it was not certified in EU and therefore not available. But this changed today. According to Sammobile
“Samsung announced today that it’s expanding the blood pressure and ECG tracking features of the Galaxy Watch 3 and the Galaxy Watch Active 2 to 31 more countries.“
The EU countries all included which is perfect for me.