Samsung just announced a major update to the Samsung Health app for Galaxy Watch that launches on June 8. The announcement says the update will highlight "key health features" that will be included in the forthcoming Galaxy Watch 9.
“Samsung Health is evolving to connect health data measured by Galaxy Watch with AI-based insights, enabling users to understand their physical and mental condition more easily and intuitively,” said Hon Pak, Samsung's Senior VP and head of Digital Health Team for Mobile eXperience said in the announcement. Here's what's coming and they do.
Vitals
The biggest updates appear to be features that combine multiple data points for a more holistic look at your health. That starts with the new Vitals feature.
According to Samsung, Vitals analyzes five "key overnight bio-signals": blood oxygen, heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate and skin temperature. These are measured against your resting baseline and the app will only send notifications if it detects "meaningful deviations," which could indicate that you need more rest or are fighting an illness.
There are supposed to be fewer notifications so that you're not overwhelmed.
Heart Health Score
Like Vitals, the new Heart Health Score tracks multiple data points and combines the information into a single daily metric. The data comes from the Vascular Load tracking introduced with the Galaxy Watch 8 last yaer.
Vascular Load monitors vascular stress via insights found in sleep, stress and activity monitoring. It's not combined with body composition data to create the Heart Health Score. This should give you a better idea of your heart health.
Samsung does stress that these features are for wellness and not for diagnosis or treatment.
Daily Cardio Load and Fitness Index
The next two features are fitness focused. Daily Cardio Load is supposed to help you understand accumulated cardiovascular strains. It can recommend training targets and rest times to help you train without risking burnout or injury.
Fitness Index "ensures exercise routines are working." It analyzes heart rate, V02 max, and daily steps against your peers. This is supposed to deliver personalized content and goals so that you can make targeted improvements.
Updated Interface and capabilities
To make these new features easier to understand Samsung says that the Health app introducing a streamlined layout that focuses on five "core pillars": Sleep, Activity, Nutrition, Mindfulness and Vitals. The update is supposed to let you quickly access daily wellness tips and your Energy Score from the home screen.
Additionally, Samsung is introducing a new "Hearing Health" feature that lets the Galaxy Watch monitor surrounding ambient noise to help protect your ears by determining if it's too loud.
Availability
Several times the Samsung announcement seems to indicate that these features will be a major part of the next generation of Galaxy Watches.
"The newly announced health features will first be available on the upcoming Galaxy Watch."
Confusingly, that seems to indicate that people using older Galaxy Watches won't be able to use anything in this update yet. We reached out to Samsung for clarity on this.
“The features announced today are part of an upcoming Samsung Health update. Availability of specific features may vary by device and market," a Samsung spokesperson told us in a statement.
I'm not sure that clears things up, especially in regard to what's coming to currently available Galaxy Watches.
Meanwhile, the Samsung Health app update starts rolling out on June 8. You do need have Android 11 or higher and Samsung Health app version 6.30.2 or higher to access these new features.
