The long-awaited ECG feature for Samsung Galaxy Watch models is now live in the US.
The feature was included on 2019’s Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, and a central part of the story for the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 3.
But Samsung only had clearance for use of the feature in South Korea, but it’s now available to use in the US. The company announced FDA clearance at the launch of the Galaxy Watch 3 earlier this month.
Just like the Apple Watch Series 6, you can manually take an ECG scan to look for atrial fibrillation (Afib).
The app is fired up on the Galaxy Watch itself, where you hold your thumb to the bezel and finger to the top button.
The results are presented in the Samsung Health Monitor app, where you can also log any symptoms such as dizziness or fatigue.
ECG has been landing on plenty of new wearables, and is now a key feature of high end devices.
The Apple Watch Series 5 and 6 have the feature, and the Fitbit Sense health watch, which received FDA clearance in September 2020 and will land on the device in October.
However, not all companies have found the regulatory side of ECG as easy as those brands.
Withings only has clearance for ECG in the EU, and we’ve just seen the Oppo Watch ECG launch in China – but seems unlikely it will make its way to the West any time soon.
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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.