The wearables were launched with the hardware required for the features, but needed approval from local health authorities before reaching users. — Samsung
Support for the long-awaited electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood pressure (BP) monitoring features on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro is finally available to Malaysians.
According to Samsung’s announcement, both features were enabled on Jan 25, and comes after both the ECG and BP apps received approval from the country’s Medical Device Authority (MDA).
The monitoring features had previously been exclusive to certain other regions due to it requiring approval from local health authorities.
For those who are looking to make use of the features, a few extra steps will be required in order to calibrate the device, particularly for BP monitoring.
An upper-arm blood pressure cuff will be needed to calibrate the device with an initial reading, after which the device will be able to measure and keep track of a user’s BP.
However, Samsung does say that the cuff-based calibration will need to be done regularly at 28-day intervals.
Calibrating the ECG monitor is a bit more simple, only requiring the device to be worn and the user to be sitting still for 30 seconds.
The collected ECG data can then be synced to a Galaxy smartphone and used to create a PDF report.
Both monitoring features can be accessed via the Samsung Health Monitor app.
For more precise steps, Samsung includes more detailed instruction on their website.
While the features can be useful in keeping track of a user’s current health status, Samsung emphasised that it is not meant to replace treatment and diagnosis by a healthcare professional.
Samsung Malaysia has also confirmed that the features will be making their way to the previous generations’ Galaxy Watch 3 and 4, which – similar to the Watch 5 – were launched with the necessary hardware for it.
The Watch 4 is expected to receive support for both ECG and BP monitoring sometime this year, followed by the Watch 3 at a later unspecified date.
