Samsung Galaxy Watches Finally have a feature that Apple has had for a while – BGR

If you’re a fan of the Samsung Galaxy Watch and you can’t buy products from competitors like Apple, the company has good news for you. While Samsung’s Galaxy smartwatches and Apple’s other models often go a few steps further, the Cupertino giant sometimes has an upper hand over its South Korean competition. For example, although the Samsung Galaxy Watch and Apple Watch have health sensors for ECG and body temperature, Apple’s smartwatches in the US have had an advantage over Samsung in monitoring blood pressure so far.

Apple has introduced blood pressure notifications to several Apple Watch models in 2025 by raising the existing heart rate. Now, Samsung’s US smartwatches are finally getting a blood pressure monitoring feature a few months after Apple released its version. The feature comes seven years after the South Korean tech company first revealed plans to add blood pressure monitoring to its smartwatches.

Interestingly, Samsung Galaxy Watch users have had this feature in the company’s home country for almost six years since its launch in June 2020. For the US market, the company had to wait for approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before it could make the feature available on its Galaxy smartwatches.

Samsung’s blood pressure monitor uses the built-in heart rate sensors found on the Galaxy Watch. These sensors can measure your systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels in addition to your heart rate. However, unlike Apple’s blood pressure monitoring feature, Samsung’s feature comes with a twist. Before all of these measurements can take place on the back, the company requires you to use a separately sold upper cuff to calibrate your watch.

In addition, Samsung requires you to change it every 28 days to ensure that the blood pressure measurements are accurate. This periodic update is also a requirement for users in South Korea, where Samsung introduced this feature a few years ago. That said, Apple also requires users who receive a blood pressure notification to provide seven days of external blood pressure data.

But despite this requirement, which may seem like a hindrance to some, Samsung makes it clear that the feature does not make the Galaxy Watch a medical device. Samsung says the feature is “not intended to prevent or diagnose high blood pressure.” It is a practical smartwatch device that can help you live a healthy life.

Samsung’s blood pressure monitoring feature is a welcome addition to its smartwatches, but unfortunately, not everyone will have the opportunity to use it due to the requirements. First, this feature is not available on all of the company’s watches. According to Samsung, it is exclusive to the Galaxy Watch 4 series and later models as long as Watch OS 4.0 is installed.

Another important requirement that you will need to meet, even if you have a suitable watch, is access to the Samsung Health Monitor app, which is only available on Galaxy phones running Android version 12 and above. The app is available from Samsung’s Galaxy Store, and you can download it to your watch and your Galaxy smartphone.

As with Apple’s implementation where you need to enable the Hypertension notification manually, you will need to log into the Samsung Health Monitor app to enable it. Finally, as mentioned earlier, you will need to get a regular blood pressure cuff to calibrate your watch once every 28 days for accurate measurements.