The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 has just received a major upgrade for healthcare.
An update to the Samsung Health app (via Engadget) now lets you check your blood oxygen with Samsung’s latest smartwatch. “While running with a Galaxy Watch3, you can now check your VO2max and other advanced metrics,” read the patch notes for version 6.11.0.061 of the app.
VO2 max, when monitoring blood oxygen in terms of layman, measures how much oxygen is present in your blood. It can be used to check how healthy your cardiovascular system is in general, or to see how your exercise improves your body’s ability to carry oxygen. High VO2 max is especially important for people who practice sports and activities that concentrate on endurance, such as running or rowing.
Also present in Samsung Health is support for SpO2 tracking, which monitors the oxygen supply of your blood. This will help you understand when your levels are low; usually a good sign that you need to take a break from exercising to catch your breath properly.
The other major update of the app is able to “track your sleep with the Galaxy Watch3 and receive a Personalized Sleep Score with suggestions to improve your sleep quality”. Similar to other portable sleep, the Galaxy Watch 3 will give you tips on how to improve your nightly rest, as well as a reading of how deep your sleep ran and when you woke up.
However, we are still waiting for the ECG feature of Watch 3. Currently approved by the FDA but not live on the app or devices, this watch will be able to measure your heart rate more accurately, and even detect heart problems. It is already present in the Apple Watch 5, so Samsung would be wise to bring this to market soon to stay competitive with Apple.
