Samsung Galaxy Watch unlocks new health-tracking features to rival Oura Ring and Fitbit Air

If you're wearing a Galaxy smartwatch, Samsung is treating you to a major health-tracking app update. The South Korean firm's wearables are designed to track your fitness, manage smart home devices, and provide Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered health insights like sleep apnea detection. This is similar to the recently released Oura Ring 5 and Google's new Fitbit Air. And now with Samsung's new update to the watch's accompanying app, you'll be treated to a slew of handy new features. Existing Galaxy Watch owners will be treated to a redesigned layout, a new Vitals dashboard, and a Heart Health Score.However, key features within this update, like the upcoming Daily Cardio Load, Fitness Index and additional coaching advice, will be reserved for the hotly anticipated Galaxy Watch9 — expected to release later this summer. Here's everything you can expect to find in the app's latest instalment. Samsung's app had a makeover, with everything now organised into five easy-to-navigate sections: Sleep, Activity, Nutrition, Mindfulness and Vitals.Hon Pak, Senior Vice President for Samsung's Digital Health Team, said: 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. Samsung Electronics will continue to expand proactive and personalized health management experiences based on the connected Galaxy ecosystem and digital health innovations.For example, complex health data your watch collects while you're sleeping and moving will be translated into straightforward advice you can actually use. It's similar to having a personal health coach on your wrist who speaks more conversationally instead of using intense medical jargon.This can be found in the revamped Vitals feature. Previously, the watches only monitored specific health metrics to help measure users’ daily Energy Score. Now it tracks five key signals overnight – your heart rate, heart rate variability, breathing rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen levels – then compares them to your normal resting baseline.And instead of the app bombarding you with notifications, it only pings you when it finds something genuinely off, like an abnormal heart rate. This is similar to Oura and Fitbit, which give insights into your workouts, steps, sleep, heart rate, and more without tethering you to a steady stream of notifications from your other devices.If you wake up feeling rough, the update can also help you work out whether you need extra rest or might be coming down with something. This is similar to the features already found in the Oura Ring's app, which divides up your different sleep patterns in a breakdown chart.LATEST DEVELOPMENTS'Massive exploit' of Meta AI chatbot lets hackers break into more than 20,000 Instagram accountsNew Oura Ring update brings one of the Ring 5's most exciting features to Ring 4End of Freeview? UK looks to 'switch off terrestrial television' and replace it with broadbandBest VPN dealsApple unveils slew of child safety features ahead of Keir Starmer's 3-month deadlineThen there's the Heart Health Score, which builds on Samsung's previous Vascular Load feature.It pulls together data about your sleep, stress levels, physical activity and body composition into one simple daily number, making it much easier to spot which habits are helping or hurting your heart health long-term.For fitness enthusiasts, the Daily Cardio Load feature is ideal during a gym session, and you're looking to really push yourself.It measures the strain on your cardiovascular system and calculates your maximum training capacity, then suggests the right intensity and rest periods to hit your goals without overdoing it.It takes out the guesswork on whether you should go all out or take it easy — the watch figures it out for you.The Fitness Index is meant to take things further by analysing your heart rate, VO2 max ( how efficiently your body uses oxygen during exercise), and daily steps, then comparing them against people with similar metrics. It spots your strengths and weaknesses, serving up personalised targets and content to help you improve your overall fitness. There's also a brand-new Hearing Health feature that works across Samsung's Galaxy devices.It monitors the noise levels around you through your watch and delivers personalised insights to protect your ears, whether you're stuck on a noisy commute or blasting music during a workout.This particular feature competes directly with Apple's AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3. It includes a clinical-grade hearing test — an over-the-counter hearing aid feature meant to track mild to moderate hearing loss. The buds also feature Hearing Protection, which is meant to reduce loud environmental noise. Samsung's app update is rolling out to everyone now. Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter