Samsung launches blood pressure app in Australia

Samsung Electronics Australia has launched an app-based study created by The University of California, San Francisco and Sage Bionetworks.

The company has announced the availability of the My BP Lab mobile application on its compatible smartphones and the Galaxy Watch Active wearable that will give users the ability to take blood pressure readings.

Designed by The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the app allows users of compatible Samsung devices to take blood pressure readings via an advanced optic sensor on the back of the devices – on a smartphone, this is done by placing the user’s finger over the device’s sensor.

My BP Lab was created by UCSF and Sage Bionetworks and received funding from a number of organisations, including Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. It is designed to help provide researchers with further insights into the relationship between blood pressure and personal health and forms part of an ongoing study at the university.

Information from each blood pressure reading is included in an ongoing study at the university, which is designed to better understand how stress and emotions can affect the human body. Anonymised data obtained through My BP Lab also provides researchers with information to support further study into the treatment of blood pressure-related conditions.

Using My BP Lab involves a daily diary study that measures blood pressure, stress, emotions and health in users’ daily life over a three-week period, consisting of two to three-minute daily “check-ins”.

The app will be available for download in Australia from the Google Play Store and the Samsung Galaxy Store and for use on the new Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+, Galaxy S9/S9+, Galaxy Note9, as well as the Galaxy Watch Active wearable device.

Samsung Electronics Australia also announced this month the availability of Calm on a number of its devices, a smartphone app designed to help users track and manage sleep, and support meditation and relaxation.

Wendy Berry Mendes, PhD, principal investigator at the university’s department of psychiatry, said that as the largest risk factor of heart disease, blood pressure is not something to be ignored.

“My BP Lab provides a user-friendly vehicle for users to track blood pressure throughout the day, week and month, with the ultimate goal of helping people to live longer and healthier lives.

“We believe that prevention is the key to reducing blood-pressure related conditions, and what our app uniquely offers is the potential to make prevention behaviours more easily accessible for people. We’re really excited about the early results we’re seeing from the study and hope to see them continue.”