Update: Sleep apnea detection lands on the Galaxy Watch

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The sleep apnea detection for Samsung's Galaxy Watches announced at the beginning of June for the German market, among others, is now finally being distributed. Samsung has taken its time to release the function for existing devices.

Updates for Galaxy Watch and Phone

While Samsung delivers the sleep apnea function ex works with the new Galaxy Watch 8 , the feature is now also being rolled out to older models. As we can see from a Galaxy Watch 5, the manufacturer is now offering updates for both the watch and the paired Galaxy smartphone.

Sleep apnea detection can be called up in the Samsung Health Monitor after installation. The app welcomes users with the sentence "Find out if you should talk to your doctor about sleep apnea."

Sleep apnea detection from Galaxy Watch 4 onwards

According to Samsung, sleep apnea detection will be available from the Watch 4 series and later. The function is available on the smartwatches if Wear OS 5.0 or a newer software version is installed on the Galaxy Watch. The function also requires pairing with a Galaxy smartphone with Android 12 or newer.

For sleep apnea detection, the Galaxy Watch uses the integrated "BioActive Sensor" to measure blood oxygen saturation (SpO₂) during sleep. According to Samsung, changes in SpO₂ values are analyzed in connection with apnea and hypopnea patterns. Based on the values, the watch estimates the apnea-hypopnea index to inform users about possible symptoms.

Not a substitute for existing treatments

The manufacturer also points out that only people over the age of 22 who have not yet been diagnosed with sleep apnoea should use the sleep apnoea detection function. Furthermore, the function would "detect signs of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea in the form of significant breathing interruptions over a monitoring period of two nights".

The measurement method is not intended to replace or supplement existing treatments for sleep apnoea. Furthermore, the data may not be used for clinical diagnoses.

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