Samsung Galaxy Watch users are getting a completely redesigned, AI-first app for a 'personalized experience', whether they like it or not — and we only have to look at Fitbit to see how well that's going | Tech Radar
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Samsung Galaxy Watch users are getting a completely redesigned, AI-first app for a 'personalized experience', whether they like it or not — and we only have to look at Fitbit to see how well that's going
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Samsung Galaxy Watch users are getting a completely redesigned health app with new features
These new features include Vitals, Cardio Load and a dedicated Heart Health score
The app is now AI-first, designed to turn Galaxy Watches into 'AI-powered health companions'
Samsung Galaxy Watch and Samsung Galaxy Ring users are going to see some big changes in the Samsung Health app. Referred to as 'a new experience' by Samsung press material, the redesigned health app includes new metrics and AI-powered summaries to break it all down for you.
Samsung says the new app 'uses AI to translate overnight and daily biometric data into personalized health guidance, helping users better understand everything from recovery and heart health to training load and overall wellbeing'.
This sounds familiar. Fitbit has recently undergone a complete AI-first redesign, too, including a name change to Google Health. It's not all been sunshine and roses, as many Fitbit users intensely dislike the forced pivot to AI, with what was Fitbit Premium now entirely revolving around its new AI Google Health Coach tool.
Samsung Health already uses AI in the background, such as using machine learning to calculate stats like your Energy Score, but this redesigned app is also shifting generative AI to the forefront. The timing of this move is likely to draw serious ire from Samsung users.
Fortunately, it's not as bad as all that, despite Samsung's similar AI-forward messaging and app redesign, so Galaxy Watch users can lower their pitchforks (for now). For one thing, Samsung hasn't introduced a paywall to Samsung Health; otherwise, there would be riots in the streets.
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Second, on closer inspection, the redesign is also slightly less drastic than Google's: rather than being entirely oriented around an AI chatbot, as Google Health has chosen to do, Samsung has instead decided to use Gen AI to summarize and explain your metrics, adding new ones so the user can drill down into different aspects of their health in more detail.
I've listed all the new metrics below. Existing tools such as Samsung's Sleep Score, Energy Score, and Antioxidant Index remain, and Samsung hasn't announced that it's removing any features — again, unlike Fitbit and Google, which removed features like Badges and Challenges.
I've listed all the new features below. Each of these features will get contextual AI summaries, explaining what the numbers mean and, where necessary, how to improve them.
Vitals: Similar to Apple Health's feature, Vitals will analyze 'five key overnight bio-signals — heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin temperature, and blood oxygen — against their true resting baseline'. Essentially, Samsung will notify you if one or more of these metrics are abnormal, indicating you might be getting sick.
Heart Health Score: Combining Samsung's Vascular Load metric with the Body Composition features on its watches, which can measure muscle and fat in the same way as the best smart scales. If you've got low Vascular Load and an in-range body fat percentage, your Heart Health Score is likely to be good.
Daily Cardio Load: Accumulated strain based on recent cardiovascular exercise, like runs and cycle rides. Will contribute to your Energy Score.
Fitness Index: A radar chart of five different metrics (Strength, Flexibility, Endurance, Cardio, Body Composition). The strangest so far: how Samsung intends to accurately measure flexibility with a Galaxy Watch remains a mystery to me. I've reached out to Samsung to clarify this.
The timing of this upgrade is certainly interesting: reports recently surfaced of a Samsung Galaxy Fit 4 that, when paired with this AI-powered Samsung Health upgrade, would make for a real Google Fitbit Air contender.
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Matt is Tech Radar's expert on all things fitness, wellness and wearable tech.
A former staffer at Men's Health, he holds a Master's Degree in journalism from Cardiff and has written for brands like Runner's World, Women's Health, Men's Fitness, Live Science and Fit&Well on everything fitness tech, exercise, nutrition and mental wellbeing.
Matt's a keen runner, ex-kickboxer, not averse to the odd yoga flow, and insists everyone should stretch every morning. When he’s not training or writing about health and fitness, he can be found reading doorstop-thick fantasy books with lots of fictional maps in them.
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