Samsung Electronics today announced a major update to the Samsung Health app, transforming the upcoming Galaxy Watch into a proactive, intelligent health partner. Starting June 8, Samsung will begin rolling out the app update to showcase the key health features included in the upcoming Galaxy Watch. The update¹ makes daily health management effortless by translating complex biometric data — from overnight sleep to daily activity — into simple, actionable guidance.

“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,” said Hon Pak, Senior Vice President and Head of the Digital Health Team for the Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung Electronics will continue to expand proactive and personalized health management experiences based on the connected Galaxy ecosystem and digital health innovations.”

This advancement is a key milestone in Samsung’s overarching vision for a truly AI-powered health platform designed to help users stay ahead of their health. The newly announced health features will first be available on the upcoming Galaxy Watch.

Features Transforming Galaxy Watch into an Intelligent Health Partner

The Samsung Health update comes with the following features:

• Vitals: A Better Understanding of the Body’s Signals — Previously, Samsung Health monitored specific health metrics to help measure users’ daily Energy Score. Now, Samsung Health is taking this a step further. When users wake up, the new Vitals feature analyzes five key overnight bio-signals — heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen — against their true resting baseline. It sends notifications only when it detects meaningful deviations, helping users determine if they need more rest or are fighting an illness, without causing alert fatigue.

• Heart Health Score: Improved Long-Term Wellness — Last year, Samsung introduced Vascular Load to help users monitor vascular stress and adopt a more holistic approach to health. Today, that vision evolves into the Heart Health Score. This single daily metric takes the insights previously found in Vascular Load — such as sleep, stress and activity — and combines them with body composition data. The result is a unified score that clearly identifies the habits impacting users’ long-term well-being, giving them immediate clarity on their heart health.

• Daily Cardio Load: Smarter Cardiovascular Training — When users are deciding how hard to push during aerobic exercise, Daily Cardio Load measures accumulated cardiovascular strain. By calculating daily load and maximum training capacity, it recommends optimal training targets and rest times to ensure users reach their goals without risking burnout or injury.

• Fitness Index: Seamless Progress Tracking — The Fitness Index ensures exercise routines are working by analyzing metrics like heart rate, VO₂ max (a key measure of aerobic fitness) and daily steps against users’ peers. By clearly identifying individual physical strengths and weaknesses, it delivers tailored content and personalized goals so users can make continuous, targeted improvements

New Samsung Health Design for a Simplified, Personal Experience

To make these proactive insights easy to find, Samsung Health introduces a streamlined layout organized into five core pillars: Sleep, Activity, Nutrition, Mindfulness and Vitals. Within the Home screen, users can now easily access their daily wellness tips alongside their AI-powered Energy Score. This centralized view removes guesswork from health management, allowing users to quickly understand how different aspects of their routine interconnect at a single glance.

Upgraded Capabilities for Proactive Wellness

Samsung Health is also significantly advancing the core features users already rely on, delivering deeper personalization with greater precision. As users navigate their day, Antioxidant Index now provides an even clearer roadmap of their nutritional intake. With new trend charts and daily history logs, it visually connects users’ dietary choices to physical responses over time. Behind the scenes, the AGEs index has been enhanced to quietly work in the background, capturing automatic overnight measurements to build a long-term picture of how lifestyle choices accumulate in users’ bodies. This helps users uncover health insights that truly matter for their well-being.

Comprehensive wellness extends to external environments, as well, with Samsung offering a brand-new Hearing Health feature that integrates seamlessly across the Galaxy ecosystem. By monitoring surrounding ambient noise through Galaxy Watch, it delivers personalized analytics to help protect the user’s ears — whether they are on a loud commute or dialing up the music during a workout.

Together, these advanced refinements and new ecosystem-connected features turn everyday data into simple, practical guidance, setting the perfect stage for the future of Samsung Health.

A Seamlessly Connected Health Ecosystem

Samsung’s expansive ecosystem unlocks the true power of these new features, seamlessly managing health across users’ Galaxy mobile phones and connected devices. This frictionless integration ensures that personalized insights are always accessible, providing a unified view of user well-being. These advancements offer a glimpse into the future of Samsung Health — a future that will be fully realized with the launch of Samsung’s next generation of Galaxy Watches, engineered to bring this proactive intelligence to life like never before.

1 New health features are for wellness only, not for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. If concerned about health, be sure to see a medical professional. Available on Android phones (Android 10 or above) and requires the Samsung Health app (v7.0 or above). Samsung account login required. Certain features may require user activity and data accumulation over time to enable personalized results. Feature availability, supported devices and rollout timing may vary by market, model and other factors and are subject to change. ︎

Millions worldwide suffer from sleep apnea, but 80% of sufferers¹ don’t even know they have it. This serious condition causes people to experience pauses in breathing while asleep — potentially disrupting oxygen supply, lowering sleep quality and leading to health complications including hypertension and stroke. Despite these risks, the disorder largely goes unnoticed because getting a diagnosis usually requires time-consuming and costly in-lab sleep studies.

To mark World Sleep Day 2026, a global study of Samsung Health users² is shedding new light on the true extent of sleep apnea and the disruptive impact it has on sleep. Aligned with this year’s World Sleep Day theme, “Sleep Well, Live Better,” Samsung Electronics is turning the invisible signs of the condition into actionable insights through the Galaxy Watch series, helping those affected improve their sleep habits and overall health.

How Does Sleep Apnea Impact Sleep?

The report found that 23% of study participants were at risk of sleep apnea.

“The microarousals and awakenings that follow breathing pauses fragment your sleep,” said behavioral sleep scientist Dr. Vanessa Hill. “Those occurrences can prevent the brain from staying in the rapid eye movement (REM) and deep sleep stages necessary for cognitive and physical restoration.”

The report showed these constant disruptions take a direct toll on sleep duration and quality, leading to:

• Reduced REM Sleep: Participants with moderate to severe sleep apnea indicators detected by Galaxy Watch got around four minutes less REM sleep, the phase where the brain processes emotions, consolidates memories and cements learning. Without enough of it, people can experience mood instability and memory problems, impacting performance at work and overall well-being.
• Less Deep Sleep: Sleep apnea also robs sufferers of deep sleep — approximately eight minutes less per night on average. This is the body’s critical physical restoration phase, where growth hormone is released, muscles are repaired and the immune system is activated. Losing deep sleep may leave people feeling physically exhausted, experiencing slower recovery times and getting sick more often.
• Frequent Nightly Awakenings: Participants with signs of sleep apnea also woke up more regularly during the night and stayed awake around four minutes longer. These interruptions derail the sleep cycle, locking people into lighter, less restorative stages and making next-day exhaustion inevitable, no matter how long they slept.
• Shorter Sleep Duration: Overall, people with a higher likelihood of sleep apnea averaged around 12 minutes less sleep. While this loss may seem minor, it can significantly impact sleep quality as sleep cycles become fragmented throughout the night.

Why It Matters: “Even a small loss in sleep duration is compounded by a larger loss of sleep quality,” said Dr. Hill. “This can be the difference between simply being ‘in bed’ and getting restorative rest, which could be why people feel so tired the next day.”

Dr. Hill also advocates a multidimensional approach to sleep health. “Sleep apnea affects many dimensions of sleep — duration, quality, sleep efficiency and even daytime fatigue,” she added. “Together, they help determine our health and functioning.”

With sleep apnea shown to impact multiple aspects of sleep and lead to other health complications, detection is an essential first step in the fight against the condition.

How Does Galaxy Watch Help Detect Signs of Moderate to Severe Sleep Apnea?

For years, sleep apnea has been difficult to detect due to the need for inconvenient hospital tests. However, Samsung offers at-home detection with a first-of-its-kind Sleep Apnea³ feature on Galaxy Watch.

• How It Works: Users simply track their sleep with a compatible Galaxy Watch⁴ for more than four hours on two nights within a ten-day period. Available through the Samsung Health Monitor app, the Sleep Apnea feature enables users to proactively spot signs of the condition. Initially launched in Korea, the feature has since received De Novo authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is now available in 78 markets⁵ worldwide and counting.
• The Technology: Leveraging Galaxy Watch’s BioActive Sensor, the feature tracks blood oxygen levels to determine when the user stops breathing (apnea) or experiences shallow breathing (hypopnea). Based on this data, the feature estimates the user’s Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI), which indicates the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
• From Awareness to Action: By detecting signs of sleep apnea early, the feature provides the data needed for an informed consultation with a medical professional. In addition to tackling sleep apnea, Galaxy Watch can help users build habits for better holistic sleep health. Features include the Sleep Coaching program for detailed analysis and tips on how to improve sleep quality and Bedtime Guidance,⁶ which recommends optimal bedtimes to ensure consistent sleep.

“For years, the inconvenience of an in-lab clinical sleep study has been a barrier to diagnosing sleep apnea,” said Dr. Hill. “Wearable technology such as Galaxy Watch is a breakthrough because it democratizes that first step, allowing people to gather meaningful data from their own beds and providing a starting point for a conversation with a healthcare professional.”

Take Control of the Night

A good night’s sleep is the first step toward a healthier, more energized life, and Samsung is here to help guide users. Samsung’s ecosystem offers end-to-end care, from detecting signs of sleep apnea on Galaxy Watch to providing suggestions to seek professional advice.

Looking ahead, Samsung is constantly innovating and improving the Sleep Apnea feature to make it even more powerful with sharper insights. Prioritizing rest today can help unlock a healthier tomorrow.

1. “Obstructive Sleep Apnea National Indicator Report,” American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2023) ︎
2. Samsung Health users from the U.S., Korea, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Chile, South Africa and the Philippines participated in the study from January to June 2025. ︎
3. The Sleep Apnea feature is an over-the-counter (OTC), software-only, mobile medical application operating on a compatible Samsung Galaxy Watch and Galaxy smartphone. It is intended for on-demand use. Users should not use this feature to replace traditional methods of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified clinician. The data provided by this device is also not intended to assist clinicians in diagnosing sleep disorders. For users over the age of 22 who have not been diagnosed with sleep apnea, the feature monitors for signs of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). ︎
4. Availability may vary by market, carrier, model or paired smartphone. Available on the Galaxy Watch4 series and later models. The Galaxy Watch requires the Wear OS 5.0 version or later and must be paired with a Samsung Galaxy smartphone with Android 12.0 or later. ︎
5. Supported markets include Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norfolk Island, Norway, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Réunion, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam and Yemen ︎
6. Bedtime Guidance is available on Android phone (Android 11 and above) and requires the Samsung Health app (v6.30.2 or later). Bedtime Guidance is based on three days of sleep analysis of the user’s circadian rhythm and sleep pressure. Intended for general wellness and fitness purposes only. The measurements are for personal reference only. Not intended for use in the detection, diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition or sleep disorder. Please consult a medical professional for advice. ︎