“Samsung’s health foundation is rooted in our advanced hardware and sensor technology and is bolstered by our open ecosystem and collaborative approach,” said TaeJong Jay Yang, Executive Vice President and the Head of Health R&D Team at Mobile eXperience Business, Samsung Electronics. “That is why I am excited to announce expanded developer tools, APIs and partner offerings that allow third-party experts, research centres and universities to advance wearable tracking and insight capabilities for a wider health, wellness and safety.”

Samsung Privileged Health SDK: Advancing Preventative Safety in Driving

Samsung is collaborating with select industry leaders to develop personalised health services. With safety as one of Samsung’s focus areas, these collaborations will deliver all-new preventative tools to make roads safer by identifying early signs of driver fatigue and stress.

Samsung’s work with Tobii, a global leader in eye-tracking and attention computing that develops software to monitor drowsiness, is one example. If users choose to, Samsung’s Privileged Health SDK enables Tobii to sense real-time heart rate captured by Galaxy Watch sensors and process them to determine the user’s level of drowsiness. Also, Harman, a leader in connected car technology, audio innovations, and IoT solutions, has recently introduced Ready Care, a complete automotive in-cabin sensing and tailored solution for driver safety and comfort. In addition to distraction, fatigue and vital sign sensing, users can allow Ready Care to measure cognitive load and stress level and can provide suggestions for alternative routes to lower a driver’s stress.

Health Services: New Fall Detection API for Enhanced Safety Capabilities

Health Services provides APIs that allow developers and third parties to harness the powerful sensors and algorithms on the Galaxy Watch for more accurate and advanced health offerings. Samsung is introducing a new API to the ecosystem that offers adjustable sensitivity for Fall Detection, strengthening preventative safety and setting the stage for even more potential offerings.

Developers can now create services using Galaxy Watch’s Fall Detection algorithms that sense a user’s stumble or fall by combining different sensors including an accelerometer and gyroscope. This API enables development of apps for users who may encounter unexpected accidents. Furthermore, Galaxy users are even able to adjust sensitivity levels – whether standing still, moving, or exercising – via the Galaxy Wearable app. Like sleep tracking that senses restless movements or falls from bed to paint a more complete picture of a user’s sleep, this API opens all new opportunities for developers and users alike.

End-to-End Research Solution: Accelerating Medical Service and Research

Samsung is also introducing an open-source project that provides end-to-end solutions combining SDK, backend system and portal for a variety of health applications. This all-in-one healthcare toolset empowers research and clinical experiences — starting at the developer level — by delivering advanced insights through Galaxy Watches and wearables to support medical research at institutions, hospitals, wellness centres and beyond.

Researchers can use this open source project to build modules that enable participants to join a study in a frictionless and informed way, streamlining the onboarding process. Flexible survey templates are also in place to satisfy the ever-changing needs of organizations. From there, relevant data and insights are gathered more easily from wearable devices, while participants are guided with actionable insights throughout the process. Encrypted participant data is then transmitted to the backend system where health and medical communities monitor and analyse the collected insights to inform patient treatment plans, upcoming research and much more. More details of the new project will be announced at SDC22 keynote by Sebastian Seung, President and the Head of Samsung Research.

Health Connect: Greater Insights and Data Control

Health Connect, announced in collaboration with Google during the spring of 2022, offers developers a single set of APIs enabling the seamless creation of new fitness and health experiences. Currently available in beta, Health Connect offers users centralised privacy controls that make it easy to give permission to the health and fitness apps they want to share their on-device data with. Now, Samsung Health and Fitbit, along with leading health and fitness apps including Leap Fitness, MyFitnessPal and Withings have adopted Health Connect to enable a more impactful and holistic wellness experience. And with a user’s permission, app developers can leverage certain data shared through Health Connect for use in their own applications in order to provide users with a more complete picture of their health.

Samsung is committed to giving its community – including users, third parties, developers and beyond – enhanced tools and resources to build and benefit from more connected and diverse health services. As part of Samsung’s overarching wellness initiatives, the company will continue to deliver an expansive ecosystem – which the Samsung community will hear more about during the SDC22 – that empowers users with more insights and information on health and wellbeing.

Next week, Samsung will share its latest lineup of innovative products designed to enhance users’ everyday lives, including updates that empower fitness and wellness routines. Ahead of the unveiling, we’d like to take the time to reflect on our philosophy, achievements, and the progress that we have made as we approach our most recent step in our health journey.

The world has entered a new era of wellness, seeing a growing desire for a more nuanced understanding of overall health. In the past, health was a simple concept with a single definition. Now, everyone defines health and wellness by what it means to them. To accommodate everyone’s health goals, Samsung is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to the resources they need, so they can work towards the best version of themselves.

To that end, we are focused on setting new standards for health experiences through our Galaxy Watch series, and across our broader product portfolio. We have established three key pillars to help people reach their own goals: sensor innovation, connected wellness and industry collaboration.

Advanced Sensors for More Meaningful Insights

To create healthier habits and reach goals, it’s important that we know ourselves better. For our users, this journey starts with Samsung’s groundbreaking BioActive Sensor. The BioActive Sensor delivers accurate and comprehensive health data and provides actionable insights and guidance which users can leverage during their health and wellness journey.

First introduced with the Galaxy Watch4, the BioActive Sensor uses a unique single chip that combines three powerful health sensors – Optical Heart Rate (PPG), Electrical Heart Signal (ECG) and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) – into one compact unit. Its streamlined design enhances performance and fits comfortably for increased accuracy and 24/7 usage. This helps users deepen their understanding, encourages action, and strengthens good habits to help them achieve their goals.

Our sensor provides insights across all aspects of health, but we’d like to highlight two key areas: sleep and body composition. Sleep is often an afterthought when establishing a solid wellness routine, but it is essential for holistic health. At Samsung, we’re serious about helping our community get better sleep. We’ve introduced various sleep quality tracking tools and launched a tailored sleep coaching programme, all aimed to help users get a more restful night’s sleep.

When it comes to fitness, in particular, everyone’s goals are different. That’s why BioActive Sensor also measures body composition, which deepens users’ knowledge of their physical health, far beyond merely losing weight. The sensor sends microcurrents to measure weight maintained, skeletal muscle gained, body fat lost and body water levels, relative to goals set, helping users hit targets and keep track of what matters to them.

Across these advancements, we remain intensely committed to the secure and private collection of data to give our users peace of mind during their wellness journeys. All health data is encrypted and secured on the device itself and guarded by Knox, ensuring users’ information remains isolated from unauthorised sources.

Wellness That Spans All Devices

We are also providing tools that allow consumers to track overall health and wellness — whether they’re at home, in the gym, or on the road. The Samsung Health app, with more than 200 million active global users, is at the centre of Samsung’s health experience across an extensive range of devices, from smartwatches to smartphones, tablets and even TVs. The app — a holistic health hub that consolidates fitness, wellness, and health monitoring capabilities — records and compiles all kinds of health data and activity information, presents them intuitively, and gives guidance on how to leverage that data to maximise results. The collected information is comprehensive, easy-to-understand, and encourages positive action.

 More connected devices means a more seamless and enhanced user experience. While following guided workout or meditation programmes on Samsung Smart TVs or Galaxy Tabs at home, for example, your calorie count and heart rate are tracked on your Galaxy Watch but viewed on the larger screen for easier access. Your Galaxy Watch also recognises when you fall asleep and automatically dims lights and turns off air conditioners in response.

Open Collaboration Means Better Health Experiences

To give our users the best experience possible, we partner with other leaders in technology and wellness. We have built a strong foundation with our technology, and we welcome collaboration on our open ecosystem — one that often serves as an incubator for exciting new applications, services and features. In collaboration with Google, we co-developed Wear OS and Health Connect so that more users can join the unified platform and take advantage of new services and solutions to meet everyone’s needs.  

Samsung works extensively with third-party experts, research centres, and universities to further advance wearable tracking and insight capabilities, including the National Sleep Foundation for sleep, the University of California San Diego Sleep Laboratory and the University of California, San Francisco Hypoxia Research Laboratory for sleep and blood oxygen research, and Louisiana State University, Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the University of Hawaii Cancer Center for BIA research, to name a few. We’re also committed to researching new ways our health solutions can be used in the medical field. In the coming months, we’re focused on developing more tools and resources that will support the medical community and give our users a more holistic view of their health records. 

The Promising Future of Health and Wellness

In the last few years, many people around the world have adopted new habits and interests. For many, these include a greater awareness of physical, mental and sleep health. To meet this demand, Samsung is excited to continue expanding our Galaxy Watch lineup to better cater to the many unique needs of our users — especially those with a passion for the outdoors.

Our work, however, does not stop there. We are constantly innovating and investing in research and development and exploring new ways to work with our trusted partners. Through open collaboration and focused innovation, we will ensure our users are equipped with advanced technologies that empower them to better understand their own minds and bodies for a truly integrated, holistic experience of health and wellness.

We can’t wait for you to see what’s next. Please be sure to tune in to Galaxy Unpacked on August 10 at 2pm BST on Samsung.com.