Smartwatches are now ‘ evolving into health devices

Smartwatches are getting smarter—at least, health-wise.

- Shouvik Das

These devices, so far largely considered lifestyle accessories with basic fitness-tracking features mostly shunned by medical practitioners, are increasingly receiving medical certifications from the Centre—making them health devices that alert users against issues such as heart rate fluctuations, sleep disorders and blood pressure anomalies.

On December 4, Apple launched hypertension tracking on its latest Apple Watch Series Il smartwatch. While the feature does not give a direct blood pressure readout, it monitors a user's blood oxygen, stress levels and other heart-related parameters to notify them that they may have a potential hypertension issue.