Samsung finally enables blood pressure monitoring on the Galaxy Watch Active 2; functionality teased for the Galaxy Watch 3 too

Samsung has finally enabled blood pressure monitoring for the Galaxy Watch Active 2 having announced in April that it would enable the feature. The decision to enable the smartwatch's SpO2 sensor, which Samsung has left dormant since launching the device in September 2019, follows similar moves by other OEMs like Fitbit and Huawei.

The feature will be enabled in a new firmware update, which Tizen Help has confirmed is called R820XXU1BTF3. According to the website, the functionality has been certified as a Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) service by the Ministry of Food & Drug Safety (MFDS) in South Korea. Other national authorities are yet to recognise the software in the same way, though.

The update is currently only available in South Korea. However, XDA Developers has provided a walkthrough for sideloading it to your Galaxy Watch Active 2 and enabling the blood pressure monitoring functionality. With that said, you must first calibrate the smartwatch with a blood pressure cuff, which may not be convenient for most people.

It would seem that Samsung left a teaser for the next Galaxy Watch in the press-release that it published in April, too. Thought to be called the Galaxy Watch 3, a footnote states that blood pressure monitoring will be enabled on "upcoming Galaxy Watch device(s)". The Galaxy Watch 3 will arrive on August 5 in two sizes and with LTE variants.