Health and fitness tracking are the latest rage in smart wearables, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch just cleared a major hurdle in the race to adopt a huge new feature.
For the first time ever, the United States Food and Drug Administration has authorized a sleep apnea detection feature on a smartwatch.
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According to a press release, the feature should be available on the Galaxy Watch series by the third quarter of this year and will be able to detect signs of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea by tracking a wearer’s sleep twice over a 10-day window, for more than four hours each time.
Samsung says the tracking is intended for users aged 22 or older who have not already been diagnosed with sleep apnea.
One of the key symptoms of sleep apnea is a drop in blood oxygen level because of breathing difficulty. The Galaxy Watch can monitor blood oxygen levels, and if a pattern of drops develops, the user will be notified in the