Most of us use our smartwatches to count steps and check notifications. But Samsung wants to change that completely and with a sweeping new update to Samsung Health.
Ahead of the most awaited Galaxy Watch 9 series launch, Samsung has announced one of the most significant one to its Health app in recent memory. The update, which begins rolling out on June 8, introduces a range of new features that go well beyond basic fitness tracking and honestly they are impressive.
The centrepiece of the update is a brand new feature called Vitals. Think of it as your personal overnight health monitor. While you sleep, it tracks five key biometric signals heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin temperature, and blood oxygen levels and measures them against your own true resting baseline rather than a generic average. If something shifts unexpectedly, it sends you a notification
Then there is the Heart Health Score- a replacement for the older Vascular Load metric that many users found confusing. This new score pulls together data from your sleep patterns, stress levels, physical activity, and body composition, and combines them into a single, easy to understand number. The idea is simple but powerful instead of juggling five different metrics and trying to figure out what they mean together, you get one clear score that tells you how your daily habits are actually affecting your long term heart health.
For fitness focused among us, Samsung has added a Daily Cardio Load feature that tracks the cardiovascular strain your body accumulates during aerobic exercise throughout the day. It calculates your daily load against your maximum training capacity and uses that to suggest the right training targets and rest periods so you push hard enough to make progress but never so hard that you tip into overtraining.
There is also a new Fitness Index feature, which analyses metrics like your heart rate, VO2 max, and daily step count but with a twist. Instead of just showing you your own numbers in isolation, it marks them against people in your age group and fitness level. From there, it delivers personalised goals and tailored content based on where you actually stand. It turns your health data into something genuine.
Beyond the new additions, Samsung has also refreshed the overall look and feel of the app. The new layout organises everything into five clean categories Sleep, Activity, Nutrition, Mindfulness, and Vitals making it much easier to navigate. The home screen now prominently displays daily wellness tips alongside the AI powered Energy Score, giving you a clear, at a glance picture of how your day is shaping up the moment you open the app.
Existing features have not been left behind either. The Antioxidant Index - which gives insights into your nutritional intake has been upgraded with richer, more detailed information. The AGEs Index, which tracks the impact of diet on ageing, now works quietly in the background to take automatic overnight measurements without you having to do anything. And a brand new Hearing Health feature uses your Galaxy Watch to monitor the ambient noise levels around you throughout the day, then delivers personalised analytics to help you protect your hearing before any damage is done. It is a small addition, but a thoughtful one.
The Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch 9 Classic are widely expected to make their official debut at a Galaxy Unpacked event on July 22 and if these software features are anything to go by, Samsung is clearly positioning its next generation of wearables as something much closer to a genuine health companion than a fancy step counter.