New Delhi: Pixel phones will very soon be able to offer its users respiratory rate and heart rate readings through their smartphone’s cameras. Google has announced that it is adding heart and respiratory rate monitors to the Fit app on Pixel phones this month. Google has announced a Google Fit upgrade that will brings these vital-measuring features to the company’s non-wearable mobile devices next month.
Google also plans to add these to other Android phones in the future. The cameras will measure respiratory rate by monitoring the rise and fall of a user’s chest, and heart rate by tracking colour change as blood moves through the fingertip.
As per updates, these camera-based features give people who don’t own a Fitbit or other Wear OS smartwatch a way to periodically check their health data at home. These front-facing camera will use a combination of chest movement patterns and AI to provide a respiratory reading that Google says is accurate within one breath per minute.
On the other hand, the rear camera will be able to recognise subtle color changes in the skin when your fingertip is held over the lens, thus offering a pulse reading. As per updates from Google, the algorithm is accurate within 2% based on the company’s testing.
Interestingly, the users will be able to take these heart and respiratory readings in the Google Fit app. As far as privacy is concerned, these readings will not be saved anywhere. Only the final measurement is added to the Google Fit dashboard.
However, Google isn’t the first company to start smartphone cameras for health measurements. Amazon’s Halo activity tracker and wellness service have earlier added BMI readings through your phone’s front-facing camera. However, using this feature requires owning the physical Amazon Halo band.
Notably, this new feature from Google will make the Pixel’s already-great camera even more capable when it goes live next month. Google is also working on bringing these new fitness tools to the app on out-of-brand smartphones, in the near future.