Garmin Announces ECG App for Smartwatch
The FDA-cleared feature will be available for US customers who have the Venu 2 Plus.
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Smartwatches keep getting healthier, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. Garmin is the latest brand to allow you to take an electrocardiogram reading right from your wrist, and the new app will be available to US users who have the Venu 2 Plus.
Garmin's ECG app works by detecting signs of atrial fibrillation, or AFib, -- an irregular and oftentimes fast heart beat that can increase someone's risk for stroke, heart failure and other serious health events.
You can use the app to record a 30-second ECG and view the results immediately on the smartwatch or view the results later on Garmin's Connect app, which you can later show a health care provider, if necessary.
Like other smartwatch health features, Garmin's ECG app isn't a diagnostic tool. But it could be the alert you need to make that doctor's appointment, as well as offer a little more insight into your health.
"The ECG App is Garmin's first FDA-cleared smartwatch feature and we are thrilled to offer this revolutionary tool to our customers as another way to stay on top of their health," Dan Bartel, Garmin's vice president of global consumer sales, said in a press release.
Garmin's ECG feature is available on the Venu 2 Plus and requires the latest version of the Connect app. The company said it intends to expand the app into other products as well as other regions, pending regulatory approval.
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