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You Can Monitor Heart Rhythm With A Smartphone, But Should You?

Digital gizmos can monitor your heart, whether it's a wrist-worn fitness tracker or a smartphone app to help cardiologists analyze diagnostic tests. The question is whether they're going to do your heart any good. The short answer: It depends.

One thing to consider is whether the device is a consumer fitness monitor for tracking heart rate, or if it's a medical device approved by the Food and Drug Administration for detecting potentially dangerous heart rhythm irregularities.

First, the fitness monitors. Wrist-worn fitness trackers become less accurate with more vigorous exercise, which presumably is when you'd most want to know your heart rate. The study, published Wednesday…

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Apps for Cardiologists

Here’s a list of 10 great cardiology apps to get you started. The apps in this list are based on our experience reviewing over a thousand apps to date and my personal experiences using many of these apps as a cardiology fellow. We’ll be updating and amending this list in the future as we discover more new, innovative apps.

Best Apps...

Keeping tabs on your health with apps that track heart rate, blood pressure, fitness, and endurance can reveal a lot about the efficacy of medications, lifestyle adjustments, and other treatments. Tracking your metrics is also a great way to have more productive and accurate conversations with your healthcare team.

Apple Watch for Heart Health: A Cardiologist's Word of Caution

As Apple announced the new heart health features in their latest Apple Watch, two phrases caught my attention: “Game-changing” and “lifesaving.” One of these phrases may be true (but not as it was intended). And the other should not be used at all – at least not yet.

Are Heart Rate Monitoring Apps Really Accurate? We Put Them To The Test

People obviously have their doubts about apps like this because measuring medical information can’t be that simple. I’ve personally tried to ‘fool’ these apps and those that claim to measure heartbeat by scanning one’s face are quite easy to fool with nothing more than a picture placed in front of it. We did however decide to give these apps a chance; see if they really can measure a person’s heart rate and how accurate the reading is.

Doctors Used an ER Patient’s FitBit Data to Figure Out How to Treat Him

If your fitness tracker motivates you to walk/exercise more, that’s a good thing. But providing critical life-saving data in the emergency room would be a whole other level of usefulness. And for a 42-year-old New Jersey man who had a seizure at work, Fitbit data helped ER doctors choose the best treatment and possibly save his life.

High-tech heart help: How useful are cardiac smartphone apps?

More than 43,000 apps focus on health and medicine and heart-monitoring is among the top categories. However, just because there's an app for that doesn't mean you should use it.

Smartwatch Shows Promise in Detecting Heart Problem

Research found Apple Watch and Cardiogram app could detect a dangerous heart-rhythm problem, though some results were ‘humbling’

The Apple Watch is evolving into a legitimate medical device

The smartwatch's new ECG function brings fitness trackers into real medical care.

These Medical Apps have Doctors and the FDA Worried

The FDA would not comment on any specific app, but in an email, Jennifer Rodriguez, an agency spokesperson, told us that “the FDA is focusing on a small subset of mobile apps that are medical devices and present the greatest risk to patients if they do not work as intended.

Why heart-monitoring apps on latest Apple Watch make some physicians nervous

Securing FDA’s endorsement is also indicative of the seriousness of Apple’s entrée into the medical space, evolving from so-called “vanity health metrics”—how many steps we take, etc.—to “something that empowers us to manage our health a little bit more proactively,” said Angela Radcliffe, general manager for trial solutions at the marketing firm PulsePoint.

Resources

Apple Watch

You can check your heart rate any time using the Heart Rate app. Open the app, then wait for Apple Watch to measure your heart rate. You can also view your resting, walking, breathe, workout, and recovery rates throughout the day.

Cardiio

The Cardiio app is a great way to glean insights about your resting heart rate, heart rate performance over time, and endurance.

Cardiograph

Cardiograph is the most accurate heart rate measuring application. Get your heartbeat anytime, anywhere.

Kardia

A heart beats 100,000 times per day. Along with blood, each beat is rich with information. Kardia allows you to quickly access, track and analyze your heart's health, giving you and your doctor a proactive, clinically-proven way to care for your heart.

Qardio

Qardio makes it easy to manage your heart health. Record and store your vitals, and have the power to make more informed health choices. Track blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, body composition (body fat %, muscle %, bone %, water %), BMI, weight and heart rate.

SmartHeart

The smartheart™ is the first and only personal mobile 12-lead ECG device on the market that enables the detection of heart attacks. It’s also the smallest 12-lead ECG in the world. In fact, it’s not much bigger than your smartphone.

ASCVD Risk Estimator

The ASCVD Risk Estimator provides easy access to recommendations specific to calculated risk estimates. Additionally, the app includes readily accessible guideline reference information for both providers and patients related to therapy, monitoring, and lifestyle.

BPMonitor Lite

Blood Pressure Monitor - Family Lite keeps track of your important health stats, including blood pressure, weight, and heart beat rate, right on your iPhone or iPod touch.

iBP Blood Pressure

iBP is a blood pressure tracking and analysis tool. It is an essential tool for managing high blood pressure by using colors to indicate normal, high, or hypertension and interactive graphs to show trends over time. iBP has a built in transfer feature to keep your data in sync on all your iOS and Android devices.

Instant Heart Rate

The first, fastest, and most accurate mobile heart rate monitor.

PulsePoint

When CPR-trained bystanders receive an alert from PulsePoint Respond, it tells them not only where an SCA event is happening, but also where they can find the nearest AED. But often, data on AED locations can be missing, inaccurate, or simply not detailed enough to make the devices easy to find in an emergency. That’s where the PulsePoint AED app comes in.

SmartBP

Smart Blood Pressure (or SmartBP) is an easy to use blood pressure management tool that helps you manage and take control of your health using your mobile device.

Fitbit

Continuous, automatic heart rate tracking right on your wrist—all from Fitbit. Your heart is at the center of everything you do. It keeps you moving and keeps you motivated. That’s why tracking it is so important—for your health, for your fitness and for every part of your personal journey. Everything starts with heart.