How Does A Heart Rate Measurement Application Work, Can It Be Trusted?

Illustration of heart rate measurement app (The Rahnuma)

YOGYAKARTA - Currently, heart rate measurement applications are increasingly popular. People use it to track their daily activities. Whether it's work, sports, or just for fun.

Not only that, but the pulse measurement application is also useful for knowing a person's health condition. Especially if the user has health problems that affect the heart rate -such as Atrial Fibrillation or Heart Arrhythmia.

But, the question is, how exactly does a heart rate measuring app work? Is the data displayed by similar applications accurate and reliable?

In this article, the VOI team has summarized the various information you need regarding this application.

What is Heart Rate App?

As we can deduce from its name, the heart rate measuring app is a useful app for measuring heart rate. Usually, similar applications are used to monitor the health of athletes or fitness enthusiasts.

Similar applications are able to track the user's pulse. Furthermore, it sends notifications when the heart rate is too high or low. Not only that, but similar applications can also tell users the number of calories that must be burned in a day -as well as various other health information.

Now, the use of heart rate measuring applications is increasingly diverse. Not only in the form of an application, but you can also find it as a built-in smartwatch feature.

How Does a Heart Rate App Work?

The pulse meter app works by using the phone's camera and light sensor. Both devices are in charge of detecting the amount of blood pumped by the heart to all parts of the body.

The two of them observed the change in color as well as the density of the pumped blood. In more detail, when the heartbeats, blood flows to the fingers and face. Make a few changes to the two parts of the body.

It is known that blood absorbs light. And similar applications are able to capture the process using the camera. This technique is called photoplethysmography. The same technique is used by most heart condition tracking tools and apps.

What is the App Accuracy Level?

Most heart rate measurement apps are capable of providing fairly accurate results. Especially if it is used to measure the heart rate when the body is at rest.

Indeed, sometimes apps lose tracking objects -in this case, heart rate and blood flow. However, the percentage is very small. So it doesn't really affect the accuracy of the information.

The study, released by the National Library of Medicine, tested the accuracy between four pulse-taking apps. As a result, there are significant differences in accuracy for each application.

Then, can you trust a heart rate measuring app? The answer, of course, depends on the case. When using this application, the author's advice is to use the information from the application for consideration only. Not a guide to follow.

After the description this time about the heart rate measuring application. After knowing how it works, are you still interested in trying similar applications?