Samsung restricts access to cardiogram and blood pressure reading from its watches to mobile phones that are of your brand, although there is a way to overcome this obstacle: we will tell you how you can use the advanced health functions on your Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 even if it is not paired with a Samsung mobile.
The latest Samsung watches incorporate a huge number of sensors and are compatible with most Android, but with nuances: a couple of health features are exclusive to Galaxy phones. If you have purchased a Watch 4 or Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, and do not have a phone of the brand, the electrocardiograms and blood pressure are out of your health records. Luckily, you can get hold of the APKs.
A modified Samsung Health Monitor app works the magic
Samsung Health Monitor as standard (top icon) and modified (bottom icon with “M”)
Samsung builds a healthy bridge between its watches and phones with the Samsung Health sports app. This is in Google Play and is valid for most Android, but For electrocardiograms and blood pressure, a different and exclusive app for the brand’s mobile phones is used: Samsung Health Monitor. Herein lies the problem.
Samsung does not offer all the functions of the Galaxy Watch 4 to non-branded mobiles, this is a clear disadvantage for those who buy the watch thinking that their options are universal. Still, there is a way around the pitfall as a Samsung Health Monitor modified by XDA Developers user Dante63 can be used.
The modified app is installed on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 (there are versions for previous watches) and on the phone where the watch is registered. This link allows you to use the advanced health features even if you don’t have a Samsung mobile. Although yes, you should bear in mind that using modified applications poses a risk to your privacy; with the aggravating circumstance that the data to which you will have access are those of your health.
Using modified official applications poses a serious privacy risk, you must take this into account
Once you assume the obvious risks involved in using modified official apps, it’s time to start the tutorial. Let’s see how to add the electrocardiogram and blood pressure to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4:
- You need to have ADB active on your computer. In case you haven’t installed it, start with this step.
- Once you have ADB, you have to download the two applications that are required: Samsung Health Monitor for the mobile and also for the watch, both modified. Access this Dante63 Drive and download the APK that is in the root of the directory (the one on the phone) and the APK that is found in “ADB Watch4” (the watch app.
- Install the APK of the phone on the mobile that you have paired with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4. This is the easy step.
- Make sure both the watch and the computer are connected to the same WiFi network.
- Now it’s time to install the modified Samsung Health Monitor application on the watch. To do this, you need wireless ADB: access the Watch 4 settings, enter “Connections”, go to “Wi-Fi”, enter the network where you have connected and write down the IP address of your watch.
- Go back to the Galaxy Watch 4 settings, go down to “About the watch”, go to “Software” and press several times on “Software version” until the developer options are activated.
- Enable ADB debugging and “Debug with WiFi”.
- Open a terminal window on your computer, go to the folder where you have installed ADB (“Platform-Tools”) and type “adb kill-server” (without the quotes) to stop the process. To start it again, and make sure there is no other device using the connection, type “adb start-server”. Daemon should start normally. Note that if you use a macOS or Linux computer you must write “./” in front of each ADB instruction. The above would look like this: “./adb start-server” (without the quotes).
- Turn to connect by wireless ADB to your Samsung Galaxy Watch 4: write “adb connect xx.xxx.xx.xx” changing the X’s for the IP address you had pointed out. Accept debug on the clock: terminal should reflect successful connection.
- Now it’s time to install the modified app on the clock. To do this, save the APK you downloaded in the same folder where ADB (“Platform-Tools”) runs and rename the file to make it easier for you to write the instruction. For example, “shm.apk”.
- Write “adb -s xx.xxx.xx.xx install shm.apk” changing the X’s for the IP address. You will have installed the modified Samsung Health Monitor app on the watch.
The “Success” notice alerts that the app was installed using wireless ADB
- If a “Success” appears on the terminal, the process went smoothly. Otherwise you will have to repeat it.
- Type “adb disconnect” to disconnect the clock from the computer.
- Now go into the developer settings of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and disconnect the ADB via WiFi and ADB debugging. This step is important: if you don’t, your Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will drain the battery as it is constantly waiting for a connection.
Once you have the modified Samsung Health Monitor app on your watch and on your phone, you can now use the electrocardiogram and blood pressure as if you had a Samsung phone: open it from the clock (you can add it to the cards) and select what you want. Of course, you will need a blood pressure monitor to contrast blood pressure measurements: this function needs to be calibrated at the start. And every so often.
Configuration and use of Samsung Health Monitor on a non-Samsung mobile
You probably have two Samsung Health Monitor applications on the Watch 4: the official one and the modified one; the second has an “M” in the icon, you can distinguish it like this. There is the option to delete the serial app using ADB, although it is not recommended: in this XDA Developers thread you have the instructions.
Since you installed a modified Samsung Health Monitor, two apps will probably appear on your watch. The one you can use for electrocardiograms and blood pressure is the application that has an “M”
Once the simple but somewhat cumbersome process is done, you will have access to advanced health records just as if you had a Samsung mobile. Of course, it has a drawback: Modified app cannot sync blood pressure and EKG data with Samsung Health. This data will always remain in the modified Samsung Health Monitor app.
Vía | XDA Developers
