PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE /Dehradun
Uttarakhand police and cyber security officials have issued an alert on Thursday about mobile health applications that claim to measure heart rate, blood pressure and SpO₂ using just a smartphone camera. They said that though popular, these apps are not fully reliable.
Health apps available on social media and app download platforms have become popular these days. Many people use these apps for convenience to check their heart rate and blood pressure at home. They find it easy and simple to use. However, cyber experts have issued an alert about these apps, warning users not to fully trust their results.
Explaining things, the experts said that to check heart rate, these apps ask users to place a finger on the phone’s camera, after which the app shows a reading. However, this is not a medically proven method and too much reliance on them could prove risky.
Instead of taking direct medical readings, these apps use a method called photoplethysmography (PPG) to capture indirect signals and then give results based on calculations. This means that the readings are only estimates and not accurate medical data. As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), smartphones do not have the special hardware needed to measure blood pressure correctly.
Police advised people not to depend completely on these apps for health decisions and to use certified medical devices or consult doctors, stressing on the differences between digital convenience and real medical accuracy.
