Samsung is copying the Google Health app – but with one major difference
From passive stats to AI chats
by Anyron Copeman · Tech AdvisorSummary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Samsung is launching a major AI-powered update to its Health app on June 8th, directly competing with Google Health by offering personalized insights and simplified health data analysis.
- According to Tech Advisor, the key difference is Samsung provides full AI features free with compatible Galaxy wearables, while Google Health’s advanced AI coach requires a £7.99 monthly subscription.
- New features like Energy Score and Heart Health Score will be exclusive to the upcoming Galaxy Watch 9 series, leaving older models without these AI capabilities.
Samsung has unveiled a huge overhaul of its Health app – and it’s clearly got Google in its sights.
The new Samsung Health app, which will begin rolling out on 8 June, is being described as a “major update” by the Korean behemoth, and with good reason.
The company aims to shift the app from a passive overview of stats to a more tailored, proactive experience. Unsurprisingly, it’s leaning heavily on AI to achieve this, with artificial intelligence analysing key metrics to provide “simple, actionable guidance”, supposedly.
It bears more than a passing resemblance to the new Google Health app, after Google ditched the much-loved Fitbit app in favour of a Gemini-heavy, AI-led experience last month – to coincide with the launch of the Fitbit Air.
However, while these apps have a lot in common, there’s a key difference between them which will be a dealbreaker for many.
AI “insights” wherever you look
These days, it’d be a shock for a tech company to redesign its app and not put AI front and centre. Given the popularity of Galaxy AI, that was never going to be Samsung.
The homepage of the new Galaxy Health app leads with artificial intelligence, surfacing “daily wellness tips” and an overall ‘Energy Score’ based on all the data it’s collected. The latter evokes Google Health’s ‘Readiness’ score and Garmin’s ‘Body Battery’ metric, helping you understand whether to prioritise exercise or recovery.
Samsung claims that the new homepage “removes guesswork from health management”. But given AI’s patchy track record in interpreting health data, I’ll take that with a generous pinch of salt.
These days, it’d be a shock for a tech company to redesign its app and not put AI front and centre.
This overall view is joined by five key sub-categories: ‘Sleep’, ‘Activity’, ‘Nutrition’, ‘Mindfulness’ and ‘Vitals’. The latter is one of several new metrics that Samsung Health surfaces, measuring heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory rate and skin temperature as soon as you wake up, indicating if there’s any significant deviation from your baseline.
Also new is a ‘Heart Health Score’, which replaces ‘Vascular Load’ to give a broader overview of the impact of your current habits on long-term heart health.
Elsewhere, ‘Daily Cardio Load’ focuses specifically on the cardiovascular strain associated with aerobic exercise, aiming to enable a better balance between training and rest. And the ‘Fitness Index’ combines heart rate, VO2 max and daily steps to estimate your physical fitness in comparison to your peers.
While some of these ‘scores’ are different to the Google Health app, the message from both companies is clear: let AI analyse all the complicated data for you and provide only the insights that you need to know.
Which begs the question: do you trust Galaxy AI or Gemini to effectively sift through all sorts of data about you? I know I don’t.
A costly coach
Currently, the major difference between Samsung and Google’s health apps is a dedicated subscription. Or lack thereof.
…do you trust Galaxy AI or Gemini to effectively sift through all sorts of data about you? I know I don’t.
If you have a compatible Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Ring, you’ll be able to access the full suite of features in the Samsung Health app free of charge. The only limitation is whether the wearable you own can collect the data required for the specific scores and AI insights – some are limited to the latest models.
By contrast, much of the Google Health app’s functionality is locked behind a paywall. Specifically, a Google Health Premium subscription, which costs £7.99/$9.99 per month or £79.99/$99.99 per year.
That includes a lot of the proactive AI-based insights, but also the Gemini-powered Google Health Coach. It claims to act like a 24/7 health coach, using your specific health data to respond to any questions or queries you might have.
In his 4.5-star Fitbit Air review, tester Thomas Deehan was really impressed, describing it as “the single biggest shake-up I’ve seen in a fitness tracking app in years”. Whether you subscribe hinges on how useful you find this, but Samsung has the clear upper hand when it comes to free AI insights and tips.
Galaxy Watch 8 owners miss out… for now
Unfortunately, there’s a catch. While Samsung offers all the new health features subscription-free, they’ll initially be exclusive to “the upcoming Galaxy Watch”. In other words, the Galaxy Watch 9 series, which is rumoured to launch on 22 July.
It’s unclear when (or indeed if) older Galaxy Watch models or the Galaxy Ring will get the upgrade. The current Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic have all the sensors necessary to collect the data, but that’s no guarantee.
In the meantime, from 8 June, you’ll be left with an app that supports tons of new metrics and AI insights, but a wearable which doesn’t. Hopefully, Samsung changes that very soon.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 8
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