Can Samsung Galaxy Watches Measure Body Temperature?

Is There Body Temperature In Galaxy Watches?

In 2022 just before Galaxy Watch 5 was released Samsung made a grand statement: ‘They were going to add an infrared temperature sensor in their new series which will allow the users to monitor the skin temperature (not that temperature) during the sleep as well as keep in touch with development of period cycle’. Former was off course for the women only, if we talk about the both as one Galaxy Watch 5 was coined to have a functioning temperature feature. Not a very common set of feature in smartwatches today. Even Fitbit has not added it in its portfolio until now (then again Fitbit has not added many things).

So, it was no surprise to see fans of the series excited about the new introduction. Unfortunately, when the new series eventually landed on the wrists of its lovers, there was no way to actually use the temperature function. As the story continues to unfold it became even clear that Samsung was not prepared for it and they were forced to play it.

Samsung Introduced It In Watch 5!

However, while the news continues to hurt the reputation of the Galaxy Watch 5 a change came later. Not immediately, but it did. After few months with updates and regulation approval from International bodies Samsung finally allowed the users of Watch 5 to see the results of the sensors. Sadly, there was still a catch to the problem. You couldn’t on your own just measure the temperature of your body. No. It was not possible.

In order to get the data you had to actually sleep wearing your watch (at least for 4 hours) to get the information about the temperature. It was not like a heart rate function which can give you results at anytime anywhere on your command.

You Can Learn More About Sleep!

According to the Samsung’s press release the skin temperature was dependent on one factor and that is BBT (Basal Body Temperature) and this right here is the default temperature of your body. Which Samsung smartwatches use as the threshold to make the observations and provide insights to you. So, for instance if your BBT is 37 C/98.6°F then a skin temperature record by the watch of 39°C/102.2°F will probably tell you to work for your way towards cooling you body down.

Since skin temperature varies more than the core body temperature Samsung has issued a warning that these readings are not to be taken as a medical reference. Not to mention given it is widely accepted phenomenon that warm temperature is associated with hyper activity a low skin temperature is much preferred and a good indicator of healthy body during the sleep phase.

Galaxy Watches Advocate For Period Cycle…

Like we mentioned above the primary reason for the use of skin temperature is this: Samsung wants its smartwatches to be able to predict the next menstrual cycle. They want to stay on equal footing with Apple and give strong competition to likes of Bellabeat which are focused on only one demographic.

Evidently a human body during periods before and after ovulation goes through a phase where basal body temperature increases by approximately 0.3 to 0.5 degrees.

Which a smartwatch like Galaxy 5 or 6 use to detect the difference in temperatures in the period before and after ovulation, helping to predict ovulation more accurately. In practice this seem pretty straightforward and easy but from another POV one which focuses on the biological and technical aspect this metric of predication is not 100% ideal to use as digital contraceptive neither Samsung itself recommends it. Because 1) infrared temperature sensors are prone to give skewed data and b) there is not enough sample data to validate the prediction generated by the Samsung watches.

So Samsung Galaxy Watch Can Tell Alert About Fever

If you are thinking about this which you should then there is some bad news that you should know now: Samsung Galaxy Watches cannot detect the fever nor do they monitor skin temperature for this purpose. A case can be made where they can perhaps be tuned to do it, for now and for today they are not accustomed to do it.

Then it doesn’t matter which and what kind of series you are using, Galaxy Watch 4, Galaxy Watch 5 even the new Galaxy Watch 6 cannot track the body temperature in this context. There is no window, no application which can do it for you.

Unless we bring into equation the third-party app called Thermo Check.

Thermo Check: What About It?

It might seem funny but Thermo Check is not the first-party app developed by Samsung, yet it is Samsung who loves to market it more than their own. Sounds shady, right?

Well, there might be a reason, Samsung has to go through multiple barriers when they have to launch a new feature which has something to do with medical field. There are regulations and trials and International bodies putting obstacles at every corner.

But they won’t have to do anything if let’s say the said feature is provided by a third-party app using the hardware Samsung has integrated in its wearable. Which is what Thermo Check has done, they are using the infrared temperature sensors in the Galaxy Watch 6 to let the users measure the temperature of different objects – primary category include two types: just objects and living things. So, yeah you can put your Galaxy Watch 6 on the top of your head and it will measure your body temperature.

But the question is: would that be reliable enough given the rudimentary manner of tracking?

But Is Samsung Body Temperature Reliable Enough?

Simply put no!

Your Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and I am not even going to talk about Galaxy 5 and 4 is not reliable. You should never trust the temperature readings given by any smartwatch and it has nothing to do with Samsung watches. We have put up the same stance when we talked about stress tracking by Fitbit or Apple’s VO2 Max calculation.

Because simple truth is that there no way to validate and verify the readings by your watch. They are simply put minute devices with huge potential but that potential shouldn’t be used as a smoke screen to justify the skewed results (which are more than common) when the matter is of life and death.

Another dilemma with the Galaxy Watches is that do you even need the temperature sensor in first place? If your eyes can see a volcano you don’t need a smartwatch to tell you its hot there and you should move from there. That is just common sense.

As for other detailed cases it still doesn’t make much sense to have a small device telling you when its cold and warm. Human body is more than able to do that on its own. Not to mention if your hand couldn’t hold the hot cup of tea, it really couldn’t – then it doesn’t matter what your Galaxy Watch 6 have to say about it.