Several wearable devices now offer users insights into their blood pressure trends, providing an additional tool for monitoring cardiovascular health. However, medical experts caution that these devices should not replace traditional blood pressure measurements taken with clinical cuffs.
Wearable health trackers typically do not provide on-demand blood pressure readings but offer hourly, daily, or monthly trend data. Some models display standard systolic and diastolic numbers, while others focus on indicating rises or falls in blood pressure over time.
Technology journalist Nicole Nguyen tested five popular devices over the course of a month: the Hilo Core, Whoop Life, Oura Ring, Google Pixel Watch 5, and Apple Watch Series 12. Manufacturers emphasize that these wearables are wellness tools, not medical-grade instruments intended for diagnosing or treating hypertension.
The Hilo Core wristband, notable for its two-week battery life, requires periodic calibration against a traditional cuff to maintain accuracy. It provides systolic and diastolic readings eight to ten times daily but intentionally excludes measurements during exercise to avoid skewed results.
The Whoop band functions on a subscription model and estimates resting blood pressure based on overnight data, offering color-coded comparisons against an individual’s baseline values. The Oura Ring tracks changes over nightly and monthly intervals but does not give specific numerical readouts, instead alerting users to significant shifts identified within a 30-day window.
Google’s Pixel Watch 5 recently introduced monthly blood pressure trend tracking, requiring a minimum of five days of use to generate insights. If elevated blood pressure trends are detected, the device can prompt follow-up recommendations. The Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models have received FDA clearance for alerting users to potential hypertension. However, these alerts require users to meet certain criteria during setup and do not detect all high blood pressure instances, emphasizing the importance of confirming results via traditional cuff measurements and consultation with healthcare providers.
In 2025, the American Heart Association highlighted unresolved issues regarding the accuracy of cuffless blood pressure devices, which rely on optical sensors and machine-learning algorithms to infer readings rather than directly measuring blood pressure. While wearables may encourage healthier lifestyle choices and facilitate earlier conversations with doctors, experts warn about the risks of false negatives, which could create a misleading sense of security.
Overall, these devices offer valuable long-term trend information but remain supplementary tools. They are not meant to replace established clinical methods for blood pressure monitoring.