Roger Fingas
Qardio on Wednesday announced that its HealthKit-enabled blood pressure monitor, the QardioArm, is now being sold through Apple retail stores, as well as Apple.com.
The QardioArm reads systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as heart rate, and can signal when an irregular heartbeat is detected. The monitor is closely tied to iPhone and Apple Watch apps, which not only record and chart data but are used to trigger the monitor.
The app, a free download, also lets people set reminders, and perform triple-measurement averaging. Through HealthKit data can appear in iOS' native Health app, and by extension funnel into third-party apps and services.
Qardio notes that the hardware meets U.S. and European standards, including approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The QardioArm pairs with devices via Bluetooth 4.x, and requires four AAA batteries, which come in the box. Connected iPhones, iPads, or iPods must be running iOS 8 or later. The device costs $99.95.
Medical accessories are relatively rare at Apple stores, despite support for many different varieties in HealthKit. One recent example is the Chrome Blood Glucose Monitoring Kit, which reached Apple's chain in January.
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7 Comments
I bought this at Target a while back as it was 50% off on clearance. It works very well with your iOS device. Its simple to use, quick and easy. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to keep track of their blood pressure. The free iOS app keeps track of your history for you, or if you're just letting someone else use there is a visitor mode which is fully functional, but doesn't store the results on your device. There's also an Apple Watch app as well. I wouldn't mind getting more of Qardio products.
Now this is a useful device.
Looks like a cool gadget. Anybody know how accurate it is?
A disturbingly high percentage of the reviews on Amazon complain about the same problems: Bluetooth pairing failures over time, on/off problems, accuracy, and customer service. Was all set to buy one, but this has given me pause. Anyone here who has used one for a while find these issues cropping up?