Pairing an external external heart rate monitor to samsung health

[Rach77]

Has anyone tried to pair an external heart rate monitor to samsung health as a work around for poor heart rate tracking on the Galaxy Watch? I've just ordered a Tickr chest strap as its one of the listed compatible heart rate monitors on the Samsung health app. I'm hoping that when I do a boot camp style workout or a stair climb workout (the Galaxy Watch seriously fails to track both of these for me) that by pairing the Tickr with Samsung health I can track those workouts and get a heart rate graph at the end of my workout on the Samsung health app. If anyone knows if this will work could you please let me know. I'll test it out and post my findings in the next couple of days. I'm gutted that I'm having to try to use work arounds on this as the Galaxy Watch should be able to track heart rate. 

[Dinno101]

Hi, I’m in the same boat as you. It seems that the Samsung Health app on the Galaxy Watch cannot pair with any external HRMs at the moment, although a workaround would be to use the Sporty watchface - gave it a try and so far it seems to do the job well. Workouts that are logged can be uploaded to Strava, and some other app, but I did not see Samsung Health as one of those apps. If you want to see your stats after your workout, you might want to upgrade to a TickrX as it does save a workout without a device, although it won’t give you GPS tracked runs and the advance runs metrics, but you’ll still have your HR graph. Keep in mind that you can only view them on the Wahoo Fitness app, which at the moment, does not upload any stats to Samsung Health (although it works with Strava).

[Kindredghost]

Surely there have been updates to this issue... Can anyone kindly advise?

[SeanDeutsch]

Why has there been no response to this by moderators??? It's a valid question and MANY people want this capability. Even the cheap chinese companies provide this, Xioami-Huami-Amazfit Stratos does this. Even if the data won't sync with the watch there should at least be the ability in Samsung health for pairing an external tracker and overriding the data collected from the watch during periods of dual usage. I just bought the Samsung Galaxy watch Active and while the UI is really clean and intuitive I think if the Chinese budget trackers can do it a large reputable company like Samsung should be able to provide this capability. Please add external heart rate tracker capabilities. 

[Rach77]

I have a Tickr and it works perfectly to track heart rate for all activities. You have to pair the Tickr to S Health, start the workout on the S Health app and it will track it on there so you cant see your stats on the watch but you can see it on your phone screen. Its a great workaround but if Samsung allowed you to pair a chest strap to the watch itself then it would be perfect to track workouts .

[SeanDeutsch]

Hey Rach77! Have you had any trouble with dual HR data being exported from the watch and the Tickr to Samsung Health? I would like to still use my Galaxy Watch Active for GPS and other metrics while using an external HR monitor to get the heart rate data. How can I do this without Samsung Health counting both recordings towards burned calories and active time??? I don't want to be getting double credit for activities I have done... Is there a way to only export heart rate data from the external sensor and delete JUST the HR data from the data recorded by the watch? 

[Rach77]

If you use an external heartrate monitor you have to start the activity in the S Health app which bypasses the watch altogether. You will need to use the S Health app to gps track the workout. Unless Samsung allow a chest strap to pair to the watch you will have to use the phone to track uour workout. The joke of it is if you use a chest strap then the watch is literally obsolete! Its infuriating isnt it 😪

[Acrux]

I still need to pair to an external polar HR strap as the optical sensor on my Galaxy watch is literally only useful for resting heart rate. Totally erratic or no reading during actual exercise. I have given up and gone back to my old polar M400 for any exercise monitoring. This means that the Galaxy watch and s health app never get to capture my real workload making it useless. I have because of this totally given up on the s health app as well. Pity as it's a great idea.

[alexanderandren]

Could anyone elaborate on how this issue can be worked around using the sporty watchface? Which watchface exactly?

I am currently trying to find a workaround to connect a Polar OH1 optical pulsesensor to the Galaxy Watch 46mm, but so far no luck. 

Really miss not being able to connect an external sensor to the watch. I like the interface, and I understand tracking heartrate when running is difficult on the wrist. So I would not mind having to use a different sensor when running and just the wrist measuring when resting. 

[ElvanfootChris]

When reference is made to sporty watch, its not a description.. that's the actual name of the watch Face. Costs £3.15. That watch Face then allows you to connect Bluetooth heart rate monitor and in turn can export data to Samsung health, Strava and my fitness apps. There's a video on YouTube. 😁