Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Samsung’s latest (and undoubtedly greatest) smartwatches are getting skin temperature-based cycle tracking capabilities. Yes, the functionality officially detailed back in February following the August 2022 release of the Wear OS-powered Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro.
Although that’s clearly… not an ideal rollout timeline, especially with the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra launched supporting a similar feature in September 2022, we’re definitely glad Samsung managed to get everything sorted out well in advance of the Galaxy Watch 6 series announcement later this year.
While some Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro users might be able to measure their skin temperature to help predict their next period more accurately “starting today”, many others will need to wait for the “progressive” deployment of a new Samsung Health app update across 30 European markets, as well as Korea and the US in the coming days.
Obviously baked into the Galaxy Watch 5 duo from their commercial debut roughly eight months ago, a dormant infrared temperature sensor is set to be dormant no more, instead automatically and precisely tracking your basal body temperature (BBT) every morning.
Because BBT values tend to vary by menstrual phase, that should allow the existing calendar-based Cycle Tracking feature to monitor your ovulation and fertility levels, as well as forecast that time of the month.
Just like on the latest high-end Apple Watches, of course, a number of warnings and disclaimers apply, as the human and especially female body is incredibly mysterious, which means these measurements and predictions are not to be taken as gospel and certainly not to be used to prevent unwanted pregnancy or help with the process of conceiving.
At the same time, it’s easy to see why many current and future owners of the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro are likely to find the unscientific and non-professional-grade Cycle Tracking technology extremely useful for gaining a better understanding of one’s personal health. In other words, you’re looking at yet another reason why these are undoubtedly two of the overall best smartwatches money can buy in 2023.
