Vitals on Samsung Galaxy Watches now detects when you're likely to get sick

In London during Galaxy Unpacked 2026, Samsung debuted new foldable phones and a new generation of smartwatches. On those new watches, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2, there's a whole host of new health insights, including sleep apnea detection. But the new Vitals feature on Samsung Galaxy Watches knows when you're getting sick before you do.

Using five different biometric markers — heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin temperature, and blood oxygen saturation — Vitals creates a health baseline for users and detects when those baselines deviate. Users then get an alert that something's off, so you can note when you might be getting sick or need some extra recovery time.

While this feature is new to Samsung Galaxy Watches, it's not new in the world of health trackers. Oura Ring, the leader in smart rings, has its own Vitals page, the hub for all your health biometrics. Within Vitals is Symptom Radar, a feature that tracks your biometrics, detects any signs of strain, and encourages you to make daily decisions based on how you feel.

Samsung's Vitals seems to be the brand's own version of Symptom Radar. The new batch of Galaxy Watches, including the Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2, comes with boosted battery life for round-the-clock wear. That means they'll always be monitoring your biometrics so that you can have deeper health insights and access to features like Vitals.

The new Samsung Galaxy Watches are now up for preorder and will be available on Aug. 7.