The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 offers support for a wide range of health tracking and fitness features. However, some of these features are not available to all users. For example, the ECG and blood pressure functions are limited to certain regions and you cannot use them when the watch is paired with a non-Samsung phone even in supported areas. Fortunately, there is a workaround to get these features across all regions, even on non-Samsung devices. If you’re using Galaxy Watch 4 with a non-Samsung phone or can’t access the features due to the regional restrictions, here’s how to enable ECG and blood pressure on Galaxy Watch 4.
How to enable ECG and blood pressure functions on Samsung Galaxy Watch 4
To enable ECG and blood pressure monitoring on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 in unsupported locations or with a non-Samsung phone, you need to install the modified Samsung Health Monitor app from XDA Senior Member Dante63. You must install the modded app on both your phone and Galaxy Watch 4 to use these features. Follow the steps below to install the modified Samsung Health Monitor app. But before proceeding, download all required files from the link below.
Download the modified Samsung Health Monitor app
The Google Drive folder linked above contains all the files you need to enable ECG and blood pressure monitoring on the Galaxy Watch 4. It also contains a couple of guides to help you in case you get stuck somewhere during the process.
Note: Before proceeding with the steps below, make sure you have the Galaxy Wearables app installed on your phone and paired with your Galaxy Watch 4. Make sure to install the Galaxy Watch 4 plugin from the Play Store as well.
Install the modified Samsung Health Monitor app on your phone
Installing the modified Samsung Health Monitor app on your phone is quite a simple and straightforward process. Just find the modded app in the Disk folder linked above (labeled Phone.WearOS.SHM.MOD.XXXXXX.dante63.apk) and transfer it to your phone’s root directory.
On your phone, use a file explorer to navigate to the root directory and find the modded APK.
Note: For the purpose of this post, I’m using a OnePlus 10 Pro and creating the OxygenOS MyFiles app. If you don’t have a file explorer on your phone, you can download all the alternatives listed in our collection of the best file manager apps for Android.
Tap on the modified Samsung Health Monitor APK to install it. You should now see a popup for permissions to install apps from unknown sources. Follow the instructions to go to the device settings and allow app installations from the file manager.
You should immediately see another pop-up with one Install button. Tap it to install the app and then tap Finished on the following popup to complete the installation.
That wraps up the easy part. Now let’s move on to the complex bit, which is installing the modified Samsung Health Monitor app on the Galaxy Watch 4 using ADB.
Install the modified Samsung Health Monitor app on the Galaxy Watch 4
Installing the modified Samsung Health Monitor app on Galaxy Watch 4 requires ADB. If you are not familiar with installing ADB on your PC, you will want to know Dante 63 has provided a simple solution.
To open See SHM MOD WearOS folder in the Google Drive folder linked above. Then you open READ ME -ADB Manual Instructions folder and extract the contents of the ZIP file to your desktop folder. Now double-click the Minimal ADB Fastboot executable file and follow the instructions in the installation wizard to set up ADB.
A command prompt window should appear as soon as you have completed the installation. If it doesn’t, navigate to the directory where you installed Minimal ADB Fastboot and double-click the file labeled cmd here.
Before proceeding, you must activate ADB debugging and Troubleshoot over Wi-Fi settings on the clock. To enable these options, you must first turn on developer options. To do so, head over to the device settings on your watch, scroll all the way down to About clock option and tap it.
On the next page you choose Software and then press Software version on the next page a few times to enable developer mode.
Go back to device settings and select Developer opportunities. Then press the switches next to it ADB debugging and Troubleshoot over Wi-Fi settings to enable them.
Note: If your watch is configured to connect to a Wi-Fi network, it should now automatically connect to the saved network and show you the IP under Wi-Fi Troubleshooting option. If you are not connected to Wi-Fi, go to Connections option on the main settings page and connect to a Wi-Fi network. Make sure you are connected to the same Wi-Fi network on your PC. You can also use your phone’s mobile hotspot for this purpose.
Once connected to Wi-Fi, tap on the active connection and note the IP address mentioned on the next page.
Return to the Minimal ADB and Fastboot command prompt window on your PC and type “adb connect” followed by the IP address from the previous step.
You should immediately see a message on your watch asking if you want to allow debugging. Select OKif you only want to allow debugging once, or Always allow from this computerif you don’t want to repeat the process again.
Now set the watch aside, type the following ADB command and press Enter to install the modified Samsung Health Monitor app on the watch. For this command to work as intended, you must have the modified Samsung Health Monitor APK in the same directory as the file labeled cmd here. Also replace X in the command mentioned below with the current APK version number.
adb -s "IP address" install Watch.SHM.MOD.X.X.X.XXX.dante63.apkOnce the app is installed, you should see “Success” in the command prompt window. Now disconnect ADB using the following command.
adb disconnectYou should now be able to see the modded Samsung Health Monitor app in your watch’s app drawer. When you open the modded app on your phone, the Galaxy Watch 4 should connect automatically and you should be able to see the Blood Pressure and ECG tabs. You can follow the in-app instructions to set up these features. Once that’s done, add the EKG and blood pressure tiles to your watch and you’re good to go.
Before you start using these features, make sure to disable ADB debugging on your Galaxy Watch 4, otherwise it will affect your battery life. To do so, go back to the developer options and tap the switch next to the ADB debugging option.
It’s worth mentioning that since this method uses a modified Samsung Health Monitor app, you may run into some expected issues. Additionally, you won’t be able to sync blood pressure data between the watch and the Samsung Health app on your phone. However, we have an easy solution to enable BP sync on Galaxy Watch 4 as well. You can try it by following the given link and if you still have problems, you can drop your concerns in the XDA Forums thread linked below.
Samsung Health Monitor mod XDA forum thread
