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Diagnostic Tests

Samsung Health Monitor App for the Detection of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Carl Bryce, MD
Alec Oliva, DO

American Family Physician. 2025;112(6):674-675.

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

TestIndicationPopulationCost*
Samsung Health Monitor App sleep apnea featureAssist in detection of moderate to severe OSA; not intended to replace a clinician's diagnosis or treatmentAdults ≥ 22 years without a previous sleep apnea diagnosis$100–650

*—Cost according to Samsung.com13 and Amazon.com.

Consumer wearable devices, such as smart watches, equipped with photoplethysmography sensors can monitor heart rate and oxygen saturation, potentially helping detect sleep disorders.1–3 In the United States, approximately 5% of women and 14% of men ages 30 to 70 years meet the diagnostic criteria for at least mild obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which increases with age and body mass index.1,4–6 Consumer sleep technologies have not been used to diagnose or treat sleep disorders. However, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine encourages clinicians to know the potential benefits and disadvantages of these technologies.7 In 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the marketing of Samsung Electronics' sleep apnea feature, a patented mobile app that uses photoplethysmography sensors within Samsung-brand smartwatches.8 The intent of this feature is to detect signs of moderate to severe OSA over 2 nights in adults 22 years and older without a previous sleep apnea diagnosis.9 This article reviews its accuracy.

ACCURACY

Consumer wearable devices are not validated and cannot be used to diagnose or treat sleep disorders.7 However, patient-generated data may help clinicians in the overall context of the evaluation.

The diagnosis of OSA depends on objective measures of airway obstruction (eg, respiratory disturbance index, which includes apnea and hypopnea) and respiratory effort–related arousals. A respiratory disturbance index of greater than 5 events per hour plus the presence of symptoms (eg, daytime sleepiness), or a respiratory disturbance index of more than 15 events per hour even in the absence of symptoms, is diagnostic of OSA.10

In a study (n = 51) comparing Samsung's technology with polysomnography, the smartwatch demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.882 for predicting an oxygen desaturation index of greater than 15 events per hour. The area under the curve was 0.803 for predicting an apnea-hypopnea index of greater than 5 events per hour, 0.800 for an index of greater than 15 events per hour, and 0.894 for an index of greater than 30 events per hour, indicating good overall accuracy in identifying moderate to severe OSA.11 The STOP-BANG (snoring, tiredness, observed apnea, blood pressure, body mass index, age, neck circumference, male gender) and Berlin questionnaires improved the test performance when positive but were not used as stand-alone tools in this study (Table 1).11

TABLE 1. Test Performance Characteristics of Smartwatch vs Polysomnography

Predicted valueSensitivity (%)Specificity (%)LR+LR−
AHI > 30 events per hour86866.140.16
AHI > 30 events per hour with high-risk STOP-BANG10095200
AHI > 15 events per hour65875.00.40
AHI > 15 events per hour with high-risk STOP-BANG and Berlin questionnaire899622.250.11
AHI > 5 events per hour87672.640.19
AHI > 5 events per hour with STOP-BANG and Berlin questionnaire92743.540.10

Note: Positive and negative predictive values are not shown because they vary with disease prevalence. The Berlin Questionnaire is a 10-item tool that assesses snoring, daytime sleepiness, and presence of obesity and hypertension and has been validated in the primary care setting. STOP-BANG is an 8-item questionnaire that can screen for the risk of obstructive sleep apnea and uses information that is readily available in the primary care setting.

AHI = apnea-hypopnea index; LR+ = positive likelihood ratio; LR− = negative likelihood ratio; STOP-BANG = snoring, tiredness, observed apnea, blood pressure, body mass index, age, neck circumference, male gender.

Information from reference 11.

CARL BRYCE, MD, FAAFP, Abrazo Family Medicine Residency, Phoenix, Arizona; Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, Glendale

ALEC OLIVA, DO, Abrazo Family Medicine Residency

Address correspondence to Carl Bryce, MD, FAAFP, at cbryce@midwestern.edu.

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

  1. 1.Cinar Bilge P, et al. Scanning of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome using smartwatch. J Clin Neurosci. 2024;119:212-219.
  2. 2.Hayano J, et al. Quantitative detection of sleep apnea with wearable watch device. PLoS One. 2020;15(11):e0237279.
  3. 3.Papini GB, et al. Wearable monitoring of sleep-disordered breathing. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):13512.
  4. 4.Benjafield AV, et al. Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea. Lancet Respir Med. 2019;7(8):687-698.
  5. 5.Lechat B, et al. Multinight prevalence, variability, and diagnostic misclassification of obstructive sleep apnea. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022;205(5):563-569.
  6. 6.Yeghiazarians Y, et al. Obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease. Circulation. 2021;144(3):e56-e67.
  7. 7.Khosla S, et al. Consumer sleep technology. J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(5):877-880.
  8. 8.US Food and Drug Administration. De novo classification order for sleep apnea feature. May 31, 2023. Updated February 6, 2024. Accessed October 20, 2025. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf23/DEN230041.pdf
  9. 9.Samsung’s sleep apnea feature on galaxy watch first of its kind authorized by US FDA. Samsung Newsroom US. February 9, 2024. Accessed October 20, 2025. https://news.samsung.com/us/samsung-sleep-apnea-feature-galaxy-watch-first-its-kind-authorized-us-fda
  10. 10.Kapur VK, et al. Clinical practice guideline for diagnostic testing for adult obstructive sleep apnea. J Clin Sleep Med. 2017;13(3):479-504.
  11. 11.Browne SH, et al. Performance of a commercial smart watch compared to polysomnography reference for overnight continuous oximetry measurement and sleep apnea evaluation. J Clin Sleep Med. 2024(9):1479-1488.
  12. 12.Nagappan A, et al. Patterns of ownership and usage of wearable devices in the United States, 2020–2022. J Med Internet Res. 2024;26:e56504.
  13. 13.Samsung. Explore Galaxy Watch. Accessed October 20, 2025. https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/wearables/all-wearables/

This series is coordinated by Natasha Pyzocha, DO, contributing editor.

A collection of Diagnostic Tests published in AFP is available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/diagnostic.

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