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Is there an easy way to remotely monitor another person's pulse? (lemm.ee)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by temporal_spider@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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My partner and I are getting older, and sleep in different rooms at different times. We've both worried about the other dying unbeknownst. I wear a pulse watch, but don't know if it will do what I want. Any ideas, friends? I'd like us to be able to glance at a screen and see a heartbeat, ideally without spending more than a couple hundred dollars, and without too much hassle or cumbersome equipment. I appreciate any suggestions. (edit - we use android and Linux.)

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[–] sxan@midwest.social 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I don't have an end-to-end solution, but I will say as a former Pebble user that I'm delighted with my BangleJS watch. It's inexpensive, I charge it once a week, and it has the usual activity tracker hardware including heart rate monitor. There are a ton of apps. It's less "hacker" and more polished for non-technical users than you might expect; if you're running Linux, this is absolutely within your comfort zone. It also has a temp monitor, so it can detect when the watch it being worn or not.

The customized GadgetBridge Android app is good, most of the programming is in JavaScript, and the developer community is active and responsive.

A quick glance through the app "store" (they're nearly all free) shows there's a heart alarm app, which seems aimed at notifying the wearer. Another app publishes heart rate over bluetooth, so someone must have a pair device that monitors heart rates.

I didn't see anything obvious in the ecosystem, but since the data is going to GadgetBridge already, it's most of the way there; if GadgetBridge could publish to web hooks, with ntfy you could get alerts from watch to partner's phone. I haven't yet looked through the GB issues to see if someone has already requested it, and I've only done light digging in the app itself; it may already support this.

It's worth investigating.

Edit looks like others have requested similar features (and this, and this); it hasn't been implemented yet.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 27 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (3 children)

If you have an iPhone, you can get an Apple Watch and set it up using the other person’s phone. The health app will tell you what the person’s heart rate is. It will also do sleep tracking and check blood oxygen levels. It will also notify you if the person falls. It can also be used to contact 911 if it is in range of your phone, or if you buy the cellular version and add it to your cell phone plan.

If you live near an Apple store, stop in and ask about it. The trick will be to set up/link your spouses watch with your iPhone so you can continuously monitor the other person.

[–] temporal_spider@lemm.ee 37 points 4 days ago (3 children)

We're all android and Linux here, but thank you!

[–] cobysev@lemmy.world 37 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Thank you. As a former IT guy, I've been trying to keep my family away from Apple products. They're way overpriced for their limited and locked down functionality compared to everything else out there.

My dad had Parkinson's late in his life and my sister replaced his Android with an iPhone, specifically so she could give him this fitness tracker. He spent the last few years of his life struggling to figure out a new phone, and we could never get the damn app to work anyway. He fell all the time and it never once reported it.

I spent 20 years in the IT field and getting my computer-illiterate family to consult me before buying computer tech is like pulling teeth. I offer them free consultation and support all the time and they just go out and buy spyware-riddled junk on their own. They only come to me when their stuff is no longer useable.

My sister finally stopped buying iPads... only for her to go and buy Amazon Fire tablets for her kids. I had to go in and lock them down because they were constantly shoving ads into every function of the tablet. Her kids kept trying to buy games because they were constantly being advertised to them. And guess who left their credit card credentials on the tablet?

My apologies, /rant.

[–] anotherandrew@mbin.mixdown.ca 35 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's funny; I recommend Apple stuff for practically all the same reasons you don't. The walled garden pisses me off sometimes but when I talk to friends using Android stuff and their gripes it really reinforces that I made the right decision for my family, just as you have for yours. What I find even more amusing is that I design embedded linux devices, all my servers/vms are Linux based and I really enjoy using Linux... just not supporting/using it as a primary UI.

Not shitting on your choices at all, I know that many people really like/enjoy the Android side as much as I do the Apple side. Chacun Γ  son goΓ»t and all that.

[–] Shayeta@feddit.org 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Brazenly praising Apple on lemmy? Ruin upon you, Andrew Appleton!

[–] greywolf0x1@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 days ago

Brazenly praising Apple on lemmy? Ruin upon you, Andrew ~~Appleton!~~ AppleShill!

[–] htrayl@lemmy.world 23 points 4 days ago (1 children)

There are quite the number of fitness bands and watches that can do this too for android. No reason you cant set up a device to the opposite partners phone.

[–] temporal_spider@lemm.ee 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Good point. Thank you.

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

It's worth noting it will only work within Bluetooth range unless you pay for a separate 4g connection to the watch

[–] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Looks like the pixel watch 3 can do something like this, but it only calls emergency services (and plant l only in some regions!)

https://support.google.com/fitbit/answer/15250403?hl=en

[–] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Oh, many years ago I had a baby monitor that included a pressure mat. If it detected no movement for a while (it was sensitive enough to detect breathing) it set off an alarm.

Although if such a thing exists today, it probably requires an app and a subscription. Enshitification.

[–] blargh513@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 days ago

I had one of those too. Every so often, bad baby would scoot off the mat it 3am. Nothing like the absolute fucking panic of hearing that alarm going off when you're dead asleep and now halfway to juniors room before you wake up only to find he scooted off the mat. AGAIN.

I don't miss the pure anxiety of being a new parent. I had forgotten about that thing and I'm so glad it is a faded memory.

[–] bonn2@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

To add to this iirc all cell towers will take 911 calls even if a phone has no sim. So if you truly only will ever use it for 911. You should be able to buy the cellular version of the watch and not even have to add it to your phone plan.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Found this article. It looks like this is the easier way to set up an Apple watch for somebody else in your family that you can monitor. There’s probably something similar for android watches.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/109036

[–] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm afraid I can't offer any recommendations but I just wanted to say how beautiful it is to think of you keeping track of each others heartbeats while you're apart. That's love

[–] temporal_spider@lemm.ee 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Awwww, thanks. Isn't life just full of these messy, scary, oddball realities that no one ever tells you? I found so many of them in parenthood. Aging looks like more of the same.

[–] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago

It certainly is!

[–] Flickerby@lemm.ee 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I remember seeing this ring built specifically for this purpose. It was an unobtrusive metal band and you could synch it up to its pair and it would squeeze your finger in time with the pair's heartbeat sensor, I'll see if I can find it again

I don't believe this is the one I came across but was all I could find with a quick search. The website seems a li'l sketchy based on grammatical errors so I'd do some double checking into it but it seems like what you're looking for. https://my.thetouchx.com/hbring/howto-use-hbring

[–] Verqix@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Streamers sometimes use a heart rate monitor widget on stream. There might be multiple solutions here but checking out pulsoid.net it seems like a free solution can be made here if it is compatible with the smart watch used. Android app to webpage might be possible with setting up a local host server. Don't know what it'll do to the battery life of your watch and if the widget works without OBS integration. Maybe someone familiar with this can weigh in?

[–] temporal_spider@lemm.ee 1 points 2 days ago

Oooh, this sounds promising. We have a local server. And my Sense 2 can go a week between charges. Thank you very much. I'll look into it.

[–] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

My baby monitor nanit has a special blanket you can put on the baby to track breathing and if there's a problem you phone app will alert you. You may have to pay a subscription service to use this feature.

https://www.nanit.com/products/nanit-breathing-band?srsltid=AfmBOoocMwOc__rbAmCl5P1wqM-yK_Y9xhQ3HOPlHekpmaDD1nDrl4hg

Not sure how well it works on adults of course but worth a shot.