The best blood pressure watches of 2023

Dr. Elizabeth M. Goldberg, an emergency physician trained at Brown University, published an article about wearable blood pressure trackers in the National Library of Medicine. According to the article, wearable blood pressure trackers can help doctors diagnose patients with hypertension before they have to be treated for it, but “privacy, accuracy, and cost concerns have prevented widespread clinical uptake.” 

Those are three factors I looked out for when evaluating the options below. If there's evidence that blood pressure tracking wearables can protect data, promise high accuracy, and deliver at a reasonable cost, doctors would be more likely to recommend them to high-risk patients. Patients, in turn, would feel safer using these devices.

One obstacle I ran into, however, was the lack of options out there for blood pressure wearables. The concept itself seems to be embraced by many, but I found the execution to be less robust. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 still does not have FDA approval in the United States for blood pressure readings, so that feature isn't an option for the US market. The Omron HeartGuide is FDA-approved, but it is a costly wearable with a price tag of $500. More economical wearables don't seem as reliable or as focused on data privacy. 

Compiling this list required balancing what is commercially available, or soon to be available, and what is accurate, reasonably priced, and ethical. I included most options available today, but I hope to be able to expand this list as the blood pressure wearable market expands.