Heart Rate Monitor App for Android: Camera and Bluetooth

Google’s current Pixel phones have no heart rate sensor, and Samsung stopped fitting one after the Galaxy S10. That leaves an Android phone two routes to a reading. The back camera can count your pulse from a fingertip, and Bluetooth lets the phone show what a chest strap, an armband or a watch is measuring.

We read Google’s and Samsung’s help pages, then went through the Google Play listings of the ten apps this article named in 2019 and of the apps a search brings up now. Two of the ten are still worth installing. Keep one thing in mind throughout: a phone app is not a medical device, and it does not replace a doctor or a proper monitor.

What Google and Samsung already give you

Google Fit

Google Fit can measure heart rate with the camera. Google’s help page gives the steps:

1. Open Google Fit and tap Home.
2. Scroll to “Heart rate” and tap Add.
3. Touch and lightly hold a finger on the back camera lens, and keep your hand still.
4. Tap Save.

Google says this works best in a well-lit room, and that in a dim one you can turn on the phone’s flashlight from inside the app. It also suggests warming your hands first, because cold fingers carry less blood and give a weak signal.

The limit is in one line of the same page: heart rate tracking is available “on some Android phones”. Google does not list them, so the only way to find out is to open the app and try. Google Fit is free, and its Google Play page shows no ads label and no in-app purchases.

One caveat. Google’s developer site says the programming interfaces behind Fit will be deprecated in 2026 and points developers to Health Connect. The app is still on Google Play and its help pages are still up, but we would not rely on it to keep years of readings.

Google Health and Pixel phones

Google’s newer health app is built around wearables. The Fitbit app has been renamed Google Health, and the heart rate its help pages describe comes from a Pixel Watch or a Fitbit tracker, read at the wrist by green LEDs.

The tech specs Google publishes for its phones, from the Pixel 6 to the Pixel 11, name no heart rate sensor. The Pixel 11’s list is a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, an accelerometer, a gyrometer, a magnetometer and a barometer. A Pixel owner needs a watch, a strap or a camera app.

Samsung Health

Samsung’s support site says the Galaxy Note10, the S20 and later models do not have a heart rate sensor. Samsung Health‘s own listing gives the range of phones that could measure heart rate and stress with one: the Galaxy S5 to the Galaxy S10. On anything newer, Samsung’s advice is to use a smart watch, whose readings sync to Samsung Health on the phone.

Heart rate apps for Android compared

Camera apps

If Google Fit will not take a reading on your phone, AccuRate Heart Rate Monitor is the one we would install next. Its listing asks for a fingertip over the rear camera for 15 seconds, with no account, no sign-up and no email. It says any Android phone with a rear camera and flash will do, and that readings work offline.

The same listing is frank about limits. If the signal is too weak, the app says so instead of showing a number. The trace it draws is blood flow at the fingertip, not an ECG. Ads pay for it, though the developer promises you will not sit through one to get a reading, and a single payment removes them with no subscription. Google Play shows that purchase at $4.99 in the US.

Instant Heart Rate comes from our old list. It is free with ads, and Google Play shows in-app purchases from $4.99 to $59.99. Its listing calls the results approximations and tells you to stop if the flash becomes uncomfortably hot. Several apps here carry that warning. AccuRate and Heart Rate Plus both let you switch the flash off in their settings.

Cardiograph is free with ads on Android and has nothing to buy. It keeps a history for each person on a shared phone, and its listing says it can also read the heart rate sensor of a Wear OS watch.

Heart Rate Plus is the pick for an older Samsung. Besides the camera, it supports the sensor built into the Galaxy S5 to S10 and the Note 4 to Note 9. Ads are removed by a Premium purchase, and Google Play shows in-app prices from $0.99 to $2.99.

Bluetooth heart rate monitor apps

With a chest strap or an armband, the strap does the measuring. The app only has to connect and show the number.

Simple Heart Rate Monitor does exactly that and stops. It connects to a body-worn monitor and displays your current heart rate, with no account and no setup. The listing names the Polar H10, Garmin HRM-Pro, Wahoo TICKR and the budget Coospo H808S among the straps it works with. It may ask for location permission, which the developer explains is how Android lets an app search for Bluetooth devices. Google Play shows no ads label and nothing to buy.

Open Pulse adds a graph of the last three minutes and the strap’s battery level. Its source code is public on GitHub, and the banner ads are optional. There is no sign-up.

Heart Rate Monitor & HRV [BLE] is for people who want records. It takes a reading three ways: from the camera, from a Bluetooth strap or band, or as an ECG trace from a Polar H10. Recordings run from 15 seconds to 24 hours and export as CSV files.

FITIV Pulse is a full workout tracker with heart rate zones, voice coaching and Health Connect sync. Its listing names Polar, Wahoo and Scosche straps and Wear OS watches. Polar Beat is the free choice if your strap is a Polar: live heart rate in the app needs a Polar sensor.

A watch can stand in for the strap. Google’s help pages say a Fitbit Charge 6, a Fitbit Air or a Pixel Watch 2 or later can share its live heart rate with apps and gym machines that use the standard Bluetooth heart rate profile. For other Wear OS watches, Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor from RNDWear says it turns the watch into a monitor that other devices can connect to.

Apps that measure heart rate variability

Heart rate variability, or HRV, is how much the time between beats changes. The apps built on it are aimed at people who train. HRV4Training’s listing says its advice helps you adapt your training to how well you have recovered.

HRV4Training costs $11.99 on Google Play in the US and has no in-app purchases. It measures with the camera or a Bluetooth chest strap. The listing says the app detects straight away whether your phone is supported, so you can ask for a refund if it is not.

Welltory is free to download, with in-app purchases from $4.99 to $79.00. It measures through the camera or a watch. Its listing answers one common question directly: no, blood pressure cannot be measured through a phone camera. Elite HRV is free for personal use but needs a compatible sensor.

Which one to pick

• You want a quick reading and nothing else: Google Fit if the camera reading works on your phone, AccuRate if it does not.
• You have a Galaxy S5 to S10: Heart Rate Plus, which uses the sensor on the back.
• You own a chest strap and want the number on screen: Simple Heart Rate Monitor.
• You want workouts recorded with zones: FITIV Pulse, or Polar Beat with a Polar strap.
• You wear a Pixel Watch or a Fitbit: Google Health already has your heart rate.
• You train by HRV: HRV4Training, since you pay once.

The iPhone has a different set of apps and a different built-in story. We cover it in heart rate monitor apps for iPhone.

What happened to the old list

Instant Heart Rate and FITIV Pulse are still on Google Play and are covered above. Runtastic Heart Rate is gone: its old Google Play page no longer exists.

StressScan is still listed, but its own description says it is being turned into a different app called Habitone. Very Fit for Heart Rate appears to live on as VeryFitPro, from the developer of the VeryFit smartwatch companion app. Its listing runs to a few short lines and does not say what hardware it needs, so we left it out.

Cardio Heart Rate Monitor, BLE Heart Rate Monitor, Pedometer 2018 and HeartOnTop could not be matched to any current listing. The old list also carried an app for listening to an unborn baby’s heartbeat through the phone’s microphone. We have not replaced it. Questions about a pregnancy belong with a midwife or a doctor.

Quick answers

Does Google Fit measure heart rate?

Yes, on some Android phones. You hold a finger on the back camera and the app saves the reading. Google does not say which phones, so open the app and try it.

Do Pixel phones have a heart rate sensor?

No. Google’s spec lists for the Pixel 6 to the Pixel 11 name no heart rate sensor. The Pixel Watch has one, and its readings appear in the Google Health app.

Which Samsung phones have a heart rate sensor?

The Galaxy S5 to S10, going by Samsung Health’s listing. Samsung says the Note10, the S20 and later models do not have one.

What is the best Bluetooth heart rate monitor app for Android?

Simple Heart Rate Monitor if you only want to see the number from your strap. FITIV Pulse if you want workouts, zones and history.

Are heart rate apps real or fake?

The method is real. AccuRate’s listing explains that the camera picks up the slight colour shift as blood moves through the fingertip, the same principle a smartwatch sensor uses. The result is an estimate, and Instant Heart Rate’s listing describes its readings as approximations.