pixel: Google Pixel 6 can now track heart and respiratory rate using camera

Google announced a feature for its health tracking platform, Google Fit, that uses a smartphone’s camera and flash to track heart and respiratory rate. Now, the company has started to roll out the feature to its newly launched smartphone Pixel 6. As the smartphone does not have dedicated sensors to measure heart rate, users can track it by placing finger on the rear camera. The phone guides users to place the finger in the right place and it also advises them to move to a place with better lighting.
The app detects the change in the colour finger and provides readings.The observations can be saved on the Google Fit app as well. The feature was already available in Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a smartphones since March. In the previous versions, the app used flash on smartphones to get more accurate readings in low-light conditions.
The feature has only been rolled out for some users with an “early access” tag while others have them without it. The feature can be found in the Vitals menu under Browse or at the bottom of the Home tab. As per a report on 9to5Google, the results on Pixel 6 are as accurate as on Pixel 5 and the Fitbit tracker. Google has specially mentioned on its blog that the tracking is not intended to diagnose, cure, mitigate, prevent or treat any disease or condition.
Google Pixel 6 was launched by the company last month and it is the first smartphone that is powered by the company’s in-house Tensor chipset. The Pixel 6 comes with 8GB of RAM and storage capacity of 128GB and 256GB. When it comes to camera, the smartphone has dual camera set-up at the back with 50MP primary lens. On the front, there’s an 8MP selfie shooter. The device runs on Android 12 out of the box.