Android Blood Pressure Apps Under W10 Without a Smart Phone

mikeincousa · 04 Dec 2019

I do not know anything about smart phones or Android Apps.

I have been shopping home blood pressure monitors.

A couple of the most credible offerings provide an Android app for logging data. I find this a very appealing feature.

I am not finding any tools for directly hard-wire connecting or Bluetooth like pairing such a device into Window 10 without using a smart phone.

Is this possible?

If so how might I go about it?

Thanks for any thought and guidance.

Berton · 04 Dec 2019

10 of the best blood pressure apps for 2017
Having a bit of time while a computer is Upgrading I did some looking around and didn't find anything workable for a computer, only Android which does run on Smart Phones. I think most such phones have Bluetooth wireless for communicating with suitably-equipped computers, mostly Notebooks, but there are USB Bluetooth dongles available for Desktops if the blood pressure device also has the same connectivity.

It may also hinge upon whether an app/program exists that will run on Windows.

Try3 · 04 Dec 2019

Mike,

By coincidence, I have also been looking at these devices & apps.

There are no common standards for the apps.
- You'd have to ask the individual device makers which apps their products could work with and whether or not any suitable apps could run in Windows 10 {32 bit / 64 bit}.
- The apps require extensive Android access permissions because many of these devices also have features such as phone call alarms, text msg display / alarms. There are no direct equivalents within Windows for many of the access permissions involved. So the apps would have to be completely re-written for this specific purpose yet there is no mention of Windows use in any of the product descriptions I have been trawling through.
- It's a mobile world now so computer users like us are becoming a minority of buyers for consumer goods & are of no interest to most sellers.
- In addition, I get the impression that most of the Amazon sellers are just box shifters with no understanding of the subject matter.
- So the answer is likely to be "no" or "don't know".

Some of these devices cannot even run with their own apps correctly.
- I received an example of this yesterday and am just back from returning it to Amazon at the Post Office.
- I read similar comments about failure to work with their own apps in many user reviews on the Amazon product pages.

Even more significantly, I also saw many comments about the results being very inaccurate. Despite the wonderful capabilities touted by the sellers, the heart rate & blood pressure results were reported in several user reviews as being so inaccurate as to be useless.

So, in brief, ask the sellers but do not believe their answers.

During my searching [in price order], I reached devices up to £40 [$55-ish, I think} and I have not found a single one that inspired confidence so I have binned the idea completely.

There are, of course, completely independent "finger-tip" devices that do not need an app. But they do not have the convenience of the ones that are worn like wrist watches.

Denis

mikeincousa · 04 Dec 2019

Thanks for your comments.

I had just a few minutes to scan your comments. As you are shopping too I will provide the specific device that I think best. It is: Welch Allyn Home 1700 Series Blood Pressure Monitor and Upper Arm Cuff, Clinical-grade Technology and Easy Bluetooth Smartphone Connectivity HBP100SBP
I found several papers and objective certifications that make this device the most credible. I hear you about the variability of the data: to that end I have given that issue a great deal of thought and mustered several resources. If you wish to share some thoughts on all this I am good to go, but think that beyond the scope of this forum. If you want to connect through email or Skype let us establish a connection by first exchanging contact details in a PM here. Just make a note here so I know you have sent a pm.
Got to go for now.

Try3 · 04 Dec 2019

Mike,

We have different functional requirements.

I was trying to find a device that could be worn on the wrist because I wanted to monitor heart rate, blood pressure continually whilst doing strenuous work. The higher quality device that you have mentioned is one that involves specific, deliberate measurement tasks and that's no use to me.

Denis