Samsung smartwatches now have a “Hand Wash” app to help with personal hygiene

When it comes to personal hygiene, one of the first habits I ever learnt was to wash my hands regularly. And as the world recovers from the global pandemic that is COVID-19, the importance of personal hygiene has never been more apparent than now. Which is why Samsung has announced a new “Hand Wash” smartwatch app that will give you reminders on when to wash your hands—and how long you should wash them for.

The app will work on the Gear S3, Gear Sports, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active, and the Galaxy Watch Active 2, and Samsung says that the aim here is to get people “into the habit” of washing their hands properly. According to researchers, people touch their faces 23 times a day; a stat which serves to highlight the crucial role that regular hand-washing plays in the prevention of diseases.

Basically, the app provides a concise guide on how often and how they should wash their hands. 6–10 hand washes per day reportedly lowers your risk of infection, and the Hand Wash app helps to remind you whenever it’s time to head to a nearby washroom. The timing and intervals of your reminders can be custom set by users, just in case you have a rather irregular daily schedule.

But it’s also important to wash your hands “thoroughly and properly”, according to Samsung (and every health authority out there). The World Health Organisation’s recommendation is for 20 seconds—but Samsung’s app includes an extra 5 seconds for applying soap. Of course, the Samsung smartwatches mentioned above are all water resistant, so you won’t need to take them off when washing your hands.

Meanwhile, you’re also given access to information on your daily hygiene habits. For example, users can track how often they’ve washed their hands on a specific day, as well as the last time they washed their hands. This monitoring is extended to weekly reports, so you can look at your personal hygiene across the long term.

The Korean company also provided the following guide on the 6 steps of handwashing:

The app is now available to download on the Galaxy Store. All you need to do is head to the Galaxy Wearable app on your smartphone, click on “Discover”, and search for “Hand Wash”. The layout of the app is pretty straightforward, and I have to say that it’s certainly a handy little app to have on my wrist—especially given my forgetfulness.

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