With Welltory, you can measure your heart rate variability using your smartphone camera, heart rate monitor supporting Bluetooth data transfer, or Apple Watch (if you have an iPhone). Note that HRV measurement is not an electrocardiogram (ECG) recording, and it can't be used as a substitute for ECG or a medical check-up.
By default, your measurements will be taken with your phone's camera — you'll just need to allow Welltory to use it at sign-up. If you don't feel comfortable using the automatically chosen camera:
iPhone users can switch to another one. Go to Menu → Settings → Device. We recommend choosing the camera closest to the flashlight.
Android smartphones, unfortunately, don't allow their users to choose another camera.
Learn more about taking measurements with your smartphone camera.
Information for iPhone and Apple Watch users:
In the measurement device settings (Menu → Settings → Device), you can also connect your heart rate monitor. After Welltory performs its search, choose your device from the list.
If you can't connect your heart rate monitor:
Make sure that your HR monitor is not connected or paired with your phone via Bluetooth. If it is — disconnect or unpair it. You only have to check that your phone can find your Bluetooth device, but there is no need to connect or pair it directly with your smartphone.
If you are an Android user, make sure that you've given Welltory permission to access your geolocation. It's necessary for a proper Bluetooth device connection.
Note: we recommend BLE heart rate monitors for longer 300-RR-interval measurements. In their results, you can get frequency analysis with frequency domain scores. To get this analysis, go to Menu → Settings and enable the 300-beat mode.
Can I use my HR monitor for measurements in Welltory?
It's easy to check. Try to connect your monitor via Menu → Settings → Device or Menu → Settings → Primary Device and start taking a measurement. If your HR monitor is not compatible, the measurement will be interrupted with an error. If the monitor is compatible, your measurement will be successful.
Welltory supports most Bluetooth (BLE) heart rate monitors that can measure heart rate variability. We don't support HR monitors that only use the ANT+ protocol. Read more on compatible and incompatible devices here.
Unfortunately, some HR monitors don't use the Bluetooth protocol, or their developers don't allow access to their measurement data. However, as soon as a popular BLE device supports data sharing, we take every effort to enable its integration with Welltory.
Information for Whoop users:
In the Whoop app's Strap settings, turn on the HR Broadcast option.
Sometimes, after starting a measurement, you'll see Whoop showing a 70 bpm heart rate for a while — it's okay. At that moment, the system is stabilizing the signal. Wait a bit, the measurement will start soon. It doesn't mean that something's wrong: just give the monitor some time to adjust. After that, it'll start recording your actual heart rate. The initial 70 bpm heart rate won't be included in the measurement.
Information for Wahoo Tickr X users:
If the measurement doesn't start, or if you see a low accuracy warning, wait for a couple of minutes after putting on your strap and make sure it's your HR monitor that Welltory is taking a measurement with. Sometimes, the app may try to use your phone camera first, but then it'll switch to the strap.