Google Gets FDA Approval for ECG on Fitbit Devices in US

The wearable devices have been adding some more health tracking features all the time, but some of the advanced functionality requiring the same certification and the clearances as the actual medical equipment. This can possibly mean waiting for the governments for approving a feature before it can be launched officially and now the Fitbit owned by Google has now received the approval from the US FDA for the detection of heart rhythm.

Google said that, the Fitbit has now received clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration for their new PPG (photoplethysmography) algorithm for the purpose of identifying atrial fibrillation (AFib). The algorithm is going to be powering their new Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications feature on the Fitbit.

The company ‘Samsung’ received the approval from the US FDA in the year 2020 for the same heart rhythm monitoring the functionality on the Galaxy watches and Apple had also been granted the clearance in the year 2018 for the company’s Apple Watch devices. Although, the wearables and smart watches will not be replacing the actual medical devices, which they are usually rated as the Class II by the US FDA, which has been a clearance rating and not in FDA approval or the endorsement.

The Fitbit devices is also appearing to have received the same Class II rating, as the blog post of Google is now mentioning the feature has not been intended for use by the people, who are under 22 years of age.