Instant Heart Rate (Android and iPhone)
Sure there are plenty of contraptions out there to measure your heart rate. The bad news is… they are usually expensive and cumbersome.
When running I use the Garmin 405 heart rate monitor, but I wouldn’t call the chest strap “comfortable” nor “convenient”. Sure it gets the job done for mid-workout data, but I would never strap it on during the day just to check my heart rate.
That’s where the Instant Heart Rate app comes into play. This app allows you to measure your current heart rate using your cell phone with no additional equipment necessary!
I’m sure you are asking yourselves, “How the hell is that possible?”.
The technology behind Instant Heart Rate is actually pretty cool. You simply place the tip of your finger over the cell phone’s camera lens and it works by tracking color changes in the light that passes through your finger. With every heart beat the amount of light let into the lens changes and it measured. It’s such a simple and elegant solution!
Now you might be thinking, “Yeah, that’s clever and all, but there’s no way it’s accurate.”.
This thing is rediculously accurate, trust me. Last night I strapped on my Garmin heart rate monitor for a simple head to head comparison. Instant Heart Rate indicated my resting heart rate within 1 to 2 beats per minute of what the Garmin was displaying. Then I took a quick jog around the block to get my heart rate slightly elevated and measured again using both devices. Again, Instant Heart Rate was almost identical to the Garmin!
Instant Heart Rate is a quick, simple, and easy to use solution to monitor your heart rate throughout the day. Runner’s are big on knowing their morning resting heart rate and this is the perfect tool for the job!
Be sure to check out the Instant Heart Rate website for more information, and a big shout out goes to Gabe from Blog Master G for letting me know about this awesome app!
Thanks for the shout-out, and glad you like the app! The first time I used it on my 3GS, it worked really well, but has been a little more frustrating to use in subsequent attempts… for devices without the LED flash like mine, apparently, bright light or being outside is important.
Do you have the iPhone 4?
No problem Gabe! Thanks again for the heads up!
I dont have an iPhone. I am using my HTC Android. Its got dual LED flash, so it’s working out pretty awesome. Right on par with the Garmin!
Very cool – your accuracy testing was more thorough than mine.