The Korea Herald

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U.S. insurer to offer health tips via Samsung Galaxy S5 app

By Seo Jee-yeon

Published : May 16, 2014 - 21:09

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U.S.-based insurer Cigna said Friday it will provide customized health management tips via a healthcare app on Samsung Electronics’s newest smartphone Galaxy S5.

The new “Coach by Cigna” will be added to the smartphone’s pre-loaded S-health 3.0 app and released in 36 countries in 26 languages. The insurer said the provided contents will allow users to keep track of their daily health conditions and activities by linking them to healthcare data stored on the app.

The Galaxy S5 is the first smartphone in the industry to have a built-in heart rate sensor. It can also be connected to smart watches to monitor the heart rate during an exercise.

To find out the details of the users’ health conditions, “Coach by Cigna” would ask 15 questions in five categories, including eating habit, stress level, weight and sleep patterns.

Cigna’s coaching system, for example, would ask a user how often he or she exercises for 30 minutes or more. The Samsung app will retrieve the exercise and health condition records and inform the user of the findings.

The coaching program will suggest exercise goals based on the user’s daily routine, starting with activities as light as shopping for new shoes and arranging walks with companions, and work up to sports like squash and hiking.

Users can also share their records through social-networking services such as Facebook and KakaoTalk messenger app. (Yonhap)