First Smart Ring App Store Launched by Ultrahuman

By Tor Constantino

Ultrahuman, maker of the AIR smart ring and other lifestyle monitoring devices, today announced the launch of an app store for its ring monitors, as well as an app that tracks atrial fibrillation (AFib) in the heart—both of which it describes as industry firsts.

In addition to the AFib detector, the PowerPlugs app store launches with eight apps which track health metrics like circadian rhythm, weight loss, and ovulation cycles. Ultrahuman co-founder Mohit Kumar told Decrypt that they soon expect hundreds of compatible apps will be available on the site.

“We have a SDK (software development kit) platform called UltraSignal, which developers can use to build their own applications,” he explained. “They would be able to define a few things like, which markers to use, what frequency of the markers, what spectrums are they looking at, and what kind of graphs would they actually create from the markers, [and] what kind of scores would they want to create from the markers.

“That's the customizability that we allow right now,” he added.

Image: Ultrahuman

While smart rings have been around for more than a decade, Kumar says the Ring AIR is unique. Not only does the device come packed with the latest Infrared Photoplethysmography (PPG) tech, non-contact medical-grade skin temperature sensors, plus six-axis motion sensors, but the PowerPlugs app platform puts it in a class by itself.

“We are built on the modern stack, where we actually have access to both wellness markers, but also have the ability to actually go deep into clinical markers, so we are fundamentally different,” he said.

“The two keywords to remember are sensitivity and specificity,” Kumar continued. “When you make a technology which is going to be commercialized en masse—made mass available—[it's important] to actually have the sensitivity and specificity, because you're actually making a bold claim with a clinical grade marker.”

According to Kumar, this requires an intense amount of testing and securing regulatory approvals.

“We are the first company in the world to actually get that,” he said.

The showcase app for the launch is the AFib detector, which tracks heart rate for irregular beats. Such heartbeats can be an early indicator of a more serious health issue such as stroke or heart failure. Kumar noted that the AFib app is currently approved for use in Australia, Europe, UAE, UK, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia. It’s not yet available in the U.S. or India. 

“In markets like the U.S. and India, we're actually starting the process in terms of approvals. But I think, because we already have approvals in certain geographies—and we have been able to prove both sensitivity and specificity—it's just a matter of time,” Kumar said.

In April, Ultrahuman announced that it would open a manufacturing facility for its devices in Indiana.

Kumar said that the PowerPlugs ecosystem uses end-to-end encryption and complies with regulatory privacy standards, including HIPAA in the U.S. and GDPR in the European Union. An additional layer of platform security requires a unique access token for each account, which only the user who set up the account has.

PowerPlugs are available through the Ultrahuman App in free and premium options.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.

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