Samsung has an app to make hand washing a habit
The importance of hand washing in these Covid-19-scarred times need not be overstated.
Considering that it is now being advised as an every-hour activity, Samsung has done the inevitable — it has come up with an app.
The app, designed for its range of wearable gears and watches, reminds users to wash their hands at regular intervals throughout the day.
To be specific, the app is available for download on the Galaxy Store for Gear S3, Gear Sports, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active and Galaxy Watch Active2 users.
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The company has fallen back on a 2020 study by University College London, which claims hand washing six to 10 times a day is optimum — plus after-toilet visits and before eating.
The app will remind watch wearers to wash their hands at regular intervals throughout the day with an alarm. The alarm will sound every two hours but the intervals between hand-washing can be modified through the remind button in the app’s settings.
If users are at their sink, swiping up on the watch will start a 25-second timer — five seconds for applying soap and 20 for scrubbing. Since Galaxy Watches are waterproof, users need need to take their devices off.
To help build their handwashing habit, users can utilize the Hand Wash Trend Tracking function of the app, which logs each day’s handwashing occurrences and provides a weekly average.
“While awareness has increased the importance of washing one’s hands frequently and thoroughly, opinions can differ on what ‘frequently and thoroughly’ actually means in practice. This is why Samsung has developed an app to provide a clear guide on how, and how regularly, users should be washing their hands,” Samsung said in its release.
Made in India
Interestingly, this app was designed in India.
A small group of designers and developers from Samsung Research Institute-Bangalore, or SRI-B’s UX and wearable teams, worked round-the-clock over two weeks in April to come up with a solution to help people stay healthy and safe.
According to Samsung, the SRI-B employee, mostly working remotely from their homes, built the ‘Hand Wash’ app.
Each time users initiate the wash sequence, the ‘Hand Wash’ app tracks the time and provides users with haptic feedback after 25 seconds of wash cycle.
The ‘Hand Wash’ app also notifies users if they miss any of scheduled pit stops to the wash basin. If users find themselves washing their hands before their next scheduled reminder alarm, users can just tap the ‘Wash now’ button before washing their hands to disable the upcoming alarm.
To help build their handwashing habit, users can utilize the Hand Wash Trend Tracking function of the app, which logs each day’s handwashing occurrences and provides a weekly average.