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Nature: Smartphones Can Passively Monitor Heart Health as Effectively as Wearables

Marty S.

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Coros spring firmware update for runners and cyclists

🔬 Health & Fitness Research

Smartphones are now accurate enough for at-rest heart monitoring—but if you want passive baseline tracking that runs all day without nightly charging, the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro and Coros Pace 3 are still the obvious choice.

Marty’s Take:

Five BPM on resting heart rate is this study’s ceiling — and resting HR is the one cardiac metric wearables commoditized years ago. The real value in a dedicated fitness tracker like the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro is VO2 max estimation, HRV trending, sleep staging, and GPS running dynamics. Smartphones just claimed a metric nobody in serious fitness was defending.

Shop mentioned gear: Garmin Fenix 8 Pro | Coros Pace 3

Source: Nature

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Marty S.

Marty S.

Marty is a contributor at Fitness Tech Trends, focused on helping readers cut through the noise and make informed decisions about fitness technology. He dives deep into product comparisons, analyzes features that actually matter, and breaks down technical specs into practical insights. Whether readers are choosing between heart rate monitors, deciding on recovery tools, or figuring out which smartwatch fits their training style, Marty aims to provide straightforward, no-hype guidance. When he’s not researching the latest gear, he’s probably testing theories about what makes certain products stick while others fade into the gadget graveyard.