Camera Heart Rate Variability

Measure heart rate variability (HRV) with your phone's camera. No chest strap or other sensor needed.

Place your fingertip over the back camera and flash for 60 seconds (or 45, if you prefer). The app detects each heartbeat from small changes in the color of your skin (photoplethysmography, PPG), then computes beat-to-beat intervals and HRV.

Built by the team behind HRV4Training. The camera method was compared with ECG and a Polar H7 chest strap in a peer-reviewed study (Plews et al., International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2017).

WHAT YOU GET

• Measurements of 60 or 45 seconds with live heart rate and pulse waveform, and signal quality reported at the end

• RR intervals with optional artifact correction

• Line charts of RR intervals and heart rate, a Poincaré plot and all features for each recording

• Time domain features: SDNN, rMSSD, pNN50

• Frequency domain features: LF, HF and LF/HF

• Optional breathing pacer with a rate you can set (6 to 14 breaths per minute, or off)

• Compare up to three recordings by their RR interval distribution

• History of all your recordings with heart rate and rMSSD trends

• Export heart rate, RR intervals and features as CSV: share, save to a folder, Dropbox or email

HOW TO GET GOOD DATA

Sit or lie still, rest your hand on a surface and cover the camera and flash fully with your fingertip, without pressing hard. The camera preview turns red; then keep still until the end. When the measurement ends, the app reports signal quality as the share of beats that needed correction.

Requires a phone with a back camera and flash. Camera quality differs between Android phones; if the signal stays poor on your phone, the measurement may not be reliable. This app is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition.

Questions or feedback: hello@HRV4Training.com