Wearable ECG Sensors

Apple, Samsung, Google, Garmin and Philips are among the organizations active in wearable ECG. Apple and Samsung offer smartwatch ECG recording, while Philips develops wearable patient-monitoring systems that include adhesive biosensor patches. Medtronic, GE Healthcare, Fitbit and AliveCor also appear among active organizations. Their products and research span consumer rhythm checks and clinical monitoring.

Vivalink and OCTOMED Co., Ltd. are two startups with relevant activity in the available data. Vivalink supplies medical wearable sensors and data services, and its ECG patches are used in clinical monitoring studies. OCTOMED is associated with research on an AI-enabled wearable ECG system for semi-real-time atrial-fibrillation screening. The evidence provided does not establish comparative commercial readiness.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences CAS, Stanford University and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China are active research organizations. CAS researchers work on flexible epidermal electrodes, while Stanford studies wearable ECG applications including smartwatch-based cardiac assessment. UESTC researchers have developed signal-processing methods, including a spiking neural network framework for denoising motion-affected ECG.

The recorded grant data totals $45,883,376 across 34 grants since 2020. This figure reflects the grants classified in the available data, not necessarily all funding for wearable ECG sensors. The listed funding rounds include unrelated projects and investments, so their aggregate should not be interpreted as topic-specific funding.

ZOLL Medical Corporation leads the listed patent holders with 37 patents, followed by West Affum Holdings Dac with 32. Koninklijke Phillips N.V. has 17, Bardy Diagnostics Inc. has 14, and iRhythm Technologies has 11. These counts identify the leading holders in the available patent data; they do not show the scope or status of individual claims.

No: 464 patents fall within the 24-month window, while patent activity declined 55% in the last 12 months compared with the previous 12 months. Publication activity moved in the opposite direction, rising 20.2% over that comparison period. The different trends suggest that recent activity is more visible in research output than in patent filings.

Recent work includes a wearable 12-lead platform with automated analysis reported by Satbayev University in October 2026, and the DCPA-SNN denoising framework from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in August 2026. HeartBeam began a pilot study of an on-demand 12-lead ECG patch in May 2026. These efforts address richer recordings, signal quality and clinical use.

The main approaches are wrist-worn devices, adhesive patches, textile-integrated sensors, chest-worn devices, and capacitive or dry electrodes. Smartwatches prioritize convenience, while patches are suited to extended skin-contact monitoring. Textiles integrate sensing into clothing, and chest straps provide another ambulatory form factor. Dry and capacitive electrodes reduce reliance on gel but still need reliable signal coupling.

Applications include atrial fibrillation detection, ambulatory cardiac diagnosis, remote patient monitoring, fitness and sports, and population screening. Atrial fibrillation detection has 1,768 associated documents, while remote patient monitoring has 2,071. Wearable ECG can support rhythm checks beyond the clinic, but findings still require appropriate interpretation and clinical follow-up.