While we were probably taught at an early age to wash our hands regularly to keep germs away, as we grew up we apparently forgot to do so. And now that hand washing is considered one of the best ways to keep the coronavirus away, there has been a renewed call to make this a hygienic and even life-saving habit. In case you’ve forgotten or you need help in doing this, Samsung has now released a Hand Wash app for Galaxy Watch users.
Some sing Happy Birthday twice and some have researched what part of songs last that long so you won’t get “bored” while washing your hands. The Hand Wash app actually has one purpose: to remind you to wash your hands regularly and to ensure that you do it with the prescribed 20 seconds (although some health experts are now saying it should be 40 seconds). The app will periodically remind you to wash your hands by nudging you through notifications.
You can activate the preset reminders but you can also customize it based on your needs and also your daily schedule. Once you initiate the wash sequence, you get 25 seconds on the timer. 5 seconds is to turn on the tap and apply soap while the actual handwashing should take 20 seconds. It will track the time and give you haptic feedback once the cycle is over. You will also get notifications in case you miss any of your scheduled hand washing.
The app interface will also show you when you last washed your hands, in case you need reminding that it should really be done regularly rather than just twice a day. It comes with an “elegant watch face” so you can intuitively track your hand washing routine. It’s a pretty simple app but given our situation nowadays, it should be useful especially for those who are still pretty busy the entire day.
The Samsung Hand Wash app for the Galaxy Watch was actually built by designers and developers from Samsung Research Institute-Bangalore, with most of them working from their homes. You can download it from the Galaxy Store if you have a Galaxy Watch.
