While a number of apps require an external attachment to take health measurements, Stress Check required just you and your phone. Stress Check is one of several apps from Palo Alto, Calif. start-up Azumio, which recently received $2.5 million in series A funding.



The company’s first health-oriented app, Instant Heart Rate (also available for Android), has generated 8 million downloads since its release in January. The company has more apps in the pipeline.


To use Stress Check, you hold your index finger over the iPhone’s camera flash for two minutes, long enough for the app to measure the blood flowing through your finger for patterns that would indicate elevated stress hormones. It does so by using the light from the flash to gauge subtle changes in color on the skin’s surface that reflect blood flow patterns.


You can’t vouch for the app’s accuracy, but it does at least appear to be capable of reading low and high stress responses.


Similarly, you hold your finger over the light from the camera for the Instant Heart Rate app. Unlike the stress test, just 10 seconds is needed for an accurate reading; mine was accurate when I compared it with a more traditional handheld device that Bostjancic brought along.


The company is focused on the consumer market, rather than diagnostics. “Increasing awareness of heart rate and stress levels among your social network of friends is extremely important,” he said. “Studies show that the more people are socially connected, the less they are affected by chronic diseases.”


My stress levels, for example, could have been uploaded to Facebook or blasted via Twitter. I don’t know, though. That sounds too stressful.

CONTACT US

We're not around right now. But you can send us an email and we'll get back to you, asap.

Sending

Log in with your credentials

Forgot your details?