Proper handwashing techniques have received a lot of attention in recent months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The simple act of washing your hands plays an important role in preventing the spread of the virus. Hot on the heels of Google's handwashing timer for Wear OS, Samsung is doing its part and releasing a similar app for Galaxy smartwatches.

Samsung's app is a little different from Google's. Simply named "Hand Wash," this is a stand-alone app rather than an extra feature tacked on to the existing Clock app. Users have to manually seek it out and install the app from the Galaxy Store, which, unfortunately, means fewer people will know about it. On the plus side, this allows the app to have more features.

The "Hand Wash" app can be set as your watch face, making it much easier to launch quickly. The watch face shows how many times you have washed your hands and how long it has been since your last wash. While Google's app has a 40-second timer, Samsung is going with a less aggressive 25 seconds (still longer than the CDC recommends). The watch will vibrate when the time is up.

CDC’s handwashing instructions:

  1. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
  2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
  3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
  4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
  5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

Launching the app from the app carousel will allow you to manually enter how many times you have washed your hands. There is also a chart that shows how many times you washed your hands each day and the week's average. The Hand Wash app will also remind you to wash your hands periodically. There are 8 reminders by default, but you can add more or delete up to 3 of the reminders.

The Hand Wash app seems to be available for all Samsung watches in the Galaxy Store. Samsung only mentions "Galaxy Watch" users, but I was able to download it on my non-Galaxy branded Gear Sport as well. Open the Galaxy Store and search for "Hand Wash" by Samsung Electronics to see if it's available for your smartwatch.


Source: Samsung