World Health Organization (WHO) encourages everyone to wash their hands everyday to stay safe from coronavirus. Now, Samsung has launched a free app that could help make hand-washing a habit. Samsung said its new Hand Wash app is aimed at helping to improve hygiene as we adapt to life during the coronavirus pandemic.
The app is available for download on the Galaxy Store for Gear S3, Gear Sports, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active and Galaxy Watch Active2 users.
To help you engage in regular handwashing, the Hand Wash app includes an alarm function; users can select the Reminders button to add or modify the timings of their alarms. For example, users can set an alarm that will notify them every two hours so that they can be sure to wash their hands at regular intervals. The number of alarms each user sets will then correspond to a target number on the app’s dashboard, reports Samsung.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends washing your hands for at least 20 seconds – roughly the time it takes to sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song twice. But of course, singing or humming along every time you go to wash your hands is not always practical.
This is where the countdown function of the Hand Wash comes in useful. The countdown is 25 seconds long, including 5 seconds for applying soap and 20 seconds for scrubbing. Once you receive the alarm notification that it is time to wash your hands, you can easily tap and swipe your Watch to start the counter, which will provide haptic feedback as well graphics once the timer starts. Furthermore, all Galaxy Watches are waterproof, so there is no need to remove the watch once you go to wash your hands.
While setting regular alarms is a good way to maintain your handwashing habit, of course there could be times between these intervals where other instances arise that require you to keep your hands hygienic, such as visiting the bathroom, preparing food and having a meal.
On the Hand Wash app’s dashboard, users can easily keep track of how long it has been since they last washed their hands, as well as review their daily handwashing target number and how many times they have washed their hands so far in a day. If users find themselves washing their hands before their next scheduled reminder alarm, users can just tap the ‘Wash now’ button before washing their hands to disable the upcoming alarm.
Maintaining a habit means committing to it over time – and committing to wash your hands at least 6-10 times a day is no exception. To help build their handwashing habit, users can utilize the Hand Wash Trend Tracking function of the app, which logs each day’s handwashing occurrences and provides a weekly average.
