Cardiogram is a popular heart rate tracking app compatible with Apple Watch, Fitbit, Samsung Galaxy Watches, Pixel Watch, and other wearables.
I co-founded Cardiogram in 2016. Cardiogram was acquired in 2021, the acquirer declared bankruptcy in 2024, and in 2025 the investors sold the assets to a third company. In late 2025, the last remaining members of the Cardiogram team were laid off, and it appears the app will not be maintained for long.
I (and many of our other teammates) care about serving Cardiogram’s patients, so we’re adding some features to Empirical Health to help Cardiogram users with an alternative. Here are all of the details. If you simply want a Cardiogram alternative now, Empirical Health is available as an Apple Watch app and for Fitbit/Android.
High resolution heart rate monitor
The core of the Cardiogram app was high resolution heart rate monitoring, including a chart which shows your heart rate measurements.
Heart rate monitoring in Empirical Health for Apple Watch and Android watches.
Showing the detailed heart rate measurements is important for people with chronic conditions, such as atrial fibrillation or dysautonomias. Empirical Health now includes a high resolution heart rate chart with pinch-to-zoom.
Export a PDF of your heart rate data for your doctor
Many of our patients also exported printable PDFs of their heart rate for their doctor. This was initially launched as the main feature of Cardiogram Premium, and is also now part of Empirical’s premium subscription.
Cardiogram HeartIQ - feature comparision
Here’s a direct comparison of Cardiogram’s features in its HeartIQ model with Empirical:
| Feature | Cardiogram (HeartIQ) | Empirical Health App |
|---|---|---|
| High resolution heart rate charts | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes (with pinch-to-zoom) |
| PDF export of heart rate data | ✅ Yes (Premium) | ✅ Yes (Premium) |
| Apple Watch compatibility | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Fitbit compatibility | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Samsung Galaxy Watch (Wear OS) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Pixel Watch (Wear OS) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| MigraineIQ (Migraine detection) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Automated health risk scores | ✅ HeartIQ (BP, apnea, DM) | ✅ Health Radar (lab + wearable data) |
| Blood oxygen monitoring | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Sleep apnea notifications | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Hypertension detection/alerts | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Advanced sleep stages tracking | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Custom workout support | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Nutrition tracking | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Doctor chat & medical care | ❌ No | ✅ Yes (order labs, video visit, Rx) |
| Garmin compatibility | ✅ Yes | 🚧 Planned |
Note: Table last updated November 2025. Features may evolve over time. For most up-to-date list, view the Empirical Health for Apple Watch or Android.
Compatibility with Apple Watch, Fitbit, Galaxy Watch, and Pixel Watch
Similar to Cardiogram, Empirical Health is compatible with a variety of wearables. We were recently featured by Apple has an Apple Watch app with a beautiful new design for iOS 26. Empirical Health is also compatible with WearOS watches like the Galaxy Watch and Pixel Watch, as well as Fitbit.
Alternative to Cardiogram’s health scores
One of Cardiogram’s innovations were deep learning algorithms to predict your risk of high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and diabetes. At the time these were trailblazing, but the science has advanced significantly. Empirical Health attempts to do this functionality in a more modern way:
- Hypertension. The latest Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch models detect. Empirical Health is also compatible.
- Diabetes. The gold standard for diabetes diagnosis is an HbA1c test. Empirical’s comprehensive health panel includes HbA1c and several other biomarkers.
- Sleep apnea. Apple Watch, Samsung Watches, and other wearables now screen for sleep apnea. If you have signs of sleep apnea, you can talk directly with a doctor in the Empirical health app to get follow up testing.
What about combining all of your biomarkers into a single health score? Empirical Health has health radar: a comprehensive health score that combines not just data from wearables, but also blood test results. You can upload a PDF of your previous blood test results, or if you haven’t had a recent blood test, order one direclty through the app.
Empirical Health’s comprehensive health score and sleep scores, an alternative to Cardiogram’s scores.
Which Cardiogram features aren’t supported in alternatives?
Empirical Health does not do everything Cardiogram does: we’re mostly focused on preventive heart health (most similar to Cardiogram HealthIQ). Empirical doesn’t do migraine detection (MigraineIQ). If you have an iPhone/Apple Watch and need real time heart rate alerts, try Tachymon. Finally, if you need Garmin compatibility, we’re working on it but it’s not yet available.
What does Empirical Health do that Cardiogram doesn’t do?
Conversely, there’s a lot of features in Empirical Health that we never had a chance to add to Cardiogram:
- Latest Apple and Android watch metrics: in addition to heart rate, Empirical supports sleep stages, blood oxygen, hypertension notifications, breathing disturbances (sleep apnea detection), nutrition tracking, and custom workouts. These new features were added in 2020, 2024, and 2025, and unfortunately, the small dev team of Cardiogram was never able to add them. They’re all in Empirical Health.
- Medical care. Empirical Health lets you direclty talk with a doctor for lab testing, video visits, prescriptions (when medical necessary), and so on. Empirical is licensed, registered, and insured to deliver medical care to more than 80% of the US population.
- Comprehensive lab testing — combine your wearable data with blood tests.
- Nutrition tracking, custom workouts, and sleep tracking.
Looking for an alternative to Cardiogram?
If you need an alternative to Cardiogram, try Empirical Health for Apple Watch or Android. I would love to hear if there’s anything from Cardiogram you feel is missing in Empirical — please email us at hello@empirical.health if you have feedback.
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