Samsung Is Pulling the Vascular Load Feature From US Galaxy Watches

Samsung is removing the Vascular Load feature from Galaxy Watches in the United States with the One UI 9 watch update in late July, according to a notification the company has begun sending to US owners. The alert offers no reason for the change and tells users to export their history before it disappears.

The same notice previews a Blood Pressure Trend replacement arriving in the US on the upcoming Galaxy Watch, expected to be unveiled at Samsung’s Unpacked event on July 22, 2026. Vascular Load will be gone before that hardware lands. The notification has not specified how long the export path will stay open once the update arrives. Samsung has not publicly addressed why the US-only cut is happening.

The Notification Samsung Just Sent US Watch Owners

Reddit users began posting screenshots of a Samsung Health alert this week with the subject line ‘Vascular load Labs feature to be discontinued.’ The body of the notice tells recipients the feature will be removed in late July as part of the One UI 9 watch update. Previously recorded Vascular Load numbers will no longer appear in Samsung Health after the change takes effect.

Android Police has reproduced the full alert text, including the export path under More options, then Settings, then Download personal data. The outlet reached out to Samsung for a formal statement on why the cut is happening and will update if the company responds. Samsung has not publicly addressed the change in any official statement so far. The notification does not commit to keeping the export path open for any defined window after the late July cut. The company has also not said whether the cut will spread to other markets beyond the US on the One UI 9 watch update.

Inside the alert, Samsung frames the change as a single feature retirement rather than a region-by-region policy move. The reproduced text uses one subject line, with no per-region variant in the version Android Police published. Reddit screenshots of the notice, all from US-based accounts in that coverage, show the alert appearing in Samsung Health on paired phones. Whether non-US markets will retain Vascular Load on the next update is a question Samsung has yet to answer.

What Vascular Load Actually Did While You Slept

Vascular Load was one of the Preventative Care features Samsung highlighted when it launched the Galaxy Watch 8 last August. The watch reads photoplethysmogram (PPG) waveforms from its optical heart-rate sensor while the wearer sleeps, then estimates blood volume and vascular stiffness from those overnight signals. Samsung’s own description of how Vascular Load measures overnight stress notes that diet, sleep, and rest are the levers a user could adjust based on the readings.

The metric sat inside Samsung’s Labs section, a bucket of experimental tools rather than the core Health feature set. It carried an explicit not-for-diagnosis disclaimer similar to other consumer health tools on the watch. Users did not need a paired cuff or any external hardware for the feature. The metric ran from the watch sensor alone. Results showed up under Samsung Health as a numeric value alongside trend graphs that could be reviewed the next morning.

To generate a reading, the watch had to be worn for at least three nights inside a two-week window, per Samsung’s instructions. The feature was labeled experimental from launch and lived inside the Labs section of Samsung Health. Vascular Load has been on Galaxy Watches since it debuted last year.

The feature most often paired with Vascular Load is blood pressure monitoring, which Samsung rolled out to US Galaxy Watch owners in March 2026, after a long clearance effort. That measurement requires cuff recalibration every 28 days. Vascular Load was the only sleep-based vascular stiffness metric Samsung had shipped in the US. That positioning is what makes the current removal a specific feature loss rather than a routine update.

Why the US-Only Cut Points at FDA Compliance

Samsung has not explained the removal of Vascular Load in the United States while leaving its status in other markets unclear. Outlets covering the notice converge on a familiar culprit: US FDA rules. Features that measure physiological metrics can be reclassified as medical devices under US law, which forces a longer approval path than a consumer wellness feature normally requires. That reclassification is the lens through which the US-specific scope of the current cut makes sense to most of the coverage. Other Samsung wearable health features, from ECG to sleep apnea detection, have followed the same pattern of arriving in the US only after FDA clearance was secured.

That regulatory drag has shaped Samsung’s US wearable roadmap for years. The same holdup delayed Blood Pressure monitoring in the US even though the feature had already shipped in other regions. Samsung only made that measurement available to American Galaxy Watch owners in March 2026, after a long clearance effort. It arrived with the same wellness framing Vascular Load carried, plus a monthly cuff calibration rule.

Reddit’s r/GalaxyWatch discussion thread reached the same conclusion. One commenter wrote that the move was ‘probably worried about FDA compliance’ and pushed back on the agency process. Another commenter pointed to the slow US rollout of Blood Pressure monitoring as proof.

Probably worried about FDA compliance… Look how long it took for blood pressure measurements to be approved… all to say not for medical use and must calibrate monthly with a real blood pressure cuff or machine.

How to Export Your Vascular Load History Before Late July

Samsung’s alert tells US users that Vascular Load data will no longer appear in Samsung Health after the One UI 9 watch update lands. The company has not specified how long the export path will stay open. Users who want to keep their history should pull it now rather than later, before the late July window closes. Once the cut happens, no future Samsung Health version is guaranteed to surface those numbers again.

The export runs through the Samsung Health app on the phone paired with the watch, not on the watch itself. The in-app menu path matches the steps Samsung included inside the alert, so users do not need to dig for a separate settings screen. The exported file lands on the phone for the user to keep as a personal archive. Samsung has not said whether the data can be re-imported into a future Samsung Health version. The simplest read is to download the file now and treat the export as a one-time archive.

1. Open Samsung Health on your paired phone.
2. Tap More options (the three-dot menu) in the upper right.
3. Choose Settings.
4. Tap Download personal data.
5. Select Vascular Load from the list.
6. Follow the prompts to export the file.

Vascular Load is the only entry in the export menu tied to the discontinued feature, based on the alert’s wording reproduced in the Android Police and Android Central coverage. Samsung has not said how long after the One UI 9 watch update the export option will remain open for new pull requests. Users who wait until the last week of July risk missing the export window without a heads-up from Samsung. The move is to treat the export as a one-shot archive rather than a permanent store inside Samsung Health.

The same download flow exports other Samsung Health data too, so users can pull related metrics while they are still in the app. For most US owners, Vascular Load is the only metric affected by this specific removal. Any readings captured under a different category, like sleep score, are not part of the removal and should remain visible.

The Blood Pressure Trend Replacement Coming to the Galaxy Watch 9

The same Samsung alert previews what is coming next. A new feature called Blood Pressure Trend will “check your blood pressure periodically to show you a trend over time” and “give you tips to help support healthy habits,” according to Android Central’s reproduction of the alert text. Unlike Vascular Load, which ran on the existing Galaxy Watch 8 line, Blood Pressure Trend is being positioned as a launch feature on new hardware. The new feature is described in Samsung’s materials as wellness-only, not a diagnostic. Coverage from Sammy Fans confirms the feature will land on the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

PhoneArena reports the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 are expected to be unveiled at a Samsung Unpacked event on July 22, 2026. The Watch 9 codename leak pointing to three models hints at a larger lineup than last year’s two-watch launch. Samsung has not yet said whether Blood Pressure Trend will roll out to existing Galaxy Watch models through a software update. Until Samsung confirms the rollout scope, current Galaxy Watch 8 owners should not assume they will get the replacement at launch.

Both Blood Pressure Trend and the existing Blood Pressure monitoring feature require cuff calibration every 28 days, per the alert text and the older feature’s setup. Both sit inside Samsung’s wellness-only framing rather than its medical-device framing. That framing is what has shaped the US lineup to date, including the Vascular Load removal.

The Wider Regulatory Cage Around Wearable Health Features

The Vascular Load removal fits a pattern that has shaped Samsung’s US wearable roadmap for years. The company brought blood pressure monitoring to Korean and European Galaxy Watch owners long before the feature cleared the US. The FDA’s medical-device rule is what kept the gap in place. Samsung’s own ECG and Sleep Apnea features followed a similar pattern, with FDA clearance arriving after the initial global release. Samsung’s track record of introducing Labs features and dropping them without public comment sets the bar for what users can expect from future experimental releases. No outlet, including Samsung, has publicly named the FDA as the cause of the current cut.

Some on Reddit suspect the upcoming Blood Pressure Trend is meant to compete with rumored blood-pressure features on the next Apple Watch Ultra. The actual feature list on the new Galaxy Watches will be confirmed at Unpacked on July 22, 2026, not before. Current Galaxy Watch 8 owners will know by then whether the new feature set extends to their hardware through a software update.

Frequently Asked Questions

When exactly is Samsung removing Vascular Load from Galaxy Watches in the US?

Samsung says the feature will be discontinued in late July as part of the One UI 9 watch update. The company has not specified an exact date within that window, and there is no public rollout schedule for the watch firmware.

How do I export my Vascular Load data before it’s deleted?

Open Samsung Health on your paired phone, tap the three-dot menu, go to Settings, choose Download personal data, then select Vascular Load. The notification sets up the export but does not specify a cutoff date for the path.

Will Vascular Load come back?

Samsung has not committed either way. The alert uses the word ‘discontinued’ rather than ‘paused,’ and the company has not confirmed whether the feature will return in a different form after the removal.

Which Galaxy Watch models are affected?

The Vascular Load feature was available on Galaxy Watch models in the US, with the Galaxy Watch 8 highlighted at launch. The One UI 9 watch update is expected in late July, and Samsung has not confirmed how broadly that update will roll out across older watches.

What is Blood Pressure Trend, and will it work on my current watch?

Blood Pressure Trend is a new Samsung Health feature that periodically measures blood pressure and shows trends over time. Samsung’s alert says it will be available in the US on the upcoming Galaxy Watch, expected to be unveiled at Unpacked on July 22, 2026. The company has not yet said whether existing Galaxy Watch models will receive it through a software update.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The health features described, including Vascular Load and Blood Pressure Trend, are wellness features not intended for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. Consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical advice. Figures and status are accurate as of publication and may change.