Gadgets track heart rate and blood pressure

Usually tech products are designed to be cool and fun, but there are also some that are like chicken soup — they’re good for what ails you. Such is the case with the MOCAcuff and MOCAheart, two gadgets from MOCAcare designed to help you keep track of vital health information by syncing the data collected to your smartphone.

The lightweight MOCAcuff ($69, mocacare.com) is a connected blood pressure monitor that uses Bluetooth to make a quick and easy connection to the MOCAcare app on your phone. It’s an easy-to-use Velcro wrist cuff that runs on two AA batteries (included), which should last for around 200 readings, and has a backlit LCD display with nice, easy-to-read numbers. You can use the MOCAcuff by itself to measure your blood pressure, but it also connects to your phone via Bluetooth LE.

The compact MOCAheart ($99, mocacare.com), a small oval about the size of a car’s key fob, keeps track of your heart rate, blood flow and blood oxygen levels and can help you monitor your heart’s health. It’s designed to take readings from your thumbs. Press the power button, and the MOCAheart pairs with your smartphone to begin a reading. Lightly hold your thumbs on the MOCAheart and let it do its thing for 30 seconds, and you’ll see your reading. The device operates off a small rechargeable battery that can run three to four days.

On top of the MOCAheart, you’ll find an electrocardiogram sensor (EKG) and a photoplethysmography sensor (PPG). Together they work to provide readings for heart rate and blood oxygen. Unlike the MOCAcuff, the MOCAheart requires a phone to work, as it doesn’t have a screen to display results.

To work both you’ll need to download the MOCAcare app (Apple users need iOS 8.0 or later, Android users require 4.3 and up). Once the app is up and running, if you have your phone’s Bluetooth turned on, all you have to do is power up either the MOCAcuff or MOCAheart and press the start button to connect the device to the app.

The MOCAheart readings include a number called the MOCA Index expressed between 1 (low) and 5 (very high), with 2 being the ideal. It is a reading taken from your blood velocity, which is the speed of the blood as it travels through your vessels. Higher blood velocity is a sign of arterial stiffness and is correlated to high blood pressure.

Readings are stored in a section called My History.

You can add contacts, if you like, so you can share your data with your friends or your doctor.