Samsung Galaxy Watch user claims wearable gave them third-degree burns

Date:
Tue, 20 Sep 2022 11:06:36 +0000

Description:
A Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 owner claims their device burned them in
their sleep.

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You might want to think twice about continuing to wear your old Samsung
Galaxy smartwatch overnight following reports that a user was burned by their health tracker in their sleep.

The best fitness trackers are not just useful tools for keeping an eye on
your fitness goals; many have sleep monitoring features, so youre
incentivized to rarely take them off if you want to monitor that aspect of your health too.

But if youre using an older Samsung smartwatch (like the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 ) you may want to think about getting a different wearable, as
Reddit user u/TheMattsterOfSelf claims their watch gave them a third-degree burn in their sleep.

The post in the r/WellThatSucks community shows off their injury , alongside the back of the watch that apparently caused the burn. In the comments, TheMattsterOfSelf explains that the watch is an Active 2 44mm Bluetooth model that theyve been using for some time to help manage their insomnia.

Weve reached out to Samsung about the report but at the time of writing we havent heard back. If we do well update this piece with their statement and any advice they can offer Galaxy watch customers. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is a great sleep tracker so let's hope it doesn't have the same issues (Image credit: Basil Kronfli / TechRadar)

This isnt the first time that Samsungs smartwatches have been blamed for burning wrists instead of calories an investigation for a potential class-action lawsuit is looking at other reports of Galaxy Watches causing burns and injuries.

But its also not a problem that's unique to Samsung devices. Fitbit had to recall millions of its Fitbit Ionic watches earlier this year after numerous reports of users being burned by them .

Apparently, the Fitbit watches were overheating because of issues with their lithium-ion batteries. As our then Fitness editor explained in the article linked above, lithium batteries are used in smartwatches because theyre compact and can be charged quickly but they do come with a risk.

If one lithium cell gets damaged, or is short-circuited for any reason, its possible that it might overheat, and if it does it could cause a chain reaction that causes other cells to get damaged and heat up until the device gets hot enough to burn the wearer.

Its not clear if TheMattsterOfSelfs Samsung issue is of the same nature, but given that the watch is one of the companys older models its plausible that general use could have caused the batteries to degrade over time to the point where a similar instance of cells overheating could occur.

Well have to wait and see how Samsung responds to this latest claim, but if there is an issue with its watches then you might want to rethink which
device you use to monitor your sleep you'll find plenty of options in our picks for the best smartwatch .



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/samsung-galaxy-watch-user-claims-wearable-gave- them-third-degree-burns/


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