Ultrahuman began rolling out a major app update, called Emerald, to all users on July 23, 2026. The update reorganizes the app to make it easier to navigate and moves all health analysis directly onto your device, so the app works fully without an internet connection. Engadget

Moving the analysis onto the device is the biggest technical change in the Emerald update. Previously, the app sent your health data to remote computers (servers) to generate insights, then sent the results back to you. Now that whole process happens locally on your phone or wearable. The app can produce its analysis in airplane mode or anywhere you have no signal, and your vital-sign data does not need to leave your device for the app to work.

Emerald also redesigns the main screen. Instead of showing the same fixed dashboard every time you open the app, it changes what it displays based on the time of day, your recent activity, and your current physical state. The goal is to reduce clutter so you see the information that matters most right now, with fewer taps to get there.

Two AI systems power the new experience. Jade, Ultrahuman's own AI engine, looks at your vital signs along with contextual information to generate health tips. Ultrasphere goes a step further by suggesting a specific "next best action" — essentially telling you what to do next based on your data. Where Jade offers advice, Ultrasphere recommends a concrete behavioral response.

On the health measurement side, Emerald updates the math behind VO2 Max calculations for more accurate blood oxygen readings. VO2 Max measures how efficiently your body uses oxygen during exercise and is a common indicator of overall cardiovascular fitness. The update also improves detection of atrial fibrillation, or AFib — an irregular heart rhythm — and adds a live heart rate view so you can watch your heart rate in real time instead of looking back at it later.

The combination of on-device analysis and the adaptive main screen addresses a common problem with health-tracking apps: they collect lots of data but leave you to figure out what it means. Ultrahuman's two-AI approach tries to close that gap by turning passive data into specific, context-aware recommendations.

The on-device shift also has privacy benefits. When health insights are calculated on your device, the raw data does not need to be sent to or stored on remote servers. For anyone worried about sensitive health information being exposed, local processing limits the risk to the device itself. Whether Ultrahuman's setup fully prevents all data from being sent over the internet is something independent experts will need to verify, but the design as described moves in a privacy-friendly direction.

The live heart rate feature and better AFib detection push the platform toward real-time health monitoring rather than just looking at past trends. The AFib improvements matter because atrial fibrillation comes and goes; better detection algorithms increase the chances of catching irregular heartbeats that shorter or less sensitive monitoring would miss.

For existing Ultrahuman users, the Emerald update is already available to everyone as of the publication date, not limited to a beta test or gradual rollout. New features include the redesigned adaptive main screen, on-device analysis, Jade health tips, Ultrasphere next-best-action recommendations, updated VO2 Max calculations, improved AFib detection, and live heart rate viewing.

The broader context here is that wearable health platforms are generally moving in this direction: doing more computing on the device itself, adding AI that not only reads your data but tells you what to do about it, and connecting detection more tightly to recommended action. Ultrahuman's Emerald update is a concrete example of that shift, and the on-device processing approach in particular is one other companies in this space will be watching closely.