Launching today
GlowPulse
Your Mac's camera is now a heart-rate sensor
26 followers
Your Mac's camera is now a heart-rate sensor
26 followers
GlowPulse measures your heart rate from your Mac's built-in camera using rPPG – no watch, no chest strap, no wearable. Lives in the menu bar with live BPM, sparkline, and color-coded zones. 100% on-device. Camera frames are processed in memory and discarded. No cloud, no account, no telemetry. Pomodoro focus with live HR chart. Breathing sessions with real-time HRV. 30-second stress check. $2.99 once. macOS 13+.
GlowPulse
Hey Product Hunt! Vlad here, indie dev behind GlowPulse 🩷
A year ago I noticed I was strapping an Apple Watch on every morning mostly to see my heart rate during work – to know when stress was climbing before I burned out. Then I’d take it off at night, lose it, forget to charge it. The whole wearable dance for one number.
Meanwhile my Mac has a camera staring at me all day.
Turns out there’s a whole research field called rPPG (remote photoplethysmography) that extracts heart rate from microscopic color changes in your skin caused by blood flow. Apple Watch does this with green LEDs on your wrist. A webcam can do it from across the screen.
So I built it. Started with a Python prototype using the POS algorithm (Wang et al. 2017), then rewrote it in Swift with Vision face landmarks and Accelerate FFT. Added an optional DeepPhys CoreML backend for ML-driven extraction. Benchmarked it against my Apple Watch – within ±3 BPM while stationary.
What ended up shipping is more than I expected:
• Live BPM in the menu bar with a sparkline
• Focus sessions (Pomodoro with HR charts – see stress climb during deep work, not after)
• Breathing sessions with live HRV at 0.1 Hz coherent breathing
• 30-second stress checks against your personal baseline
Privacy was non-negotiable from day one: every camera frame is processed in memory and discarded. No cloud, no account, no telemetry. The entitlement list is literally just “camera.”
$2.99 once, lifetime updates. 7-day free trial on the direct download.
Wildly open to feedback – it’s v1.0 and there’s still a lot to improve. AMA!
@zhuzhavladislav Hi Vlad, congrats on the launch. This looks very cool for a specific niche. I have a question as to whether you aren't pricing too low for sustainability.
Tacet
This is a really novel idea, did you cross-validate this with another type of HR sensor, such as your Apple watch or an over-chest wearable?
GlowPulse
@emma_blunt_ Hey Emma! 👋
Covered this in another comment but worth repeating: benchmarked against my apple watch and a mi band throughout testing. Stays within +-3 BPM of both.
No chest strap yet (don't own one). Saving up for a polar H10 or similar 😅 then i'll run a proper A/B and publish the data on the site and socials.
Tacet
@zhuzhavladislav Very nice, we use the Garmin HRM dual HR monitor in our HR validation research (compared to HR gathered from wearable EEG) and we are really satisfied with it, can recommend!
That is so cool honestly!
Do you have another way to measure your heart rate? Did you see any difference between the camera and your sensor?
GlowPulse
@fberrez1 Thanks Florent!
Benchmarked against my apple watch and a mi band throughout testing. Stays within +-3 BPM of both when sitting still in decent lighting.
Drift gets worse with motion (the algorithm needs a stable face in frame). So it's not a watch replacement for workouts, more for desk work where you're already sitting still anyway.
@zhuzhavladislav Very impressive, thanks
mailX by mailwarm
How accurate is it when lighting changes or you’re moving a bit?
GlowPulse
@othman_katim Fair question Othman!
Honest answer: degrades but doesn't fail.
Slow lighting changes like sun moving, lamp toggled handle okay because the algorithm reads relative color shifts not absolute brightness. Fast LED flicker is where it struggles. Light movement (typing, small head turns) is fine, anything more active and the reading drifts.
There's a signal-strength indicator in the app so you can see in real time when to trust the number or wait.
Rule of thumb i tell people: if you're sitting at your Mac, it works. If you're moving like you'd want a fitness band on, get the band instead 😌