Samsung Galaxy Phones Are Getting A Cool New Feature For Pet Owners

Your Samsung Galaxy phone can do a lot of really interesting things, including some you may not have even known about. It can separate Bluetooth audio streams or run two copies of the same messaging apps, and it even comes with a new camera assistant feature in One UI 8.5 — the latest software upgrade. But if you have furry companions, none of those features are as cool or useful as this next one. Samsung Galaxy owners will soon be able to spot-check their pet's health by simply taking a photo of them.

Thanks to a partnership with Lifet, an AI-based pet care solution provider, the functionality will analyze photos of pets with artificial intelligence to detect various health issues. It's not meant to be a replacement for a veterinarian or regular check-ups, but it should provide better early warning signs for potential health issues that need to be addressed. The AI can purportedly detect dental health problems, cataracts, Patellar Luxation — a condition where the kneecap dislocates from its normal position — and obesity. To use the service, Galaxy owners will need to have Samsung's SmartThings app and Pet Care service installed on their devices.

Samsung's integration of this functionality should make it a lot simpler to upload photos to Lifet, but you don't actually need a Galaxy phone to use the service. You can visit Lifet on any mobile device. The company claims it can detect pet health issues with 97% accuracy through a single photo. Moreover, to build the proprietary dataset and train the AI, the team established data specification guidelines and leveraged over 30,000 photos from genuine animal hospitals, with labeling performed by veterinary specialists.

As for how it works, you can get an idea of the process by simply heading to Lifet's survey page, selecting Getting Started, and following the instructions. From there, you'll need to register a profile for each pet you want to check by providing basic details like their name, age, gender, weight, and breed. After that, you begin the assessment, which involves selecting the issue you want to check for and taking a picture of your pet.

The biggest difference with Samsung's implementation is that the service will be accessible directly from compatible Galaxy phones. In addition, all personal data is mentioned to be safeguarded through Knox, Samsung's proprietary security solution. Of course, you don't need any of this to keep your pets happy and healthy as long as they're seeing their vet regularly. The service isn't much more than a neat just-in-case thing to have available. Still, AI is achieving some truly amazing things for pet owners — to the point where it might help us understand our pets.