Sanuj is a freelance tech journalist with over six years of experience covering smartphones, wearables, and consumer technology. He currently writes for Android Police, Tom's Guide, Android Central, Android Authority, and Pocket-lint. He has previously contributed to publications like Pocketnow and MakeUseOf.
Since the start of 2025 alone, he has tested over 30 smartphones. He has also attended major global trade shows including MWC (2024, 2025, 2026) and IFA (2024, 2025), along with launch events hosted by Google, Samsung, and other leading Android brands.
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If you've been getting inaccurate health measurements from your Galaxy smartwatch because of a tattoo on your wrist, a Redditor seems to have found a pretty unusual solution.
For those unaware, most smartwatches use optical sensors that shine light into your skin to measure things like heart rate and blood oxygen levels. However, tattoos, especially those with darker ink, can interfere with how light passes through and is reflected back to the sensors, potentially resulting in inaccurate readings or the watch failing to detect your wrist altogether.
While Samsung doesn't officially recommend a workaround for tattoo-related sensor issues, plenty of Galaxy Watch owners have complained about inaccurate readings when wearing their watches over tattoos. Thankfully, a Redditor seems to have found a surprisingly simple fix, and it involves using acne patches.
Acne patches might actually help with this problem
According to Reddit user u/moyersteven, sticking non-medicated acne patches onto the sensors on the back of a Galaxy smartwatch can apparently help improve readings when wearing the watch over tattooed skin.
The Redditor says the patches are soft, stick well to the watch, and are almost perfectly sized to cover the main sensor on the back of a Galaxy Watch. They also claim to have tested the workaround on a Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 by comparing its heart rate and blood pressure readings against a separate measuring device.
According to the user, the readings were surprisingly close to those from the standalone device. They also experimented with different numbers of patches, using two on one arm and one on the other, depending on the skin and tattoo underneath.
The Redditor claims to have repeated the tests several times and even compared the results between people with tattoos and those without, with the readings reportedly remaining fairly consistent. Interestingly, they also say the Galaxy Watch could still charge wirelessly even with the acne patches on.
Of course, there's nothing official about this method, and it's unclear exactly why the patches might help. Still, it's a pretty interesting workaround for a problem that has frustrated Galaxy smartwatch users with tattoos.
If you have a tattoo on your wrist and a Galaxy Watch that's struggling to take readings, you could experiment with this approach to see whether it makes a difference. Just don't rely on the modified setup for medical decisions, and keep in mind that the results may vary depending on your watch, skin, and tattoo.