Pulse Feedback
AI
browser vital sign detection
SHOW HN2026
How HN took it
3 positive, 13 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 16 critical, out of 32 comments about the project. Thread score -0.38.
Performance: 0 for, 9 againstIdea: 2 for, 4 againstExecution: 1 for, 1 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Simple and fun to try in the browser
From 2 comments
Worked for me on Android. Love the simplicity.
gumboshoes on HNHow does it work? Is it https://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/evm/? I see the FAQ about VitalLens, but I couldn't find technical details. It's super cool. Thanks for sharing. I want…
sxp on HN
Objections
Readings are inaccurate, often far from a watch or chest strap
From 5 comments
It’s not very accurate. Maybe because of the camera fidelity. It was about 10bpm lower than actual for me. Seems to operate off of subtle motions caused by pulse. It was even…
twodave on HNIt showed my BPM at nearly half of what it really was
brynnbee on HNYeah, I couldn't be bothered getting my accurate chest strap out, but my watch (which is generally very close to the strap) was anywhere from 10-20 off what it was reporting.…
SCdF on HNLove the attempt, but after giving it a good image and letting it run for a while it's totally off. I measure my heartbeat at 100 bpm and it's reading around 50. I see some cool…
thePhytochemist on HNIt registered in the low 40s for me, while my watch was saying 72-75. I guess YMMV
abakker on HN
Privacy: unclear what happens to webcam video before enabling it
From 2 comments
I would prefer some kind of privacy statement or even some kind of explanation about what is going on before I just randomly turn my webcam on. This might be great and I’m proud…
hluska on HNI haven't dug deeper due to time availability, but for the same sake of privacy, I've found: 1. `/api/event` endpoint mentioned in the `/stats/script.js` file; 2. There's…
serious_angel on HN
Could be weaponized for profiling or manipulation in hiring or surveillance
From 2 comments
I feel like the primary use case for such a technology is manipulating and profiling people over video chat, maybe even autonomously. Hiring managers, HR, landlords, and police…
functionmouse on HNIt didn't work for me. Win10Pro, Firefox 146.0, Dell T5400 workstation with LG monitor, no camera or microphone ever installed. LOL. I'm with users /u/functionmouse and /u/croes.…
doodlebugging on HN
Browser crashes or fails to detect the user on some setups
From 3 comments
Could be interesting, but allowing the webcam crashes my browser.Repeatedly macOS 15.7.1 (24G231) Brave 1.87.186 (Official Build) (arm64) Chromium: 145.0.7632.45
amagasaki on HNIt failed to detect me at all.
regularfry on HNFirefox throws a "this tab is slowing down your browser" warning, but it doesn't crash. Chromium works for me, though.
jeroenhd on HN
Requests
Publish a privacy statement and explain what the site does with video
From 1 comment
I would prefer some kind of privacy statement or even some kind of explanation about what is going on before I just randomly turn my webcam on. This might be great and I’m proud…
hluska on HN
Share technical details on how the detection works
From 1 comment
How does it work? Is it https://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/evm/? I see the FAQ about VitalLens, but I couldn't find technical details. It's super cool. Thanks for sharing. I want…
sxp on HN
Questions
How does it work and which algorithm is used
From 2 comments
How does it work? Is it https://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/evm/? I see the FAQ about VitalLens, but I couldn't find technical details. It's super cool. Thanks for sharing. I want…
sxp on HNI found more details at https://www.rouast.com/blog/articles/vitallens-take-a-vital-selfie/ and https://arxiv.org/pdf/2312.06892. It's still vague beyond saying they trained an…
sxp on HN
Alternatives named
Google Fit on Android
From 1 comment
There's a version of this built into the Google Fit application for Android.
trothamel on HN
Eulerian Video Magnification (MIT)
From 2 comments
How does it work? Is it https://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/evm/? I see the FAQ about VitalLens, but I couldn't find technical details. It's super cool. Thanks for sharing. I want…
sxp on HNWhat do you mean? Eulerian-Video-Magnification could be (and probably is) the underlying algorithm in the VitalLens API.
whilenot-dev on HN
A self-built heart rate app using EVM
From 1 comment
I made my own heart rate app (using gemini at first and then Claude for lots of further edits). https://xosh.org/heart-rate/ https://github.com/SMUsamaShah/heart-rate it's all…
smusamashah on HN