Honor launched the Watch 6 Pro in China on 28 September with a first-sale price of CNY 1,699, and most of the early coverage led with two health features that sound like a leap for a sub-$300 smartwatch: blood sugar tracking through continuous glucose monitoring, and a system that can detect cardiac arrest and call for help. Both features are real, but neither works the way a quick read of the headlines suggests, and the difference matters far more on a health device than it would on a camera or a display.
The glucose feature turns out to be a screen for someone else’s sensor rather than a sensor in its own right, while the cardiac arrest alert, which Chinese outlets describe as an industry first, follows a comparable Google feature that has been available on the Pixel Watch 3 since 2024 and cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration since early 2025.
The Watch 6 Pro Shows Glucose Data, It Does Not Measure It
The Honor Watch 6 Pro cannot measure blood glucose by itself, and it only displays readings from a separate Sinocare continuous glucose monitor worn on the body. Notebookcheck reported that the feature needs a compatible Sinocare CGM sensor plus an additional app, and Aroged described the same setup using the company’s Chinese name, Sannuo. Honor’s own Chinese specification page frames the feature as a CGM blood sugar assistant that links data, and Chinese launch coverage describes it as a glucose management loop that pulls in readings, raises alerts and suggests exercise to bring levels down.
A CGM of this kind is a small sensor, usually worn on the upper arm or abdomen, with a thin filament inserted just under the skin to read glucose in the fluid between cells. That filament is what does the measuring, and the watch’s role is to put the numbers somewhere more convenient than a phone and to wrap coaching around them. Nothing in Honor’s materials suggests the Watch 6 Pro reads glucose optically through the wrist, a capability that, at the time of the FDA’s 2024 warning, no smartwatch or ring had been authorised to provide.
The distinction is not pedantic. In February 2024 the FDA warned people not to use smartwatches or smart rings that claim to measure blood glucose without piercing the skin, because inaccurate readings can lead people with diabetes to take the wrong dose of insulin or other medication. A headline that simply says the Watch 6 Pro offers “CGM tracking” is technically accurate and still easy to misread in exactly the direction the regulator warned about.
It is also not a new idea. Established CGM makers have been putting readings on wrists for years, and Dexcom’s G7 has been able to connect directly to Apple Watch in the US since 2024 without routing the data through an iPhone. What Honor has done is build a native integration with a large domestic CGM maker and add its own coaching layer on top, which is a meaningful convenience for Chinese users who already wear a Sinocare sensor but is not a breakthrough in sensing.
Cardiac Arrest Detection Is Useful, but Google Got There First
Chinese coverage from NetEase and Ifeng describes the Watch 6 Pro’s cardiac arrest monitoring as an industry first. According to those reports, the watch uses optical signals at multiple wavelengths and checks the wearer’s behaviour in four stages before deciding a cardiac arrest is likely, and when it does, it sounds an alarm, lights up the screen, calls emergency contacts, shows guidance for using a defibrillator and can send a distress message by satellite if there is no mobile signal.
The industry-first label is hard to support outside China. Google announced Loss of Pulse Detection in 2024 and launched it first in the EU on the Pixel Watch 3, before the FDA cleared the feature on 26 February 2025 and Google began rolling it out in the US at the end of that March. Google’s version watches for the same kind of event, including cardiac arrest, and prompts a call to emergency services if the wearer does not respond.
Honor’s implementation still differs in ways that may prove useful, particularly the satellite fallback and the alert aimed at people nearby, and it is possible that Honor means first in the Chinese market or first with this particular combination of responses. It has not said so, however, and Honor itself cautions that the watch is not a medical device and may miss a cardiac arrest or raise a false alarm. Google’s feature carries a similar warning despite its FDA clearance, which says something about how early this category still is.
Which Health Features Are Certified and Which Are Not
The Watch 6 Pro carries a mix of health features with very different regulatory standing, and the launch coverage rarely separates them. The table below groups them by what Honor and Chinese outlets have said about each one.
| Feature | What it does | Regulatory status reported at launch |
| ECG | Records an electrocardiogram on the watch, with readings interpreted by hospital doctors | Certified as a medical device by China’s NMPA |
| Blood Pressure 2.0 | Cuffless optical tracking, with calibration-free risk screening and more precise readings after calibration | Presented as a health research feature, no certification reported |
| Cardiac arrest detection | Optical monitoring that alerts contacts, bystanders and, via satellite, rescuers | Honor says the watch is not a medical device |
| Blood glucose (CGM) | Displays readings from a separate Sinocare sensor | The external Sinocare sensor does the measuring |
| Heart rate variability | Tracks HRV around the clock | Wellness metric |
Read this way, the most clinically solid feature on the watch is the one that got the least attention, since the ECG is the only function reported to hold medical device certification. The blood pressure feature is also worth treating carefully, because Chinese coverage labels it as a health research function, which usually signals that the data is meant for trends and screening rather than diagnosis.
The Rest of the Honor Watch 6 Pro
Outside health, the Watch 6 Pro is a straightforward upgrade over its predecessor. GSMArena lists a 1.5-inch dual-layer OLED display at 466 x 466 pixels, rated for 4,500 nits across the whole screen and 5,500 nits in smaller areas, inside a 46.3mm stainless steel case that is 11.6mm thick, with an optional sintered ceramic bezel. Battery life is rated at up to 18 days in the maximum battery mode, seven days with the always-on display enabled and four days with every health feature switched on. Notebookcheck adds dual-band GNSS with three antennas.
The watch is available to pre-order in China in stainless steel and ceramic versions across five colour combinations, and Honor has not said whether it will launch elsewhere. That also means the CGM integration, which depends on a Chinese sensor maker and a Chinese app, may not carry over even if the watch itself reaches other markets.
What This Means for Buyers
For someone in China who already uses a Sinocare CGM, the Watch 6 Pro offers a genuinely convenient way to see glucose readings on the wrist, and for anyone else the watch’s clearest medical credential is its certified ECG. The two features that led the launch coverage are better understood as a display for an existing medical sensor and as a safety net that Honor itself says may fail, which is still valuable, but is a long way from the smartwatch that measures blood sugar and guards against sudden death that a skim of the headlines might suggest.
Readers comparing health-focused watches from other brands can also look at Memeburn’s guide to the best Samsung watch in 2026.
FAQs
Can the Honor Watch 6 Pro measure blood sugar?
No. The Honor Watch 6 Pro cannot measure blood glucose on its own. It displays readings from a separate Sinocare continuous glucose monitor worn on the body, which requires its own sensor and an additional app.
Is any smartwatch able to measure blood glucose without a sensor?
The FDA warned in February 2024 against using smartwatches or smart rings that claim to measure blood glucose without piercing the skin, noting that it had not authorised any such device. Watches that show glucose data, such as the Honor Watch 6 Pro or Apple Watch with Dexcom G7, get it from a separate CGM sensor.
Is the Honor Watch 6 Pro the first smartwatch to detect cardiac arrest?
Chinese coverage calls it an industry first, but Google launched Loss of Pulse Detection on the Pixel Watch 3 in 2024 and received FDA clearance for it in February 2025. Honor’s version adds satellite alerts and warnings to people nearby.
Is the Honor Watch 6 Pro a medical device?
Honor says the watch is not a medical device and that cardiac arrest detection may miss events or give false alerts. Its ECG function is the only feature reported to hold medical device certification from China’s NMPA.
How much does the Honor Watch 6 Pro cost?
The Honor Watch 6 Pro has a first-sale price of CNY 1,699 in China, where it is available to pre-order in stainless steel and ceramic versions. Honor has not announced global pricing or availability.
The post The Honor Watch 6 Pro Doesn’t Measure Your Blood Sugar, and Its Cardiac Arrest Alert Isn’t the First of Its Kind appeared first on Memeburn.