Hiyd is a health tracker that attaches to the watch you already wear

Key points

• Hiyd has developed a small disc that attaches to the back of an existing watch using microsuction to track health metrics.
• The sensor measures 2.7 mm thick and weighs 7 grams, collecting heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep staging, movement, calories burned, and VO2 max estimations.
• The company plans to launch a Kickstarter in November and has already received over 16,000 deposits for its first units.

Hiyd, a startup founded by former Apple manufacturing design engineer Salah Batroukh, has created a health tracker that attaches to the watch you already wear. The device is a small, slim disc that uses microsuction to sit flush under a watch without magnets or adhesive, allowing users to keep their existing timepiece while tracking health metrics.

Batroukh told TechCrunch that the company's ethos is to make health tracking invisible. The sensor measures 2.7 mm thick and weighs 7 grams, and it collects biometrics similar to leading wearables, including heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep staging, movement, calories burned, and VO2 max estimations.

How the sensor works

The disc attaches to the back of a watch via microsuction, a textured silicone material with hundreds of tiny pockets per square inch. When pressed, it pushes air out of the pockets to create a vacuum, similar to traditional suction cups but scaled down. Batroukh said the material is 0.3 mm thin with Hiyd's manufacturing processes, and it can be pried off without leaving residue or interfering with watches that keep time using magnets.

The sensor syncs to an iOS or Android app. To fine-tune it, Hiyd's team is filming themselves doing activities like walking, jogging, and running, then labeling those datasets to train its AI. The app is also working to incorporate nutrition tracking that helps users see how eating habits affect sleep quality or workout performance.

We don't think that health tracking needs to be this overly conscious decision where you have to change something about the way you look

— Salah Batroukh

Founders and upcoming launch

Batroukh is joined by co-founders Omar Shakir, the chief technology officer and an experienced mechanical engineer, and Mahamad Charawi, head of software. Charawi previously co-led the Y Combinator-backed startup Laudspeaker through its sale.

Hiyd is competing as one of the top 20 companies at TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield on Wednesday. In November, the company plans to launch a Kickstarter, and so far over 16,000 people have made deposits to secure Hiyd's first units.