Hilo Band Review: How this Blood Pressure Wearable Helped Me Finally Fix My High Blood Pressure
The Hilo Band is an important leap forward.
Nick wearing the Hilo device
Formerly known by the brand name “Aktiia” and the “Aktiia Bracelet”, the Hilo Band is a generation ahead of the competition. And while some growing pains have been present for this brand as they rapidly scale, their core technology is as solid as it is game changing. My own experience with the Hilo Band demonstrates its core promise: that by continuously monitoring blood pressure, you can self-experiment with interventions until you find what works to lower your high blood pressure.
I’ve been self-experimenting on and off with the Hilo Band (formerly Aktiia Bracelet) for the past 18 months. Every time I choose to wear the band, I learn something new about my personal blood pressure factors. I also have gathered a wealth of experience with the device itself, including the pros and cons of the Hilo Band and the experience with its iOS application. In this review, I’ll share my experience with the Hilo Band, including how I used it to self-experiment to drop my high blood pressure by 20 points. A change, which in and of itself, could be the most powerful thing I have yet accomplished for my longevity (second only to adopting a longevity mindset, of course!)
Hilo Band Review: Credibility, Research, Validation
It is rare that a new device hits the market with as much background credibility as the Hilo Band. When it first came onto the market in 2022 as the Aktiia Bracelet, it already had several scientific studies backing its core capabilities. Now, in 2025, there are over five clinical trials, including several important scientific publications, validating its performance.
While we are *still* waiting on FDA approval for the Hilo Band, this is very likely imminent.
You can find a very helpful interview article with Hilo’s Chief Medical Officer Jay Shah on A Longer Life here. Some key take-aways on the scientific backing behind the Hilo Band are:
Innovative Optical Technology: The Hilo Band uses optical sensors with green LED lights to measure blood pressure continuously without a cuff, analyzing waveforms from the wrist’s capillary bed. This technology, developed over 18 years starting in 2003–2004 by founders Drs. Josep Sola and Mattia Bertschi at CSEM in Switzerland, evolved from early heart rate detection to a sophisticated algorithm estimating blood pressure, validated through animal and human studies.
Extensive Research and Development: The device’s foundation stems from nearly two decades of research, beginning with optical signal analysis predating smartwatches. Key milestones include initial heart rate derivation, a shift to blood pressure measurement via arterial physiology studies in pigs, human testing, and a working prototype by 2017, leading to Hilo’s commercialization in 2018.
Clinical Validation via Rigorous Standards: Hilo Band has undergone validation through five clinical trials, achieving regulatory approval in the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It compares its accuracy to a gold standard, double auscultation (two observers using a bifurcated stethoscope and mercury column), rather than less precise arm cuffs, ensuring high reliability across various body positions.
Continuous Data with Calibration: The bracelet provides about 27 readings per day (roughly hourly), totaling 800 data points monthly, enabled by a cloud-based algorithm refined over years. A once-monthly 10-minute calibration with a cuff translates the optical data into millimeters of mercury, ensuring precision while maintaining cuff-free daily use.
Revealing Long-Term Trends: Unlike traditional or 24-hour ambulatory monitors, Hilo Band’s continuous monitoring captures long-term blood pressure patterns, uncovering trends like masked hypertension (affecting ~15% of people) and nighttime readings linked to cardiovascular risk.
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Hilo Band Review: What it Enables You to Do
By far, the best thing about the Hilo Band is that you can learn in significant detail, the lifestyle factors which are impacting your blood pressure.
For example, there are well known connections between blood pressure and diet. Hilo has published several supporting articles on this topic (see for example here or here). By wearing the Hilo Band, you can introduce improvements into your nutrition which could have significant positive impacts on your high blood pressure (or, as in my case, no impact at all!).
Some changes you could try include introducing the following nutrients, which are known to help manage blood pressure:
Omega-3 fatty acids: Found in chia seeds, salmon, and walnuts, omega-3s are believed to relax smooth muscle cells, contributing to a widening of blood vessels.
Arginine: Present in turkey, soybeans, and lentils, arginine plays a key role in generating nitric oxide, which helps expand blood vessels (vasodilation).
Magnesium: Found in spinach, almonds, and salmon, magnesium may enhance the production of prostacyclin and nitric oxide, encouraging blood vessels to relax.
Potassium: Available in bananas, avocados, and potatoes, potassium supports balanced blood pressure by promoting sodium removal and reducing stiffness in blood vessel walls.
By making these changes one by one, and allowing for 1-2 weeks for the changes to take effect, you could improve your high blood pressure significantly, and then monitor the stability of these changes over time. In some cases, this could help you avoid taking any medications.
Hilo Band Review: How I Improved My Constant High Blood Pressure
For regular readers of A Longer Life, I am well known for being a very healthy person, with a dedicated focus on my longevity. It may therefore surprise many of you that I have had high blood pressure since my mid twenties. With systolic/diastolic values of approximately 140/90.
This is despite a very dedicated longevity fitness regimen that includes plenty of cardiovascular training (I am a triathlete), a well honed longevity nutrition approach (for example, eating a diversity of plants and taking targeted longevity supplements), great sleep and an active approach to stress management.
In short, I was already doing pretty much *everything* right for my blood pressure, but still I had sticky high to borderline high ‘pre-hypertension’ blood pressure levels. But, armed with my Hilo Band, I was able to keep self-experimenting until I found what worked for me.
What finally cracked the constant high blood pressure mystery for me was a lesser known supplement Chancea Piedra. This supplement, which means “Stone Breaker”, has been used for centuries to break down and eliminate kidney stones and gallstone.
By taking 1200mg of Chanca Piedra over four weeks, I was able to dramatically shift my constant high blood pressure values by 20 points, bringing my measurements into the 110-120/70s range.
That equates to the following longevity benefits:
Approximately 25% reduction in heart attack probability
Approximately a 40% reduction in stroke risk
Significant reduction in risk for kidney disease
Lowering the risk of vascular issues like aneurysm
Up to 5-10 years improvement in healthspan
I cannot overstate how important and absolutely life-changing these results could be for me.
I could not have achieved this result without the invaluable insights provided by the Hilo Band.
Hilo Band Review with Before and After Data
Provided here are some screenshots from the Hilo Band app, as well as 2x ‘Health Reports’ which are exportable detailed views (see upcoming section about ‘tracking’).
In the provided 4x images from the Hilo Band app, we have my ‘before’ results in monthly and daily views. We can see that my blood pressure was averaging 135/70. However, that includes very low nighttime measurements. Daytime average was actually 140/80 to 145/85 across three months of tracking.
After the successful intervention with Chanca Piedra, I saw my blood pressure averages dropping significantly down to ~115/70, including night-time measurements.
By utilising the “Health Report” exportable PDF option, we can get further visibility, comparing March 2024 (before) to November 2024 (after).
Ask any healthcare practitioner what they think about the above results, and they’ll be shocked I could achieve such a significant improvement without pharmaceutical intervention! That’s what the Hilo Band made possible for me.
Hilo Band Review: Price, Features, Design
Price:
As of April 2025, the 2nd Generation Hilo Band (formerly Aktiia Bracelet) is priced at £209.99 which is approximately $205 USD.
With our special discount code “longevityblog”, you can save 10% off the Hilo Band, bringing the price down to $185USD.
There are no ongoing subscription requirements for regular use of the Hilo Band and its core features, however there is a new offering of a Hilo Membership, which offers further insights, analytics and even 1:1 coaching for exploring how to more effectively manage your blood pressure.
Features:
Continuous blood pressure monitoring *without a cuff* (you only have to calibrate with an included blood pressure cuff once per month)
Fits wrist sizes 140 to 210mm (or you can purchase a different band)
Direct integration with the Hilo App to view your blood pressure data
Generation 2 Hilo Band is waterproof. You can even wear it while swimming. (IP68 certified)
Generation 1 Hilo Band is not waterproof. You need to remove it while showering and be careful not to get it wet when washing your hands (IP33 ‘splashproof)
Design:
The Hilo Band repeatedly boasts of its elegant “Swiss design”, which amounts to some fancy marketing in our opinion
The Hilo Band is however minimalist and simple, the band is quite comfortable to wear
The Hilo Band is very light, you hardly notice it. Gen 2 weighs in at under 7 grams
An important caveat is that you get the band at *just* the right tension, I experience a bit of skin pinching if the band was too tight. Too loose and you miss out on measurements
Hilo Band Review: Initialization, Calibration, Tracking
Initialization and Calibration:
While the Hilo Band does not require regular use of a blood pressure cuff, it does require approximately once per month ‘initialization’ using a provided blood pressure cuff.
This involves sitting still, not talking, and letting the app take 3x blood pressure measurements. In my experience doing this nearly a dozen times, I’ve only had one initialization failure, where I had to repeat the process. It takes about five minutes, up to ten minutes if a second go is required.
Some users have reported this step being challenging, my advice is to pay attention to the following:
Find a place where you can sit in a relaxed environment
Let others know you need to not speak to them for a few minutes
Be sure to leave some room between your arm and rib cage
Keep your cuff at approximately chest level
Stay as still as possible and focus on breathing
Blood Pressure Tracking:
Tracking of your blood pressure measurements occurs fully within the Hilo (Aktiia) application.
The device will record about 24-36 measurements per day in my experience.
The results are then presented to you according to your request - daily, weekly or monthly. For example, with daily measurements, you can see the average results on a two-hourly basis, whereas weekly will give you the daily average.
You can also choose any month of your history to export as a “Health Report”, which provides extremely helpful and detailed information readily shareable with your health practitioner.
Notably, the Hilo Band is able to measure your nighttime blood pressure measurements. This addresses a critical gap in traditional monitoring methods, as highlighted in our interview with Dr. Jay Shah.
Dr. Shah emphasizes that nighttime blood pressure is more strongly correlated with cardiovascular disease risk than daytime readings, revealing unique signals unavailable from sporadic daytime checks. This feature enables the detection of conditions like masked hypertension and potential sleep disorder impacts, such as sleep apnea, which often go unnoticed.
Hilo Band Review: Durability, Customer Service, Battery Life
Durability:
In using my Hilo bracelet semi-regularly over an 18 month period, I’ve had no issues with the Hilo Band sensor or blood pressure cuff. Each has performed flawlessly, regularly synching with my iPhone, recording measurements as expected and presenting no issues with tracking or calibration.
My main complaint about the Hilo Band is the durability of the wrist strap itself. I’ve had two wrist strap failures over the course of 18 months with semi-regular use. Each has ripped, bringing the durability of the wrist strap into question.
Notably, I am very active and also have an 11 year old son who loves to wrestle and enjoys ‘rough housing’ with Dad. I have learned to remove my Hilo during any activities which might stress the wrist strap and have not had any further issues.
Customer Service:
This brings me to the biggest drawback with Hilo to date, which is their customer service.
We have had numerous reports from our audience that Hilo have not been responsive with warranty claims or returns, and this is from our perspective problematic.
From our perspective, this has more to do with the rapid scaling and success of their solution, with nearly 100k customers and a small team. However, Hilo recently raised new funding to support their expansion, and as we understand it, are further resourcing their support team.
We hope that this addresses the outstanding challenges with customer service, but only time will tell.
From our perspective, this does not detract from the many benefits of this unique device, particularly when you consider how much it has positively impacted my personal longevity!
Battery Life and Charging:
Overall, I have been quite pleased with the battery life of the Hilo Band. I also found that the charging cradle is quite easy to use. My only complaint is that the red-coloured base, indicating the device is charging, does not intuitively signal to you when the battery has been fully charged.
Generation 2 lasts up to two weeks between charges
Generation 1 lasts up to 10-12 days between charges (in my own tracking/personal experience)
Hilo Band Review: Key Takeaways, Our Recommendation
The Hilo Band has been impacted by the customer service challenges and first to market / first-generation nature of the device. Customer service has not been adequately responsive to date and the durability issues of the generation 1 band are concerning. We are not aware if the generation 2 band has been made more durable.
However, these issues do not negatively impact the dramatic health changes made possible by the Hilo Band. This continuous blood pressure monitoring wearable is an absolute game-change for me personally, and can certainly do the same for you.
The self-experimentation enables through its unparalleled capability to monitor blood pressure through the day and overnight has the potential to unlock powerful insights for those of us who have high blood pressure. It also can provide clarity to those who are in the “pre-hypertension” ranges, as they are likely to go in and out of range across the day. Add in the ability to see your blood pressure overnight values, and those who choose to purchase a Hilo Band are off to a running start in managing their long-term risk for age-related diseases.
A Longer Life Recommends the Hilo Band
We give our full recommendation to the Hilo Band, particularly for anyone who has cardiovascular disease risk in their family health history or has seen their blood pressure values above normal during any routine screening.
If you want to dive deeper, be sure to read our 1:1 interview with Hilo’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jay Shah (remember that Hilo was formerly Aktiia) here. As a parting gift, we’ll include a few of our top interview excerpts in video format below.
So, let’s get down to business…
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