The spot
Stand the phone on your chest: its bottom edge, where the microphone is, rests on the skin, and the phone points straight out from your body with the screen facing up. The spot is just left of the centre line and a hand's width below the collarbone. In clinical terms that is around the fourth intercostal space, where the heart sounds are loudest through the chest wall.
Bottom edge on the chest
The microphone is at the bottom edge of the phone, so that is the part that touches you, through skin or a thin layer of fabric. Hold the phone upright, at a right angle to your chest, like a torch pointing away from you. A case is fine unless it covers the microphone.
Light pressure
Enough to keep the phone still. Pressing hard muffles the sound.
Let the phone confirm
The Record screen says Listening for your heartbeat, then Heartbeat found. The field turns teal once the signal is good. If it says the signal was lost, move the phone a centimetre and wait.
The room and the posture
A quiet room
Traffic, a television and voices make the recording harder to read. Early morning is usually the quietest time of the day, which is one reason the app suggests it.
Sit upright
On the edge of a bed or a chair, feet on the floor, breathing normally. Do not hold your breath.
Stay still for twenty seconds
Do not speak. Talking or moving restarts the count, which is the app protecting the recording rather than scolding you.
The same time each morning
Your usual range is built from your own readings, so readings taken under similar conditions make it tighter and more useful.
What happens after the count
The recording is sent for analysis and the result usually arrives in under a minute. The first week is about building your usual range; the sentence changes once it exists.
Analysing
Sending, registering, analysing and comparing with your usual range, each ticked as it completes. If the connection fails, the recording stays on the phone and can be sent again.
The first week
Until there are seven readings in four weeks there is no usual range to compare with, so the field stays slate and counts the readings up.
From then on
One sentence and one colour every morning, with the two-week chart beneath and every earlier session a tap away.
If it is not working
The app keeps saying it cannot hear my heart
Check that the bottom edge of the phone, where the microphone is, is the part touching your chest, that the phone stands out from your body rather than lying flat on it, and that a case is not covering the microphone. Move a centimetre at a time towards the centre of the chest and wait two seconds between moves. Thick clothing muffles the sound; a t-shirt is fine.
The signal is found and then lost
Usually the phone moved or you spoke. Rest your elbow against your body so the hand holding the phone has something to lean on, and breathe normally rather than holding your breath.
The result says blood pressure is pending
The analysis found the beats but was not confident enough in any of them to carry a blood pressure estimate, often because of background noise. Heart rate and the cardiac cycle still stand. Record again in a quieter moment.
The microphone permission was refused
Open Settings, find BeatAware and switch the microphone on. The app uses it only while you record.