Your smartphone can already edit your photos, summarise your documents, and track your sleep. Now, Samsung wants it to keep an eye on your dog’s teeth too.
At VivaTech 2026 in Paris, Europe’s largest startup and technology conference, Samsung unveiled a new AI-powered pet care feature that lets Galaxy smartphone users check their pet’s health simply by taking a photo. The tool was developed in partnership with Lifet, a pet health startup that’s part of Samsung’s own external incubation programme.
How the Feature Actually Works
The concept is refreshingly simple. Galaxy users capture or upload a photo of their pet through the SmartThings app and Samsung’s Pet Care service, and the AI model then analyses the image for visual signs associated with common health conditions.
Right now, the tool is trained to flag three specific issues: dental disease, cataracts, and patellar luxation — a knee joint condition that’s particularly common in small dog breeds. The underlying AI analysis is powered by Lifet’s system, developed by Elevenliter, which the company says achieves up to 97 percent detection accuracy for the conditions it screens, though Samsung and Lifet are both careful to note that real-world performance can vary depending on image quality and other factors.
Prevention Over Cure
The feature fits squarely into Samsung’s broader push toward proactive health monitoring rather than reactive treatment — a philosophy the company is applying across its entire Health platform, not just to pets.
For pet owners, the appeal is obvious: catching early visual signs of dental problems, cloudy eyes, or joint issues before they progress could mean the difference between a routine vet visit and a much more serious, expensive intervention down the line. Both companies have been explicit, however, that the tool is meant to complement, not replace, professional veterinary diagnosis.
Part of a Bigger Health Push at VivaTech
Samsung didn’t stop at pets during its VivaTech showcase. The company set up a dedicated Connected Care Ecosystem Zone at the conference, demonstrating how its Galaxy devices and Samsung Health platform are moving toward comprehensive, proactive wellness management for humans too.
Alongside the pet care announcement, Samsung revealed expansions to its Health app covering sleep tracking, physical activity, nutrition, mental wellness, and vital sign monitoring, including a new Heart Health Score and improved workout metrics. The company also detailed a partnership with digital health platform Xealth, aimed at improving connectivity between Galaxy devices and healthcare providers so doctors and patients can monitor health data outside traditional clinical settings.
Lifet’s Head Start in Pet AI
This isn’t Lifet’s first foray into AI-powered pet diagnostics. The startup already offers similar photo-based pet health analysis directly through its own website, giving it a head start in refining the underlying technology before bringing it into Samsung’s much larger Galaxy ecosystem.
That existing track record likely factored into Samsung’s decision to partner with the company specifically, betting on Lifet’s established detection accuracy rather than building the capability entirely from scratch in-house.
Availability and What to Expect
Samsung has been upfront that the feature’s rollout won’t be universal on day one. Availability will vary by country, device model, and region, meaning not every Galaxy user will see the Pet Care option appear immediately.
For now, interested users will need to install both the SmartThings app and Lifet’s Pet Care service to access the tool once it becomes available in their market.
Why This Matters for Pet Owners Everywhere
Photo-based AI health screening for pets isn’t entirely new — several standalone apps already offer similar functionality — but Samsung’s move brings the concept directly into one of the world’s most widely used smartphone ecosystems, putting it in front of a vastly larger pool of pet owners than any standalone app could reach on its own.
If the technology holds up to its accuracy claims at scale, this kind of built-in, always-available health screening could become a genuinely useful early-warning tool for millions of pet parents — turning a routine smartphone photo into the first step toward catching a health issue before it becomes a much bigger problem.
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