Flashing heart during the measurement
The measurement is still running and the monitor is picking up your pulse through the cuff. On most monitors the heart blinks once for each beat it detects.
Check your monitor’s manual — makers differ.
What it is for
Keep still and quiet until the heart stops and the numbers appear. A&D: the heart mark blinks “indicating that the measurement is in progress. Once the pulse is detected, the mark blinks with each pulse beat.” Omron: the symbol “flashes at every heartbeat.”
These pages report what each maker’s manual says and quote it wherever health is involved. They do not diagnose anything and are not medical advice; only your own monitor’s manual describes your model.
- What it looks like
- A plain heart, filled or outlined, with nothing drawn inside it, blinking on the screen while the cuff slowly lets its air out.
- Names makers use
- Heartbeat symbol (Omron); Heart mark (A&D); Pulse symbol (Beurer); Pulse Indicator (Microlife)
Where makes differ
Omron and A&D describe it blinking with every beat. Microlife says only that the pulse indicator “flashes in the display” during the measurement, and Beurer’s BM 28 that “as soon as a pulse is found, the pulse symbol will be displayed.” It is the same heart as the irregular-heartbeat mark, without the line, waves or number.
What it does not mean
A plain blinking heart does not mean an irregular heartbeat. That is a separate drawing — a heart with a line, waves or a number, or the letters IHB — and it appears with the result after the measurement, not while the cuff is deflating.
Other symbols with the same shapes
Sources
No published standard we could check defines blood pressure monitor control icons, so this meaning is taken from 4 makers’ own manuals and support pages, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Omron: Omron — Instruction manual, 5 Series upper arm blood pressure monitor BP7250 (PDF) — Display table: “Heartbeat symbol — Flashes while taking a measurement”; measuring step 2: “The [heart] symbol flashes at every heartbeat.” Checked 2026-09-28.
- A&D Medical: A&D Medical — Instruction manual, basic blood pressure monitor UA-651 (PDF) — Measuring step 3: “the (heart mark) blinks, indicating that the measurement is in progress. Once the pulse is detected, the mark blinks with each pulse beat.” Checked 2026-09-28.
- Beurer: Beurer — Instructions for use, upper arm blood pressure monitor BM 28 (PDF) — Display item 16 “Pulse symbol”; measuring: “As soon as a pulse is found, the pulse symbol will be displayed.” Checked 2026-09-28.
- Microlife: Microlife — Instruction manual, BP B3 AFIB Advanced (PDF) — Display item BM “Pulse Indicator”; step 6: “During the measurement, the pulse indicator flashes in the display.” Checked 2026-09-28.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.