Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on health monitoring apps. The ad was identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules. See also related rulings published on 17 June 2026.
Ad description
A paid-for in-app ad for P&L Studio t/a Blood Pressure, a health app, seen within the host app “Blood Pressure App” (QR Code Scanner) on 1 November 2025. The ad showed a large illustration of a smartphone screen displaying blood pressure-style readings and a finger which was placed over a fingerprint display.
The blood pressure monitor image displayed readings of “132 SYS mmHg”, “75 DIA mmHg” and “78 PULSE BPM”, with a red heart icon next to the pulse figure.
A banner at the bottom contained a smaller image of a similar blood pressure monitor device, and the title “Blood Pressure”
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the implied claims that the app could monitor blood pressure and heart rate were misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
P&L Studio t/a Blood Pressure did not respond to the ASA’s enquiries.
Assessment
The ASA was concerned by P&L Studio t/a Blood Pressure’s lack of response and apparent disregard for the Code, which was a breach of CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 1.7 (Unreasonable delay). We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future.
Upheld
The ad featured the title “Blood pressure”, and imagery of a smartphone screen displaying “132 SYS mmHg” and “75 DIA mmHg” which we considered consumers would likely understand to mean “systolic” and “diastolic” pressure respectively, which were the measurements taken by a blood pressure monitor.
We also considered that the red heart icon and reference to “Pul” would be likely to be understood by consumers to mean pulse rate or heart rate.
The ad showed those readings on the phone screen displayed in the style of a blood pressure monitor while a finger was placed on the fingerprint display, which we considered gave the impression that the app could measure blood pressure and heart rate using a fingerprint. We considered that that impression was enhanced by the name of the app: “Blood pressure”.
However, P&L Studio t/a Blood Pressure did not provide any evidence to substantiate that the app was able to measure blood pressure or heart rate.
Because the ad implied through the imagery and its product name that the app could measure heart rate and blood pressure, and we had not seen any evidence to support that, we concluded that those implied claims had not been substantiated and were misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told P&L Studio t/a Blood Pressure not to state or imply that their product could monitor blood pressure or heart rate, including through its product name, unless they held adequate evidence for such claims. We referred the matter to CAP’s Compliance team
