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geepondy

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 5, 2013
67
18
I'm still in the 15 day return period of my new Apple watch series 4. While I find the health/activity data much more convoluted then with the Fitbit App, the level of accessible Apple health and fitness data is fairly deep. The trouble is it seems that accessing all this data along with associated graphs can only be done on the watch or iphone. I don't see an ipad health or activity app, not to mention anything for viewing on a PC, whereas with the Fitbit App, you can view data on all of these devices. Is there a way to easily view the data on other devices then the phone or watch? This is a big deal to me and perhaps reason enough to return the watch. My vision is not great to begin with and it's frustrating to try to view the graphical data on my iphone 6S screen.
 
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I'm still in the 15 day return period of my new Apple watch series 4. While I find the health/activity data much more convoluted then with the Fitbit App, the level of accessible Apple health and fitness data is fairly deep. The trouble is it seems that accessing all this data along with associated graphs can only be done on the watch or iphone. I don't see an ipad health or activity app, not to mention anything for viewing on a PC, whereas with the Fitbit App, you can view data on all of these devices. Is there a way to easily view the data on other devices then the phone or watch? This is a big deal to me and perhaps reason enough to return the watch. My vision is not great to begin with and it's frustrating to try to view the graphical data on my iphone 6S screen.

Take it back.
 
Also recently got a AW4 and would like to see an iPad app to read the data next to my iPhone X. If health data is synced to iCloud, it would be easy to read/share on an iPad. Probably a matter of time before that happens.
 
I wonder if its worth it to contact Apple to have an app on your Mac/PC that will allow you to view your data. It seems that you aren't the only one wanting this.

Here is what I found on the web.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8081053

Exactly why I honestly favor my Garmin Fenix 5+ rather than the series 4 Apple watch. I love the full page web based "everything included" aspect that Garmin has, including all day heart rate with a graph you can actually see, sleep, steps, weekly "intensity" minutes, (you don't need exercise every day, you can take a recovery day, as long as you "make" your goal of intensity minutes each week), all there to see, along with a calendar to look at previous days, etc. I know, and do export the data that the Apple watch generates using RunGap, but it still doesn't export all of the metrics, no steps, no all day heart rate, etc.
If Apple would reallize that they have a pretty decent fitness watch there, along with an excellent activity tracker, and try to figure out how to get it all in one place, I think it would be greatly beneficial to their bottom line. Having the data ONLY on the phone is scary, what happens if you lose, trash, or otherwise incapacitate your phone?

+1 for the OP's suggestion, and honestly, if it's that important to you, then I think I'd take it back also.
 
Rungab can share workouts to Fitbit and many more automatically. But is subscription based.

Healthfit is one time purchase, but does not support so many services automatically, but can export to files, which can be imported manually. It can also export activity data to Google sheet and a few services I haven't heard of.
 
Rungab can share workouts to Fitbit and many more automatically. But is subscription based.

Healthfit is one time purchase, but does not support so many services automatically, but can export to files, which can be imported manually. It can also export activity data to Google sheet and a few services I haven't heard of.

Both of those are fine, and I've used them both, but that still doesn't import into the target app complete information, like all day heart rate, steps, etc. Also, when the Apple watch is the originating app, it doesn't export data that is there in Health, like HRV values, which Garmin uses to compute Training Affect, Recovery, etc. Same with Movescount, although they can compute training affect, and EPOC, but not recovery time. EPOC is computed and used in Garmin's "Training Load" widget, the sum of the past 7 days EPOC to determine how hard you're training, and if you need to slack off a bit, or pick it up.
As a 70+ year old man, who has been obese for most of my life, I use these things to keep tabs on my heart, and try not to overdo it and have a heart attack. Granted the AW will tell me when I DO have a heart attack, I would prefer to be warned a bit before. :)
 
Both of those are fine, and I've used them both, but that still doesn't import into the target app complete information, like all day heart rate, steps, etc. Also, when the Apple watch is the originating app, it doesn't export data that is there in Health, like HRV values, which Garmin uses to compute Training Affect, Recovery, etc. Same with Movescount, although they can compute training affect, and EPOC, but not recovery time. EPOC is computed and used in Garmin's "Training Load" widget, the sum of the past 7 days EPOC to determine how hard you're training, and if you need to slack off a bit, or pick it up.
As a 70+ year old man, who has been obese for most of my life, I use these things to keep tabs on my heart, and try not to overdo it and have a heart attack. Granted the AW will tell me when I DO have a heart attack, I would prefer to be warned a bit before. :)
by activity data in HealthFit, I meant Health Metrics. Exported to google sheets I get a Daily Metrics tab with the following columns:
  • Date
  • Active Energy
  • Resting Energy
  • Resting
  • HRV
  • Steps
  • VO₂ max
There is also a weight and sleep tab with other colums of data. But for me, there is no data from Apple Watch, it is all from Amazfit Bip I had. But that might change with sleep and weight tracking apps.

Unfortunately I have not managed to import it into Garmin Connect, It only has import of health metrics from fitbit and although it is also csv/xls/xlsx format, I don't know the expected record layout.
 
by activity data in HealthFit, I meant Health Metrics. Exported to google sheets I get a Daily Metrics tab with the following columns:
  • Date
  • Active Energy
  • Resting Energy
  • Resting
  • HRV
  • Steps
  • VO₂ max
There is also a weight and sleep tab with other colums of data. But for me, there is no data from Apple Watch, it is all from Amazfit Bip I had. But that might change with sleep and weight tracking apps.

Unfortunately I have not managed to import it into Garmin Connect, It only has import of health metrics from fitbit and although it is also csv/xls/xlsx format, I don't know the expected record layout.
[doublepost=1548546421][/doublepost]My Apple guru friend says from his research he believes the reason why the data cannot be viewed outside the watch or iphone is that Apple is reluctant to have the data moved to the icloud because of security concerns. I guess there is a large contingent complaining about this so they are hopeful perhaps Apple will modify their policy but no inkling that they actually will. I like the Apple watch as a watch although I wish the battery would last about twice as long. It would be nice to be able to wear the watch over an entire weekend without worrying about it needing to be charged. I had a Fitbit watch but it was buggy with a fatal flaw I could not accept and the Fitbit customer service is a far cry from Apple's. I still have and use the Fitbit One (pocket tracker). Interesting, the Apple watch step count is pretty close to that of the Fitbit One, usually just a small percentage less. The Fitbit watch consistently over counted by 5-10 percent compared to the One.
 
If they would do something like this, I could actually toss (or probably sell) the Fenix, but for week long camping trips, I think I'd still have to keep it, just for the battery. But for everyday use? This would be priceless!
 
Yeah. What I’ve read in the past is that they see it as a security issue, which is why you also have to have an encrypted back-up of your phone to restore the phone but keep your health data.

I also think that hardware is really where the money is at with most of this fitness data. Hence why Garmin, Fitbit, Apple, etc. don’t want you to be able to use their apps interchangeably with hardware made by other companies. Personally, I’d buy a Fitbit or Garmin for sleep tracking and training load, but I’d want to be able to use my Apple Watch for the day time. Not sure any of them are going to let that happen, certainly not easily.
 
Its not just Health data. I think the OP was looking to view how many steps or distances ran. If you workout you might like to have full view of the data. I don't think that's too much to do. You can already share your heart rate with your MD.

I would love to see this happen. You can share it with your MacBook. I notice when I connect a simple USB chord, the iOS device ask if I trust it.
 
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I would just want to view the same interface and layout as what's on the phone, on the PC and Ipad. Very similar to what Fitbit does. Are they telling us, they don't trust the security of their own cloud?
 
I would just want to view the same interface and layout as what's on the phone, on the PC and Ipad. Very similar to what Fitbit does. Are they telling us, they don't trust the security of their own cloud?
Either they are just not ready or find the information so sensitive, that they will rather not have the data available, if forced to make a backdoor. Not sure how safe an iCloud backup in that regard though, since indirectly they already have the data from most users on their servers already.
 
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