New Review on Health and Fitness Tracking Capabilities

[BD1]

Just saw this and have not seen it posted. Mostly positive including heart rate accuracy. Screen is hard to read in the sun. Apple apps are a bit basic.

http://recode.net/2015/04/20/health-and-fitness-on-apple-watch-a-solid-start-with-limitations/

 

[knuster]

That full brightness screen in the sun doesn't look that good

 

[joshcls]

Apple really needs to improve this screen in sunlight problem on all of its devices.

 

[jafingi]

Pretty amazed how accurate it calculated distance even without the iPhone and GPS.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Nice, good find. The fitness capabilities is one of the area's that I'm most excited about with the watch, but has seemed to be not well explained.

Are you guys planning on using the "workout" app to track your activity? I've used Nike+ to track all my runs for years, so my instinct would be to continue using this, but I'm a bit concerned that I may losing out on some of the benefits of using the intergrated app...

Some of my concerns include:

• Nike+ only tracks runs. If I use workout.app to track weights, yoga, etc will I lose any "goodness" of keeping it all tracked in one app (i.e. a glancable view to see how many times a week I worked out, etc)
• The watch will adjust to your stride so you can run without GPS pretty accurately. But will that be the case for 3rd party apps?
• I believe the workout app is the default view during a workout. That has serious advantages for glancability while running. If 3rd party apps can't do this, that'd be a downer.

What are you guys planning on doing? Do you have any other concerns?

 

[hingus2000]

Thanks for this.

I'm desperately hoping the watch arrives on Friday, as like the lady doing the Apple blog, I'm running the London marathon on Sunday. Still have no idea what app I'll use for my data on the watch.

I use Adidas Micoach usually, but they don't seem to be developing a watch app, so Strava seems to be my favourite from what I have read. The workout app appears to be too limited.

Also very interested to hear answers to the questions above, especially in respect to glanceability and calibration with third party apps. I'd hope the former would have been thought of in development.

Of course all of this could be moot if the watch doesn't arrive on Friday!

 

[imaginex20]

From the Review, I like what I'm hearing about the capabilities of the watch from a fitness aspect.

My only concern is that the the workout app doesn't have alerts regarding distanced ran, pace etc...I use Nike+ for running. Hopefully the Nike+ watch app can update the Watch's workout info and vice versa.

 

[Dub1ous]

Very encouraging, to me. I'm looking forward to using it while working out!

 

[Runt888]

Glad to see the heart rate sensor is proving to be very accurate.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I use Nike+ for running. Hopefully the Nike+ watch app can update the Watch's workout info and vice versa.

I would like that too, but I wouldn't expect it to. You would think with healthkit that might be possible, but.... I'm not holding my breath. I've been using Nike+ too, and I'm not sure if I'll continue to do so or switch to the workout app

 

[Julien]

I would like that too, but I wouldn't expect it to. You would think with healthkit that might be possible, but.... I'm not holding my breath. I've been using Nike+ too, and I'm not sure if I'll continue to do so or switch to the workout app

I want to test the HR sensor for accuracy. However the Apple Workout App is very limited and seems to only show your current HR. No post workout HR graph.

Just today on the Apple Watch App page animations have been added. The Nike+ App shows HR being recorded. Is the HR reading coming from the Watch sensor or is it from a BT HR strap paired to the iPhone? I hope it is the Watch sensor. This way I can directly compare run data from my Garmin 620 to the Watch. Guess I will have to wait until Friday (I hope) to find out.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I want to test the HR sensor for accuracy. However the Apple Workout App is very limited and seems to only show your current HR. No post workout HR graph.

Image

That's a good point. Are you sure there's no graph? That data would be very useful, as well as percentage of time in certain HR ranges. I'd also like to be able to do some of comparison/overlay with HR progression over time

 

[imaginex20]

I am pretty sure the Nike+ app will be able to use the watch's HR sensor.

 

[mistame]

That's a good point. Are you sure there's no graph? That data would be very useful, as well as percentage of time in certain HR ranges. I'd also like to be able to do some of comparison/overlay with HR progression over time

I would check the Apple Health app. My guess is it will write the data there like some of the current iPhone heart rate monitors do.

 

[PatrickNSF]

What are you guys planning on doing? Do you have any other concerns?

I use a Garmin 620 now for running and log about 40 miles/week. I'm planning to begin using the Workouts app, but will happily switch to Nike+ or Strava or even RunKeeper depending on features and readout.

My primary concern is that I believe third party apps will not have access to the HRM initially. That's one of the primary selling points of the Apple Watch to me, as I rarely use the HRM strap with my Garmin, but would like to log that data.

My immediate plan is to carry the Garmin with me attached to my running belt for the first couple of weeks and see how the data compares. Hopefully by then some of the third party apps/features will be better known.

 

[LeeKennedy]

My heart rate get plugged into Health app by my withings scale atm, but it's only one measurement per day. I've attached screenshots of the different views, but it looks like you'll be able to see spikes throughout the day and the min-max data over time, so that will be useful

Health app sucks at comparing ranges of data though, and as the article says it's really meant as a view into the HealthKit backend, but I haven't found another app I prefer viewing data in

I'll probably use the workout app on the watch for all its first party features, but continue to run ismoothrun on my iPhone

 

[Julien]

That's a good point. Are you sure there's no graph? That data would be very useful, as well as percentage of time in certain HR ranges. I'd also like to be able to do some of comparison/overlay with HR progression over time

There is no iPhone or web based App for the data to upload. Nor is there an export feature. I looked at the Fitness App and it only had rudimentary graphs for a couple of metrics (HR not one). In order to gain any meaningful info we need to see data presented in a detailed and consistent way. I hope to run comparisons in RunKeeper, Strava, Digifit and Garmin Connect.

This is more like what we need to see.

 

[Runt888]

There is no iPhone or web based App for the data to upload. Nor is there an export feature.

There is an export feature - select Health Data --> All --> Share Button --> Export. This will email it as an attachment.

I have no idea what format it's in, but I'm assuming there's some software out there that can read it. Not great, but better than nothing.

I'd also really like to see a Health Visualization app that uses Health as a backend. Hmm...maybe I should get started on that...

 

[mistame]

There is an export feature - select Health Data --> All --> Share Button --> Export. This will email it as an attachment.

I have no idea what format it's in, but I'm assuming there's some software out there that can read it. Not great, but better than nothing.

I'd also really like to see a Health Visualization app that uses Health as a backend. Hmm...maybe I should get started on that...

An app called QS access can also export any of your health data into a basic spreadsheet format. It can be imported into Zenobase (http://blog.zenobase.com/post/109071607752) and you can create all kinds of graphs. There is a bit of a learning curve there though.

 

[Julien]

There is an export feature - select Health Data --> All --> Share Button --> Export. This will email it as an attachment.

I have no idea what format it's in, but I'm assuming there's some software out there that can read it. Not great, but better than nothing.

I'd also really like to see a Health Visualization app that uses Health as a backend. Hmm...maybe I should get started on that...

That is nothing like what I'm referring to. That is all your Health data. I want to export an individual recorded Fitness activity (a run or bike ride foe example) as a fitness industry (not Health) standard TCX file.

TCX files can be imported into almost any fitness related App like RunKeeper.

 

[Runt888]

That is nothing like what I'm referring to. That is all your Health data. I want to export an individual recorded Fitness activity (a run or bike ride foe example) as a fitness industry (not Health) standard TCX file.

TCX files can be imported into almost any fitness related App like RunKeeper.

My bad - I just assumed that all fitness data would be stored in the Health app.

 

[Julien]

My bad - I just assumed that all fitness data would be stored in the Health app.

It is (or at least some or most of it) but it is just 'dumped' in with all the rest of the data collected throughout the day.

A TCX files is just the data from one single activity that is 100% segregated from all other data and contains all the info from the activity like mapping, laps, pace, cadence, HR speed, and .....

 

[scrapple]

definitely should go with the 38mm watch from those pics...

looks huge on him/her

 

[TAZ911]

Glad to hear that the HR monitoring is seemingly being done better by Apple than other attempts. My experiences with a couple of Fitbit products were pretty much horrible. So they have sort of addressed the water proofness and now it seems that the HR monitoring is workable. Things are looking more positive.

Not sure what they could do with the screen. AFAIK every LCD screen has the visibility issue in bright sunlight. Not sure how you can overcome the contrast of the sun.

 

[TigerStephie]

Really interested to see other apps use the heart rate monitor.
I have a Basis Peak (which as a fitness watch may be better than Apple) but after months of usage I really want something that looks better(I have small writs and this thing is huge) and has more functionality. Basis doesn't even have a stopwatch for instance. But the heart rate monitoring is top notch I can use it as a bluetooth heart rate monitor with most other running/fitness apps. If apple is even close to this good I will be very happy.
I am also interested to see how apple (or other apps) integrate "other" workouts. A yoga app would be awesome.