With all the negativity around Apple, I wanted to comment on something that I think they’ve done really well: Health. When the Health app was announced I really didn’t care and shuffled it away in my Utilities folder like many of Apple’s other applications. However, at the start of this year I decided that I wanted to get little healthier and I was also surprised with an Apple Watch - which I wasn’t going to use for exercise originally.
About two weeks later this is my setup and I’m impressed how it all works together: the Apple Watch tracker my steps throughout the day and it is automatically logged into MyFitnessPal for calorie counts. Yesterday I told Siri I was going for an “indoor run” and jumped on my treadmill at 4mph. When I got off I opened MyFitnessPal to see if it registered and it actually registered a “4mph brisk walk”
I suppose it used the pace reading on my watch to determine my exercise type. It also counted my few minutes of “Other” work. I was also concerned about duplicated steps or workouts, but that hasn’t happened yet. I use WaterMinder to track my water intake and an app called Streaks to help remind me to weigh myself every friday. Well, today I added a weight measurement to MFP and got a notification from Streak telling me “Good Job” for remembering I guess. Then I picked up my Apple Watch and checked the weight reading and it had updated there too.
I know this may seems stupid, but after apps being isolated for so long, it’s nice to actually have them “communicating” to each other through the health app. I can use whatever apps I prefer and their data is logged in the others. I like MFP for my general health app, but I also like to use the Health app for quick weekly glances and the data mirrors each other.
And the best part is that it was all pretty seamless and effortless to set up. Since the phone logs data from my Apple Watch automatically.
About two weeks later this is my setup and I’m impressed how it all works together: the Apple Watch tracker my steps throughout the day and it is automatically logged into MyFitnessPal for calorie counts. Yesterday I told Siri I was going for an “indoor run” and jumped on my treadmill at 4mph. When I got off I opened MyFitnessPal to see if it registered and it actually registered a “4mph brisk walk”
I suppose it used the pace reading on my watch to determine my exercise type. It also counted my few minutes of “Other” work. I was also concerned about duplicated steps or workouts, but that hasn’t happened yet. I use WaterMinder to track my water intake and an app called Streaks to help remind me to weigh myself every friday. Well, today I added a weight measurement to MFP and got a notification from Streak telling me “Good Job” for remembering I guess. Then I picked up my Apple Watch and checked the weight reading and it had updated there too.I know this may seems stupid, but after apps being isolated for so long, it’s nice to actually have them “communicating” to each other through the health app. I can use whatever apps I prefer and their data is logged in the others. I like MFP for my general health app, but I also like to use the Health app for quick weekly glances and the data mirrors each other.
And the best part is that it was all pretty seamless and effortless to set up. Since the phone logs data from my Apple Watch automatically.