Did you use all the functions of your smartphone? This summer, 20 minutes invites you to get to know the one who never leaves you better and to discover, or even deepen, some of its functions, such as macro photography, night filming, successful videos, battery protection… To inaugurate this summer series , up to the way in which you will be able to optimize the management of your physical activity.
On iOS: “Activity” to never let go
It’s your iPhone’s “Form” application, which collects and analyzes your data in the background. You don’t necessarily need to have an Apple Watch on your wrist, the smartphone and its sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope) detect your movements as long as you wear it on you.
On a daily basis, activities considered intensive, the number of steps taken and the distance covered, the floors climbed and the quantity of calories burned are thus stored in the application. To find your way around at a glance, “Form” symbolizes the results of its user with a system of colored rings that fill up as the day progresses: red for calories burned; green for your workouts and sports sessions; blue for your step count and distance traveled. Enough to motivate yourself to move more, but also, when a ring is complete, to know that you have reached your daily goal.
If you have an Apple Watch, “Shape” can go further. From then on, the application associates with its calculations the results of your sports training, many of which are detected automatically, such as cycling, walking or running. Your watch will simply ask you if you want to save them during the session (click “OK”). You can also manually start recording an activity, including swimming in the pool, in open water, hiking, yoga, etc. Ideal for quantifying your efforts during the summer and setting yourself small personal challenges. As a result, small trophies that will be awarded to reward your performance!
Automated on the Apple Watch, measuring your heart rate continuously will necessarily be a plus for monitoring your heart, but also perfectly controlling sports training. A GPS map will finally be made for your mobile activities. With its route, it constitutes a valuable route statement (with, if desired, a satellite view), but also a visual memory that can be shared on the networks to impress the gallery.
Note that finally, Apple’s “Form” application aggregates your data from the subscription service “Fitness +” from Apple (exercises and guided meditation sessions). The data collected by “Activity” is only sent to Apple if you wish to share it with third parties (friends, doctor). Apple will only use them to enable this sharing feature.
On Android: “Google Fit” is your friend
Two options to track your activities if you are an Android smartphone user: with or without a connected watch.
If you don’t have a tocante 2.0, download the Google Fit app from the PlayStore. Working in the background (if you give it permission), it will allow you, as with “Activity” on iPhone, to automatically quantify your movements (walking, running and cycling) and to extract what are called “metrics”. Namely, your number of steps, the distance traveled, as well as the calories burned.
Google Fit also allows, since 2018, to define targets to be reached, such as a number of daily steps, but also so-called “cardio” points. Developed with the WHO (World Health Organization), these invite not only to maintain daily physical activity to stay in shape, but also to intensify your heart rate during training in order to increase your physical abilities. And Google Fit plays interconnectivity with other apps, like Strava or MyFitnessPal. The data of these applications that you may have been using for a long time for your activities can be centralized there.
Owners of a Wear OS connected watch (i.e. Android compatible) will be able to associate it with Google Fit, although most of these tocantes now embed this application natively. This integration makes it possible to aggregate more precise data than that which could simply be provided by the smartphone during an exercise. Example: go so far as to count the number of flexes or sit-ups you will do by the pool, in the cool, during the summer. Be careful, most of these watches also have their own activity tracking application, such as Samsung Health, or Honor Health. All are not equal. Note that Google Fit can work on iOS. The data collected by Google Fit can be used by Google. Expect to receive well-targeted ads… However, it is still possible to delete them at any time in the application settings.