Microsoft Band adds more social features to gamify fitness

Microsoft's introducing some fitness competition between you and friends
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Microsoft is bringing in some friendly competition to the Microsoft Band 2 and original Band with the help of Facebook.

A previous update let you share activity summaries through the Menlo Park social media site, Twitter and in email or text messages.

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Now the Health app will let you connect your Facebook account to see who else is using Band to get fit. From there, you'll be able to go up against friends with Social Challenge for most steps and calories burned, longest bike ride and more where challenges can last one, three, five or seven days.

Microsoft Health's Leaderboard lets you compare your standing and check your friends' daily activity.

You're probably thinking this is just a way for Microsoft to hawk its wearable, but you can actually still participate by using the Microsoft Health app, through your iOS, Android or Windows Phone. It will only count steps or calories burned but you won't need the Band.

Fitbit and Jawbone have similar leaderboards successfully integrated in their apps, so it's great to see Microsoft jumping on board.

While we've not exactly been the biggest fans of Microsoft's fitness trackers, it is good to see that the Redmond company is investing time in improving the software and adding new features on a regular basis.

The new features will be rolling out today into next week so look out for the update and let us know what you think when you give them a try.

Microsoft Band adds more social features to gamify fitness



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Lily is a writer and editor specializing in tech, video games, marketing, education, travel writing, and creative fiction. 

She has over 10 years of experience covering the technology beat.

Lily has a passion for VR and AR technologies and was associate wearables editor at TechRadar US, before joining Wareable as US editor in 2016.

Lily will graduate in 2023 with an MFA in Creative Writing.

In her spare time, Lily can be found knee-deep in zine collaborations, novel writing, playing Dungeons & Dragons or hiking and foraging for mushrooms.


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