Google has overhauled its health app Google Fit, adding more metrics, feedback and data from a host of wearable devices.
Previously, Google Fit was a rather toothless aggregator of basic data. Much like Apple Health, it was designed to be a platform that unified health data from Android Wear devices, sports apps and even the sensors inside our smartphones, but it offered little reason for users to dive in.
Essential reading: Best Google Fit compatible apps and devices
However, with new features such as the real-time tracking of running and cycling – including all the maps and data you'd expect from the likes of Strava – there are now more reasons for people to pick up the app.
And Android Wear users are also better catered for, too. You can now use your Google powered smartwatch to measure a range of exercises including press-ups, squats and sit-ups. These will be tracked using the device's accelerometer and then recorded in Google Fit.
When it launched in May 2015 Google Fit was unable to sync data with non-Android Wear devices, but that's changed now. Google Fit will now display sleep data from the Xiaomi Mi Band and Mi Band 1S, Sony SmartBand 2, or the Basis Peak and nutrition from MyFitnessPal, Fatsecret, Lifesum, or LoseIt.
It's actually now much more inherently useful that Apple Health, and at least provides some reason to open the app.
Why not check out our round ups of the best running apps and tell us which is your favourite and why on the Wareable Forum.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.