Moves

Wearable fitness devices like the Nike Fuel Band and the Jawbone Up have become increasingly popular over the past year. Earlier this year I purchased the Jawbone Up but found it lacking in a lot of ways. Partly what I disliked about it was that now I had yet another device to worry about: charge, sync, etc. It was one more device I had to think about. The other problem with the Jawbone Up was it really wasn't suited to my particular excercise habits. I bike, run, walk and swim. I also ride public transportation a lot and the Jawbone would inevitably translate all that bouncing and jostling as some manner of walking; inaccurately increasing the amount of walking I did in a given day. For $130 the Jawbone Up was really not doing what I needed. Turns out there really is an app for that!

Moves is an amazing little app that runs in the background of your iphone and tracks your activity throughout the day! It's one of the most impressive apps I've ever had. Throughout my day it seemlessly differentiates between my activities, magically knowing when I've hopped on my bike or started to run; it even knows when I'm riding the subway or bus and lables that as "transportation."

The interface is very minimalist and gives you a few different ways to view your data. To the right here you can see my activity summary for Sunday, March 24th. You can also toggle this data to show you the amount of time you spent doing each activity or the amount of steps in the case of walking and running.

Another view provides you with a great timeline of your day. The app, with your permission, pulls location data from Four Square and can give you a great snapshot of your days activities: where you were and how you got there.

Not only is this fun but it provides you a great way to look at your days and see how you might be able to be more active. Instead of taking the train I ride my bike or walk.

The best thing is I'm not carrying an additional device. I'm not having to charge and sync a separate device. And I don't need to start and stop the app. It just runs along in the background keeping track of what I'm doing.

Did I mention that it's free? Compared to the hundred dollar wearable devices like the Fuelband, Jawbone Up and Fitbit, Moves blows them away.

The only two things it doesn't do that these fitness devices do is track sleep and diet. I've added My Fitness Pal and Sleep Time to my phone and that covers all the bases.

If you're looking into the wearable fitness devices out there I'd highly encourage you to check out Moves. It's an amazing app with a price--FREE--that can't be beat.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy