iOS Health App: THIS Is How You Use It Properly
Here's a break down of how to use Apple's Health app, which launched inside iOS 8
Health services and applications are being heralded a the next big thing for smartphones and tablets, driven by more complex processors and advanced sensor hardware. This, together with the related sphere of the "Internet of Things" (ie: smart, connected devices), means key manufacturers are making a big push in developing and promoting health related products.
Apple quickly saw an opportunity here and has made health a focal point of a new feature in iOS 8; the IOS Health App. But despite a lot of hype it's a bit of a damp squib so far - not as much of a let-down as Apple Maps, but still, not exactly earth-shattering.
Its interface is un-intuitive, managing your data is a chore, and as a whole its benefits aren’t at all apparent. And this is bizarre because Apple placed A LOT of emphasis on Health at launch and in the iPhone 6’s IT Crowd-sponsored advertising campaign. But the end result, the work of a year or more by Apple designers and engineers, is a rather complex beast that requires more thought and experiment than is probably necessary.
In one-way or another, Apple has been collecting health data about you since the launch of the iPhone 5s last year via its M7 coprocessor. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus both feature the next-gen version of that chip known as the M8 coprocessor, and this latest iteration does all the same things as before but can now also measure elevation, so it knows how many flights of stairs you’ve dispatched in a day.
And this is a bit annoying seeing how much emphasis placed on it at launch and, lest we forget, those IT Crowd-voiced TV adverts. The software does work pretty well, however, once you get accustomed to its layout, features and UX in general but it is something of an uphill struggle that isn’t all that rewarding to begin with –– you really have to persist with Health to get the most from it.
iOS 8.2 as well as the Apple Watch is now official, though the latter won’t be available until April 24. The software side of things is well underway, though, and Apple’s latest build of iOS looks to gear up every iPhone and iPad on the planet for the advent of the company’s first wearable. There are plenty of bug fixes and optimisations inside, but the most significant changes are to do with Apple’s HealthKit API, as you can see in the changelog below:
- The ability to select the unit of measurement for body temperature, weight, height, distance and blood glucose
- Improve stability when dealing with large amounts of data,
- Include the ability to add and visualise workout sessions from third-party apps
- Address an issue that may have prevented users from adding a photo in Medical ID
- Fix units for vitamins and minerals
- Fix an issue where health data wouldn't refresh after changes in data source order
- Fix an issue where some graphics showed no data values, and
- Add a privacy setting that enables turning off tracking of steps, distance and flights climbed.
Health is one of those things that will probably be a great app when it hits version 2 or 3, but for now all we have is version 1.0 and no one knows how to use it. That’s why we're here to save the day with this handy guide on how to use Apple’s latest and not-greatest app.
What The Health App Does
The idea behind Health is brilliant: it acts as one centralized hub or dashboard for all your health data from various third-party health apps, like wireless body scales, run trackers, sleep monitors, and more. Instead of opening up all these individual apps they feed all your health data to the Health app via a new framework in iOS 8 called HealthKit. The Health app, in turn, allows these third-party health apps to access your health data from other apps so each individual app can get a better picture of your overall health.
As I said above, the problem with the Health app is it feels very sophomoric in its design. It’s not intuitive or obvious how to use it or manage your data. Even the dashboard card style elements could be more helpful. For example: the “Active Calories” card isn’t that useful as most people don’t understand what an “active calorie” is. Would a little explainer have hurt, Apple?
To help you navigate the confusing database-style organization of Health, follow the steps in the sections below. This will at least allow you to use the app a little better while Apple is hopefully working on a much better user experience for the next version.
Show Or Remove Cards On Your Dashboard
The main screen of the Health app shows cards of health statistics that are important to you in a dashboard format. Each card shows data points plotted on a graph over time. You can change the timeframe for all the cards on this screen by tapping Day, Week, Month, or Year at the top of the screen. Tapping on a card will take you to that specific metric’s screen (for example, “Steps”, which show you your steps walked).
To add a new card to this screen:
- Tap the Health Data button at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the category that houses the metric you want to show on your dashboard. For example, “Sleep.”
- Now tap the specific health metric you want to show on the dashboard in that category. For example, “Sleep Analysis”.
- On that metric’s screen, toggle the “Show on Dashboard” switch to ON (green). It will now show on your dashboard.
To remove a card from your dashboard:
- Tap the card so you’re taken to that health metric’s screen.
- Toggle the “Show on Dashboard” switch to OFF (white). The card will be removed from your dashboard.
View All Your Health Data
You aren’t limited to viewing health data on Health app’s dashboard screen. You can see all the data for every health metric Health tracks. To do this:
- Tap the Health Data button at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the category that houses the metric you want to show on your dashboard. For example, “Body Measurements.”
- Now tap the specific health metric you want to show on the dashboard in that category. For example, “Height”.
If you find yourself checking a few specific health metrics this way it might be best to add those metrics right to your dashboard (following the sets above) for quick access.
Manage Your Data
The beauty about HealthKit is it allows you to enter your health data (either manually or automatically) in third-party apps and then those apps feed your data to the Health app. For example, if you own a wireless body scale that supports HealthKit, every time you step on the scale not only will that scale’s app record your body weight, your weight will also automatically be sent to the Health app.
But if you want you can manually add and manage your data directly in Health. To do this:
- Tap the Health Data button at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the category that houses the metric you want to show on your dashboard. For example, “Body Measurements.”
- Now tap the specific health metric you want to show on the dashboard in that category. For example, “Weight”.
- On the health metric screen (Weight, for example) you’ll see four options below the graph. “Show All Data” allows you to see all data point from that metric. Here you can also choose to delete one point or all. “Add Data Point” allows you to manually enter a data point. For example, this is useful if you forgot to weigh yourself yesterday. “Share Data” allows you to see which third-party apps this specific health metric is being shared with. You can toggle the switch next to each one to restrict data sharing with a particular app. Finally, “Show on Dashboard” we’ve previously talked about.
Manage Your Sources
Health also has a global location that allows you to manage the sources pumping your health data to the Health app. This shows you every app on your iPhone that is sending data to Health. It’s quite handy because sometimes multiple apps could be sending the same data (such as weight data), which could conflict with one another. To manage your sources:
- Tap the Sources button at the bottom of the screen. You’ll see a list of all the apps providing data to Health.
- Tap and app to see more information about the health data that app is providing.
- On the next screen you’ll see up to two categories (although one might just show depending on the app). The first reads “Allow [app name] to write data” and the second reads “Allow [app name] to read data”. All the specific data sets are listed below each heading. Toggle the ON/OFF switch next to each data point to enable or restrict reading and writing of data.
Set Up Your Medical ID
See what I mean when I say Health is overly complicated? There is too much manual user data management and taps and toggles for the normal user to deal with. But one thing I do really love about the current Health app is its Medical ID function. This Medical ID is a digital version of an “in case of emergency card” some people carry. The idea is, if someone finds you passed out and you have your Medical ID enabled in Health they can simply check your iPhone and pull up your Medical ID right from the lock screen. They do this by tapping “Emergency” and then “Medical ID”.
Just what info will the Medical ID show them? Pretty much anything you tell it to. Apple allows you to not only enter your name, age, sex, weight, and height on your Medical ID, but also your emergency contacts (including phone numbers), your medical conditions, your medical notes, allergies and reactions, and medications. It’s an amazing feature that could just quite possibly save your life.
To set up the Medical ID card, simply follow these steps:
- In the Health app tap the Medical ID button.
- On the edit screen tell Medical ID who you are by selecting your contacts card from your iPhone’s contacts.
- Next, go through and enter any information you want, including your allergies, emergency contacts, blood type, and organ donor status.
- Finally, make sure “Show When Locked” is enabled (toggle to green) so others can access your Medical ID card from your iPhone’s lock screen.