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Fitness Apps? Other Apps?

Hey guys, new to the S2, and smartwatches, etc. What fitness apps are recommended? S-Health on it doesn't seem to do much, and the heart rate monitor only checks when I hit the widget... Sooo pretty much only step count right out of the box.
While I'm at it, what other apps are recommended? I do not need notifications for anything outside of text and calls, so anything like that is unnecessary. But I am trying to get the most out of this thing, so let me know!
Please and thanks!

Seriously, nothing? Are there no apps to recommend?

It depends what are you looking for. I saw some apps, but haven't tried them (I use special watch for sport tracking):
- Fit Evolution
- Lifesum
- Nike
- PEAR
... Search App Manager for fitness.

Thanks. I did a search too, but I was hoping some people could tell me what's good or not. Most have good and bad reviews. Guess I'll just start trying things

gettinwicked said:
Hey guys, new to the S2, and smartwatches, etc. What fitness apps are recommended? S-Health on it doesn't seem to do much, and the heart rate monitor only checks when I hit the widget... Sooo pretty much only step count right out of the box.
While I'm at it, what other apps are recommended? I do not need notifications for anything outside of text and calls, so anything like that is unnecessary. But I am trying to get the most out of this thing, so let me know!
Please and thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S Health and Nike are the two apps that come with the watch, and as others have noticed, a number of other more specialized apps are dribbling out. S Health automatically checks heart rate (you can set it to "try" to measure every 10 minutes or every hour throughout the day), and also has routines the user can initiate for running, walking, cycling, hiking, elliptical, exercise bike, step machine, and treadmill. All of them record heart rate, some of them more: cycling, for example, also tracks your route, altitude, and speed throughout your ride.

Any apps out there for measuring rowing?? Besides heart rate, that is.

rogerperk said:
Any apps out there for measuring rowing?? Besides heart rate, that is.
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Something I would like to. I'd really also like something that senses and accounts for other types of exercises outside of running/biking/etc., such as lifting weights, sit-ups, these kinds of things. Fitbit offers this with their Alta (who knows how well it works though...). At least something that you can enter in the reps, etc. for each workout and calculates calories burned.

Does Strava work here?

I've released two fitness apps so for: Always-On Speed and Always-On Pace. They don't track your activity though, all they do is show current time and your speed or pace.
When I bike, I use Endomondo on my phone for tracking and Always-On Speed on my watch so that I can always see the most important instantaneous information, which is time and speed, of course

Apps I Use Daily
Daily Usage Apps, Professional & Personal
- S Health (does the tracking I need at work, home, etc. love it so much.)
- Workout Trainer (helps me work out daily, even with only 5 minutes of time)
- Lifesum (track food)
- Heart Rate
- Water & Caffeine Intake
- Tip Calculator
- Here Maps
- Flipboard
I'm looking into others but these I use a lot.

Endomondo will be released soon for the Gear S2 and S3.
My apps (Always-On Speed and Always-On Pace) have been there for while.

UnderArmour just released MapMyRun and Endomondo.
I have been using SHealth for a while to track runs. It works, doesn't use too much battery, but I have a lot of issues with the way they present data. Like splits and pace are in miles per hour and there is no way to see your actual average pace while running (only an instantaneous pace, which jumps all over the place). Also the watch only displays one thing at a time, so elapsed time is on one screen and you have to move to another screen to see distance, which is annoying. Then you have to mentally do the math to figure out your average min/mile pace, which on a 20 mile run gets harder and harder to do as mental function starts to break down...
I just downloaded MapMyRun (never used it before) and I like the interface better. It allegedly connects to SHealth so I can store my history of workouts there. It also displays elapsed time and distance on the same screen in big bold numbers, which is nice. Also has an average pace if you swipe down. We will see, I'll try using it for a while.

S Health distance and heartrate are not accurate. Off by .5 for a 1.5 walk and heartrate 30 plus more that it measures manually.

Yes, i agree with rogerperk and it's impossible to change manualy the distance after the run, sad. I hope it'will be updated soon bacause in other ways, it's a good app.

Step Counting Accuracy Comparison

I recently got a Huawei Watch 2 Classic and coming from a Fitbit Charge 2, and am getting a bit confused with step counting and the magnitude of apps I seem to have now and the wild difference between step counting.
I realise none of them are going to 100% accurate and am just looking for a rough guide of what I am getting during the day.
So now I seem to have a variety of places I can view my step count (as I am currently wearing both the Classic & my Fitbit), and the results vary massively, an example from yesterday...
Application - Device - Total
Google Fit - Phone / Web - 5326
Google Fit - Watch 2 Classic - 5305
Daily Tracking - Watch 2 Classic - 3113
Huawei Health - Phone - 4193
Fitbit - Charge 2 - 9282
So thats a high of 9282 and a low of 3113, for the same day wearing both wearables constantly, with the difference that the Watch was on my non-dominant wrist and Fitbit was on my dominant wrist but set as such within the Fitbit app.
A couple of points I don't understand:
* Google Fit differently reports on the Phone app differs from that displayed on the Watch.
I thought it could be that the phone also records movement but shouldn't the two apps resolve to the same number for historical values?
* Daily Tracking & Health app report differently, but I thought Daily Tracking was the watch version of the Health app? as above I thought the Health phone app would record movement, but again would of thought it resolved for historical numbers
* Daily Tracking, Health & Fit are essentially using the same Watch and phone hardware, but are 1000 to 2000 steps different. I realise they probably have different algorithms for step calculation, but this seems a lot.
* Fitbit is way more!
I am looking to get a look at my step count (and would prefer to consolidate everything in Google Fit) but unsure where the differences come from and which one is more reliable and why the two Google Fit sources differ (albeit only by a small margin).
Has anyone worked out how to get them to align, or which to go with, or what is the best method to consolidate?
Any advice would be appreciated!

Fitbit has been known to over estimate step counts.

huawie watch I have proved over estimates steps after update. Fitbit and Xiaomi are more accurate.
In fact the cheapest Xiaomi is more accurate than all. I am wondering if my Huawie watch 2 has faulty sensors...
It is a shame Huawie is not addressing this...

I'm having the same issue. Currently using Pixel 2 XL and Huawei Watch 2 Classic. Please join this thread and send a bug report so we can get it fixed. Thanks! https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/77606997

Gear S3 as a sports tracker?! Is it really possible?!

Hi there
Tell me please if you use your gear as a sports/trening tracker?
Why do I ask? Recently I have been using gear s3 along with tomtom spark and I am really dissapointed with gear results
Calories burn are terribly low, distance is incorrect, heart rate sometimes stucks and shows the same data for all training, I can't edit trainings (eg I can't change 'other training' into for example 'martial arts") etc
Is gear sport the same? Do you have any comparision?
Perhaps tizen2 was better in this area?
Thanks for any suggestions/ideas etc

Official Samsung says the accuracy is 80% but in reality we all know is lower.
For activity I would recommend a an activity tracker dedicated instead of a smartwatch.

Try using the UA fitness apps. I started using UA Record again (I stopped because it wouldn't sync correctly, does now), and it seems way more accurate with my workouts. Honestly, outside of the UI and look of the watch, this thing isn't great. If you want a good fitness tracker, try Garmin, I've heard very good things,. Also, give Android Wear a shot too if you want to keep the style of a smartwatch. I had a Huawei watch 2 classic, and Google Fit was awesome for tracking, at least strength training (all I tried). I went back to Samsung because I missed the UI and the watch 2 battery life suuuccckkkeeeddd.

Apple Watch functions

Hey Guys,
Tell me Which functions of Apple Watch do you like most?

I used to be an Android adept, untill Apple released their Watch 6. I was completely amazed what this watch was capable off compared to a lot of Android watches. So I bought one and what amazes me? The design of the watch, the fact that updates are released regularly, inclusing older series like the 3, the saturation measurement (certainly in this Corona time), the accuracy of the heart rate monitoring and steps counting, it's security and last but not least, the app store. I downloaded an app called iCardio for measuring my health condition and it works flawlesly. Shows my HR during several exercises, count my steps, keeps track of my calories used and also counts my steps speed, all in beautiful graphs, etc. Kind regards, kuzibri

Question (Regular) automatic blood pressure measurement?

Hi, blood pressure monitoring works fine (manual way) but it would be great to make it automatic, at least during sleep (like blood oxygen monitoring). Is there any way to automate the measurement?
Thanks, regards, Deni

I have not seen an option for this but it would be great

Perhaps @Dante63 can squeeze an extra page for this in his SHM MOD?

Siebrand said:
Perhaps @Dante63 can squeeze an extra page for this in his SHM MOD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well BP is very sensitive to movements as you can see from manual measurements, that's the first thing...
Now, in order to call BP functionality during sleep, I'll need to include body_sensors permission so I can implement method if not moving and I'll need to check that it's not idle (I don't want to measure the charger BP lol), with all that if it was written correctly and hypothetically speaking it actually worked, I'll bump into a wall of (BP measurements failed, try not to move) or (couldn't read BP, make sure the watch is fit on your wrist bla bla bla), I suppose I could tell BP method to look away but it will say either you're dead (0/0 with BPM as 0 since it failed) or the measurements would be really abnormal...
Do you see where this is going?

Dante63 said:
Well BP is very sensitive to movements as you can see from manual measurements, that's the first thing...
Now, in order to call BP functionality during sleep, I'll need to include body_sensors permission so I can implement method if not moving and I'll need to check that it's not idle (I don't want to measure the charger BP lol), with all that if it was written correctly and hypothetically speaking it actually worked, I'll bump into a wall of (BP measurements failed, try not to move) or (couldn't read BP, make sure the watch is fit on your wrist bla bla bla), I suppose I could tell BP method to look away but it will say either you're dead (0/0 with BPM as 0 since it failed) or the measurements would be really abnormal...
Do you see where this is going?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the watch would need to get into a trial and error loop until you get a correct reading, presumably how the current automatic HR and SpO2 readings work. But if user interactions are hard-coded that may not fly...

Dante63 said:
Well BP is very sensitive to movements as you can see from manual measurements, that's the first thing...
Now, in order to call BP functionality during sleep, I'll need to include body_sensors permission so I can implement method if not moving and I'll need to check that it's not idle (I don't want to measure the charger BP lol), with all that if it was written correctly and hypothetically speaking it actually worked, I'll bump into a wall of (BP measurements failed, try not to move) or (couldn't read BP, make sure the watch is fit on your wrist bla bla bla), I suppose I could tell BP method to look away but it will say either you're dead (0/0 with BPM as 0 since it failed) or the measurements would be really abnormal...
Do you see where this is going?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand and thanks for thinking on it. I could imagine that it's already solved in case of SPO2 measurement, so probably it would work for BP as well. But based on your comment it wouldn't. Thanks for your comment anyway.

BP measurement cannot be taken when you are in horizontal position. You must be sitting on the chair with your arm resting on the egde of table. Exactly as your doctor does.

Hi All! Especially @Dante63 who it seems may be able to actually find a working solution for Watch4. I just wanted to come back to the topic of automatic/regular/continuous blood pressure measurements, given how hugely important this topic is. There are hundreds of millions of people worldwide with elevated/high blood pressure and I’m sure thousands of Watch4 owners who would be happy to pay maybe 20 bucks, maybe more (I would pay more) for a working solution/app for automatic BP measurement on Watch4. You see, manual BP measurement on a watch doesn’t cut it: 1) people with elevated BP already have a traditional cuff at home and the problem is they hardly ever measure their BP because they simply forget – and having a watch that can measure it in a manual process that takes a similar amount of time does not make any change here (and no one is using it on the go), and 2) BP tends to fluctuate throughout the day, so even if they do measure it at least once per day, it does not truly reflect their actual BP levels. That’s why automatic/regular/continuous BP measurement is the holy grail here – not only because, well, it’s automatic but also because it can average out the readings over time. Currently, there is only one CE-certified PPG-based continuous BP tracker, the Swiss wristband called Aktiia. This is the device we should mimic here. They just raised 17 mln USD because of their “unique” approach, just look them up. The thing is, Watch4 has better-quality sensors than Aktiia and similar BP algorithms, the only difference is that Aktiia uses the built-in accelerometer to assess whether the wearer is moving (no measurements taken) or still, either sitting or lying. Yes, lying/sleeping, which – contrary to the comment above – is actually the best time to take measurements using such a PPG-based method (see the latest research on Aktiia in Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-99294-w ) By the way, HRV is best measured (most telling) in deep sleep and it is probably the case also for BP.
It is not about taking 100s of BP measurements per day – according to this review (https://gadgetsandwearables.com/2021/04/10/aktiia-bracelet-review/), “on average the bracelet would take 9-10 measurements per day” but that’s already a game changer vs manual measurements. Of course, “readings can be viewed and charted on a daily, weekly and monthly basis” – that would be great to have as well.
All in all: Aktiia is charging GBP 199 per annum and you can put them out of business by simply enabling automatic readings on Watch4 whenever the person wearing it is idle for a few minutes, based on the built-in accelerometer. That person does not need to be sitting in the exact same position like in a traditional cuff-based measurement – lying/sleeping works great, too, for example. Yes, it could attempt to take the reading dozens/hundreds of times per day, that’s OK, key is to take a few automatic readings per day. Yes, body_sensors permission would be needed, or simply filtering out BP readings of zero or super low.
Could it be done perhaps with AutoWear/Tasker?
https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/pwgc3d
Amazfit management knows that their PumpBeats is not good enough if it’s just for manual BP measurement, they already announced they will need to introduce continuous monitoring https://www.myhealthyapple.com/amaz...ssure-measurement-along-with-a-new-processor/ Huawei may also introduce it in their Watch D. But Watch4 is likely the better device for the task.
Let me know your thoughts.
Cheers
Kruel

Kruelll said:
Hi All! Especially @Dante63 who it seems may be able to actually find a working solution for Watch4. I just wanted to come back to the topic of automatic/regular/continuous blood pressure measurements, given how hugely important this topic is. There are hundreds of millions of people worldwide with elevated/high blood pressure and I’m sure thousands of Watch4 owners who would be happy to pay maybe 20 bucks, maybe more (I would pay more) for a working solution/app for automatic BP measurement on Watch4. You see, manual BP measurement on a watch doesn’t cut it: 1) people with elevated BP already have a traditional cuff at home and the problem is they hardly ever measure their BP because they simply forget – and having a watch that can measure it in a manual process that takes a similar amount of time does not make any change here (and no one is using it on the go), and 2) BP tends to fluctuate throughout the day, so even if they do measure it at least once per day, it does not truly reflect their actual BP levels. That’s why automatic/regular/continuous BP measurement is the holy grail here – not only because, well, it’s automatic but also because it can average out the readings over time. Currently, there is only one CE-certified PPG-based continuous BP tracker, the Swiss wristband called Aktiia. This is the device we should mimic here. They just raised 17 mln USD because of their “unique” approach, just look them up. The thing is, Watch4 has better-quality sensors than Aktiia and similar BP algorithms, the only difference is that Aktiia uses the built-in accelerometer to assess whether the wearer is moving (no measurements taken) or still, either sitting or lying. Yes, lying/sleeping, which – contrary to the comment above – is actually the best time to take measurements using such a PPG-based method (see the latest research on Aktiia in Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-99294-w ) By the way, HRV is best measured (most telling) in deep sleep and it is probably the case also for BP.
It is not about taking 100s of BP measurements per day – according to this review (https://gadgetsandwearables.com/2021/04/10/aktiia-bracelet-review/), “on average the bracelet would take 9-10 measurements per day” but that’s already a game changer vs manual measurements. Of course, “readings can be viewed and charted on a daily, weekly and monthly basis” – that would be great to have as well.
All in all: Aktiia is charging GBP 199 per annum and you can put them out of business by simply enabling automatic readings on Watch4 whenever the person wearing it is idle for a few minutes, based on the built-in accelerometer. That person does not need to be sitting in the exact same position like in a traditional cuff-based measurement – lying/sleeping works great, too, for example. Yes, it could attempt to take the reading dozens/hundreds of times per day, that’s OK, key is to take a few automatic readings per day. Yes, body_sensors permission would be needed, or simply filtering out BP readings of zero or super low.
Could it be done perhaps with AutoWear/Tasker?
https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/pwgc3d
Amazfit management knows that their PumpBeats is not good enough if it’s just for manual BP measurement, they already announced they will need to introduce continuous monitoring https://www.myhealthyapple.com/amaz...ssure-measurement-along-with-a-new-processor/ Huawei may also introduce it in their Watch D. But Watch4 is likely the better device for the task.
Let me know your thoughts.
Cheers
Kruel
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Click to collapse
My thought is that we are likely to see that in Watch 5 or 6. Samsung needs first to have its BP monitor certified in the US.

Could be, could be, maybe, but it's just tiring to always wait for that next-gen, next year's watch/wearable, especially that the solution is really within reach now, just a few tweaks away. You know, Apple Watch has been rumored to get BP monitoring for years https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/apple-watch-could-measure-blood-pressure.html (or blood glucose, for that matter, which would be cool https://9to5mac.com/2017/04/12/apple-watch-diabetes-treatment/).
I live in Switzerland, so I personally don't care about FDA clearance, and it's very difficult, only one PPG-based BP tracking wearable ever got it - two years ago and you still can't really buy it as an individual https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-...s-monitoring-of-blood-pressure-300906765.html If a device gets clearance from CE, Korean or Chinese FDA-equivalent, it's good enough, probably not extremely accurate (same as most traditional cuff-based monitors btw), but good for trend monitoring and figuring put over time what makes one's BP elevated.
Now, blood glucose monitoring is super-hard, maybe Apple Watch 14 or Watch 10 will get it, along with continuous blood alcohol and lactate tracking based on Rockley's Clinic-on-the-Wrist tech (unless it proves to be a scam).
But there are 2 functionalities available today that could be embedded in Watch 4 or any other device with this sensor kit: automatic BP monitoring (as explained at length above) and more accurate sleep staging deep/light/REM/awake (where Watch 4 completely sucks, same as all other smartwatches out there). Oura Ring 3 will probably get reasonably close to gold standard PSG in 2022 and Google's Verily is also getting close - but then, they don't even have a device in the market, maybe some future Fitbit https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-020-0291-x But well, that's another story altogether..

Hi All, especially @Dante63 - any final comments on the topic? Any chance to get automatic BP measurement with GW4 most importantly during sleep when there is virtually no movement? If this was possible, I would buy Samsung, otherwise I will get an Amazfit/Zepp watch as they will soon enable 24/7 BP monitoring (with the same hardware/sensors as GW4)
https://rednews.top/science/57210.html
Cheers
Kruel