I'm in fitness app overdrive - help me sort through the clutter.
December 5, 2018 6:52 AM Subscribe
I am on a mission of self-care this year, which involves (among other things) eating better, training for a half marathon, and stretching/meditating every day. I am using various apps and devices to help me with these things, and it's getting a bit overwhelming. I feel like there must be an easier way!
Devices I have: Pixel 2 (android) phone and a TicWatch E (which has GPS and HRM).
Apps I'm using: Aaptiv for workouts/running/stretching/meditation (syncs with Google Fit); Runkeeper (for tracking distance/pace of runs); MyFitness Pal (for tracking calories); Google Fit (not sure why I use this separately?).
Things I still need: my watch doesn't seem to automatically track heart rate during a workout, so I guess I need another app for that?
What I would like - When I start a run, I don't want to have to turn on 5 apps. I have to use Aaptiv on my phone, because that guides my workout, but doesn't track calories or pace using GPS or HRM. So then I would ideally just turn on XYZ app on my watch that would handle distance/pace and calorie burn, and would sync up to whatever app I'm tracking calories in. It would also be nice if this app could be used to track calorie burn for at-home (non-running) workouts. The calorie intake app would I assume need be separate from the others for me to enter food.
Surely I'm making this harder than it needs to be. How can I effectively use apps to help me on my journey?
Devices I have: Pixel 2 (android) phone and a TicWatch E (which has GPS and HRM).
Apps I'm using: Aaptiv for workouts/running/stretching/meditation (syncs with Google Fit); Runkeeper (for tracking distance/pace of runs); MyFitness Pal (for tracking calories); Google Fit (not sure why I use this separately?).
Things I still need: my watch doesn't seem to automatically track heart rate during a workout, so I guess I need another app for that?
What I would like - When I start a run, I don't want to have to turn on 5 apps. I have to use Aaptiv on my phone, because that guides my workout, but doesn't track calories or pace using GPS or HRM. So then I would ideally just turn on XYZ app on my watch that would handle distance/pace and calorie burn, and would sync up to whatever app I'm tracking calories in. It would also be nice if this app could be used to track calorie burn for at-home (non-running) workouts. The calorie intake app would I assume need be separate from the others for me to enter food.
Surely I'm making this harder than it needs to be. How can I effectively use apps to help me on my journey?
Ditto speakeasy. I just went to a Garmin for that exact reason, tired of killing my phone with eleventy apps while I ran. Some model Garmins can track at home workouts if you mean something like aerobics, yoga, etc. I'm happy with this move. I'm down to Garmin's app (which automagically syncs with Strava & Runkeeper), MyFitnessPal and Fitbit. I think I could theoretically enter food in Fitbit but I've been using MFP longer than Fitbit so never looked into it
posted by TravellingCari at 10:19 AM on December 5, 2018
posted by TravellingCari at 10:19 AM on December 5, 2018
You might have already done this, but have you tried syncing your Runkeeper data to Google Fit? You should be able to set up something where:
turn on Runkeeper on watch => sends data to Google Fit => other apps like MyFitnessPal can read your exercise info from Google Fit
Echoing others though - I haven't used TicWatch E, but if you're an avid runner/walker something like a Garmin GPS watch can be a simpler solution.
posted by iridium at 4:12 PM on December 5, 2018
turn on Runkeeper on watch => sends data to Google Fit => other apps like MyFitnessPal can read your exercise info from Google Fit
Echoing others though - I haven't used TicWatch E, but if you're an avid runner/walker something like a Garmin GPS watch can be a simpler solution.
posted by iridium at 4:12 PM on December 5, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by speakeasy at 10:09 AM on December 5, 2018