Everything you need to know about the Google Fit fitness app

Fitness applications and wearable devices have become among the most prominent technologies that are very popular with users during the recent period, as they come with many features that help track physical fitness and health, and the most famous of these applications is the (Google Fit) application, which Focuses on simplicity, such as: Helping you set your goals based on your physical activity in a very easy way.

What is Google Fit and how does it work?

There are a lot of fitness apps in the market now, some of them come with so many features that they require a special guide to know them, while some of them have a simple and uncomplicated design, and then we find The (Google Fit) application falls into the latter category, so depending on how you use it, you may find that the application is one of the best applications, or that it is just a simple application that helps you track your health and fitness.

As for the method of use, after entering the basic data about yourself in the application, which includes: gender, date of birth, weight and height, the two main activity measures of the application will appear to you, namely: (Move Minutes) and (Heart Points) Heart Points, after This will directly show you the main screen of the application.

There are three main sections in the (Google Fit) application, which are:

Home: Here you can get an overview of the current day's activities - weekly and monthly data available - and health metrics, including: move minutes, heart score, steps taken, calories burned, distance traveled, heart rate data, weight and recent workouts and sleep and educational videos from YouTube.

Journal: This section can be referred to as an agenda that shows you a simple, scrollable list of all your logged activities, whether it's a short run or a long swim.

Profile: In this section, you can set the (movement minutes) and (heart points) features, in addition to personal information.

The (Google Fit) application also contains a (Dark Mode) feature, which helps you save battery power, as the mode is applied at the application level by showing a dark gray background with green and blue touches on every page you go to in the application.

What are the app's Movement Minutes and Heart Points features and how do you use them?

Google Fit handles things differently from other fitness apps, as you can still check common metrics like: heart rate Heart and step count, but at the same time the app makes these metrics meaningful.

Google worked with the American Heart Association to include two features in the app based on the Heart Association's activity recommendations, to teach users valuable ways to stay healthy:

Move Minutes: Google aims to include this feature in the app to make it easier to understand exercise results by earning additional movement minutes for each physical activity you do, such as: walking, running, swimming and yoga.

Heart Points: Through this feature, you can earn additional points when you perform physical activities at a higher pace, as you earn one heart point per minute when doing moderate-intensity exercise, such as: brisk walking, while you earn double points if you participate in More intense activities, such as long-distance running.

Which apps are compatible?

Although (Google Fit) is a fitness app in and of itself, you can read it with any other fitness app, why?

For example: if you use a wearable device to track your exercise through another application such as: Strava, but at the same time you find the metrics provided by the (movement minutes) and (heart points) useful, you can connect your account In the Google Fit app with Strava to automatically transfer your fitness data to Google Fit.

There are many popular applications that are compatible with the application, you can check them in the Google Play Store via this link, in addition to that, you can schedule frequent exercises, such as: running, hiking, or yoga using the application through the Google Calendar application Calendar, which is a great way to incorporate it into your schedule if you mainly use (Google Calendar) to keep track of your daily tasks.

What are compatible devices?

There are a lot of fitness and health trackers that are compatible with the (Google Fit) application, and most of them run on the Wear OS operating system, such as: smart watches, but remember that the data you Recorded by the application will depend on the watch you are using.

For example: the application will not be able to record heart rate data if you are using a smart watch that does not have a heart rate sensor scale, but if you are using a standalone heart rate sensor, such as: chest strap or arm strap, you can connect This device has the app to see your heart rate data.

Do you need the app if you already have a compatible device?

Smart watches and fitness trackers don't have large screens, which makes it difficult to view detailed physical activity information, so it will ensure that the app is installed in Your smartphone to get as much data as possible in the best way possible, also, if you want to link your account in the application to another fitness application that is not available in your smart watch, you must install the application in your phone.

What are the main drawbacks of the Google Fit application?

The strength of the (Google Fit) application lies in its simplicity, as it is basically a means to track physical activity and health in a very simple way, but the biggest missing aspect of the application is its support for websites Social networking and communities where you can reach like-minded people to help and motivate you to continue your sporting activities.

The application also lacks training programs, and although it is an advanced feature that is not available in all fitness applications, it is sometimes considered necessary, and then instead of obtaining specialized training programs from professionals, you get links to video clips from The YouTube.