How to Use the Health App on Your iPhone?

Apple’s has a dedicated Health app for monitoring your health related activities in iPhone. Aside from acting as a single repository for your medical data, the app interacts with other hardware (such as an Apple Watch) to collect fitness information. But it doesn’t mean you need a wearable to track your fitness. With the motion sensor and GPS on your iPhone, you can track other data such as:

• Steps you walked
• Floors climbed
• Calories burned

iPhone Health App

Yes, the Health app can collect information on these if you know how to use it. Luckily for you, you’re about to find out how.

Add Your Personal Information and Data

The first step in using this app is to add your personal information as well as include data sources. Here is how to do it.

• Health app is a built-in app that comes with the iOS on your phone. Look for it and tap on it to launch the Health app.
• Tap the red silhouette at the top right corner of your phone to access your profile.
• Again tap on Edit link on top right corner.
• Aside from your first name and last name, you would be required to provide information such as;
  • Date of Birth
  • Sex
  • Blood Type
  • Fitzpatrick Skin Type
  • Wheelchair
• After entering the necessary details, tap on Close to go back to main page.

Now that you’ve submitted the necessary information, the next step is to provide a data source. Tap the Sources icon on the lower tab. You’ll see the apps on your iPhone that are already compatible with the Health. Tap the desired one and enable all the categories that you want to track. For example, although the Nike Run Club apps allow you to track active energy, workout, heart rate, etc., you must enable the categories to collect the data.

Related: 10 iPhone tips every user should know.

The 4 Health Data That Your iPhone Collects

To have an in-depth understanding of how this app works, we must explore the four primary categories of data that it collects. Tap Health Data at the bottom tab to access these categories.

Activity

This is the most detailed of the four sections. Aside from the displaying your daily activities such as steps taken, and active calories among others, you’ll also see your average for an entire calendar year.

Furthermore, the Activity category collects more information on specific niches such as Swimming distance, Swimming strokes, NikeFuel, etc. However, you have to connect an Apple Watch or other data tracking hardware to collect more specific information on your daily activities.

Sleep

iPhone has a built-in feature that allows you to track your sleep using the Health app. Here is how to switch it on.

1. Tap the Clock icon on your home screen
2. Select Bedtime from the lower tabs and toggle it on
3. Finally, set your bedtime and wake time

After this, your iPhone will start sending notifications to remind you of bedtime and wake you up. Also, the app automatically logs that you’re awake anytime you pick up your phone within your sleep hours. Yes, it’s pretty basic.

Alternatively, you can download a third-party app to help tracking your sleep time. A good example is the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock, which uses how you snore to analyze your sleep. Others include Sleep Tracker, Sleep Better and Beddit.

Related: Top 10 iPhone apps to improve your productivity

Nutrition

This category allows you to monitor your diet. From your dietary cholesterol to your carbohydrate intake, the Nutrition category keeps you informed on the ratio of good food to junk food.

There is just one major downside. Your iPhone has no way of tracking your food intake. That means you have to perform the unappealing task of manually inputting your calcium, sodium, potassium, and other data into the app.

On the other hand, you can download an app that lets interacts with the Health app and calculates your food intake too. For example, Weight Watchers and UP Coffee record your food and coffee intake respectively. As such, the foods you add to these apps will automatically sync with the nutritional information on the Health.

Mindfulness

Unlike the other three categories above, there are no native apps to collect mindfulness data. However, Apple Watch owners can record data using the Breath reminder on the watch.

To Wrap Up

Aside from the four essential data outlined above, the Health app also records some secondary data such as the vitals, health records, reproductive health, heart, and health records. Needless to say that you must download third-party apps that will interact with Health to supply the necessary information. Finally, don’t forget to backup your Apple Health data from time to time. To do this, simply tap the silhouette profile icon to export and select Export Health Data.