Tracking your health and consolidating activity data can be a pain. Thankfully the major mobile device makers have each provided a solution. Those top trackers are Google Fit, Apple Health, and Samsung Health.
Each of these primarily starts as a step and activity tracker on their primary device, but by diving into the details and linking additional devices can become much more.
Google Fit, like Apple Health, had the ability to pull in additional data. The big ones are heart rate, which is tracked on most steps trackers these days, as well as weight. In addition it can serve as a front end to see all of your tracked work outs. On Android devices Google Fit can actually serve as the primary tracker of runs and rides, as well as other workouts.
For women there are also cycle tracking options within Fit. This is the same for Apple Health. While there are many ways To track your cycle, doing so can help not just when trying for pregnancy but there are also huge benefits for tracking monthly symptoms as well as monitoring the impact on linked metrics like heart rate and activity.
Unlike Apple Helath, which has the subscription Apple Fitness, Google Health is free. There version of Fitness+ is to turn things over to the huge amount of quality content on YouTube. With even a little searching it’s possible to get a trainer for nearly any activity.
Google fit heart points vs Apple Activity Ring
Heart points are primarily a way to measure increased activity levels. This is similar to Apple with their “rings” for activity which is measured in minutes.
The general idea is that you earn more points the more time you spend with an elevated heart rate. If you want to dove in read our article on how many google fit points to target in a day.
Devices to Use with Google Fit
The easiest device to use with Google Health is simply your phone. Android devices come with the app and by default will wind up traveling steps based on the phones accelerometer.
To increase the accuracy of step tracking you can link a wrist worn Fitbits. For Google health Fitbit has the best integration since they are owned by the same company. It is possible to use Apple Watch and Amazon Halo with Google Health to. There are dozens of other makers like AmazFit that also build step trackers, nearly all of these can be integrated and should have better tracking than a phone since the algorithm for determine steps from a phone is tougher as you carry a phone in such varied ways.
So does Google Fit work with Apple Watch and iPhone? Of course. The Fit app is available in the App Store and easily pulls in data.
Google fit and Strava
Although both Google Fit and Apple Health monitor a lot- there is still often a desire for additional services. If you are a cross over user it’s worth knowing that Google Fit app doesn’t track workouts on iPhone. You can import from Apple Health, but there is no “start workout” button in the app. That means you’ll have to use a native Apple tracker or some other service like Strava.
Exporting Google fit data to google sheets or excel is also sometimes needed if you want to explore data more. This can be done by following the steps on their website.
For Strava connecting to Google fit is fairly straight forward. On Android if you use Google Fit to track the only issue is sometimes which activity you choose since the list of options is not 100% the same across devices. Still if you are tracking a more popular activity, like a ride, run, or walk than things should be fine.
We should call out that Apple Watch still leads slightly when it comes to tracking other activities. For things like stand up paddle boarding or tennis, the Watch is designed more for sports than the smartphone app.
Google health kit does a fine job of showcasing activity history. The summary compares well to the Strava feed and Apple workout summary. Both of the screenshots above are from the default mobile app experience.
Looking for more than just the last few days requires other layouts, the zoom out to monthly averages is harder to display without the visual summary of Apple rings.