Top Technologies Fueling Fitness Activity Tracking Apps

Author: Sahil Miglani

Long before, people got addicted to flat screens of smartphones and computers while televisions and binge watching apparently became a thing. People, on a broader scale, used to be fit. Since no one can deny that technology has made their life more sedentary, the credit of making them fit again also goes to the same technology.

For instance, the same mobile app development agencies that had been till now using GPS to build navigation apps, are leveraging the technology to create an app that tracks user’s health and fitness.

Though fitness devices have been around for a while, they were primarily limited to geeks and intensely health-conscious users. It was only after Apple released its first smartwatch and subsequent improvements in Android wear, that laid out a clear path for those gadgets to reach the masses.

But as popular these devices are getting with each day passing, equally fragmented is the platform upon which they operate. From Nike’s smart shoes to Fitbit fitness band to Apple and Android smart watches, all are equipped with varying degrees of technologies that make the task of creating a fitness app trickier for any mobile app development agency involved.

Broadly categorizing the technologies used by these gadgets into-

  1. Software & APIs; and
  2. Hardware

Let’s take a look at the immense diversity those sleek gadgets present:

#1. Jawbone UP

From a host of APIs to entire SDK, there are multiple development tools offered by UP to gather, analyze, and integrate user’s daily steps, activity, food and sleep tracking data. These tools can either be used to create an app or integrate through the web, collaborating on some common device platform.

#2. Fitbit API

Fitbit is one of the most popular fitness tracking gadgets owned by millions of global users. To help developers create mobile apps that are easily compatible with the device, Fitbit offers its own API, which when integrated, can leverage the full potential of the hardware and underlying software.

#3. Shimmer

This open-source API is one the finest health data aggregators that work on a variety of platforms including Jawbone, Fitbit, Google Fit. So, if you are looking to build a fitness app that supports the widest possible range of gadgets, Shimmer may just be API to use.

#4. Health Graph

More than information gathering, this API offers the capabilities to properly analyze and represent the data gathered through different sensors in real time.

#5. Microsoft Band SDK

Microsoft band is one of the most premium fitness gadgets in the market, the capabilities of which can be leveraged if you use their SDK to create the app.

#6. Nike SDK

Offering Android, iOS and JavaScript SDK to create apps for its popular ‘smart shoes,’ the developers also have the option to integrate such services to offer more inclusive experience.

#7. Google Fit

Google Fit API is more precisely a bundle of APIs for sensors, history, recording, sessions, Bluetooth, that the developers can use in their apps to make them compatible with smartphones or other gadgets with such capabilities.

#8. HealthKit

Offered by Apple Inc., the HealthKit SDK can be integrated into health & fitness apps created for iPhones and Apple smart watches. It enables the app to effectively collect and synchronize relevant data that can be used as a valuable source of information for current and future purposes.

#9. Android Wear

Though not strictly limited to fitness devices, a mention of Android Wear is must if we are talking about wearables. Endorsed by a variety of hardware manufacturers, the market for this platform is veritable and so are the capabilities catering to media, navigation, fitness, payments, controls among many others.

#10. WatchKit

Apple’s counterpart of Android Wear, WatchKit is equipped with all most every feature that it has, if not more. The additional benefit that developers can reap from this framework is to use the unified ecosystem that Apple has created around its devices to create a more integrated and synchronous experience for the users.

Categorization of Fitness trackers based on hardware components:

I. GPS

As mentioned in the beginning, most of the high-end fitness tracking gadgets are equipped with GPS capabilities to keep a comprehensive track of user’s movements. Though it gives little detail of the actual workout, it offers many valuable data for activities like running and cycling.

II. Ambient light sensor

This sensor can be easily spotted on almost every smartphone and fitness gadget that has a display. Used to continuously monitor the surrounding light intensity, it automatically adjusts the screen brightness to minimize the strain on your eyes and optimize the battery consumption.

III. Accelerometer, compass & gyroscope

These three sensors with varying tasks of measuring the acceleration, devising the direction, and determining the orientation with respect to earth’s gravity, all work in tandem to calculate the overall motion of the device.

When the data originating from all these three point sources is analyzed, it can effectively determine the activity being performed by the user. From speed and distance to the number of calories burnt by the users, all this information is effectively sourced from these sensors.

IV. Skin Response Sensor

To determine the galvanic response of user’s skin, their precipitation level and temperature variance in the day, many high-end fitness gadgets are equipped with skin response sensors.

V. Optical heart rate monitor

As the name suggests, this sensor is used to determine the heart rate using optical mediums. The photons they discharge are absorbed at different rates depending upon the volume of blood in the region. This data, when analyzed, gives a fairly accurate measurement of heart rate.

VI. Bioimpedance Sensors

An improvement over optical methods to monitor heart rate, these systems rely on electric charges and resistance they cause in human tissues to capture a whole range of physiological signals. Heart rate, respiration rate, and skin conductance are a few insights for which these sensors are deployed.

VII. Barometric Altimeter

While GPS and gyroscopes do tell about the location and orientation, they provide little information about altitude, which is crucial for activities like hiking and taking stairs. Barometric Altimeter monitors the atmospheric pressure to determine the altitude with more precision, which consequently can be used for calculating workout and more accurate data related to such exercises.

Now that you know a myriad of technologies that go behind a seemingly simple fitness activity tracking app, it must also be evident that only a well-versed mobile app development agency can take up the task.