Apple’s Health Kit: The best feature you may not have used
Apple introduced Health Kit back in 2014 at WWDC. Since then it has pretty much been left unused on my iPhone. Sure I have opened it up and looked at it but I never really bothered with it purely because I didn’t have any need for it nor did I have anything that would make use of it.
Since buying my Apple Watch, that has changed!
The Apple watch comes with an array of sensors that can monitor activity, heart rate and then calculate calories burned etc. When you open up the Health app, all of the data the watch gathers is sitting there waiting for you. You can then chart your progress, seeing how active you have been and looking at exercise history.
Health doesn’t stop there, there is an unbelievable array of data that can be brought together in this single app. Blood pressure, glucose levels, respiratory rate and even a complete breakdown of your nutrition. If you have an app or a device to measure it, Apple’s Health kit can centralise all of the information. Having all of this data on your phone might seem worrying, but actually it could genuinely be life saving.
It goes without saying, you should have your iPhone secured by passcode and making use of TouchID. Once you have done this however, if you really delve into Health Kit, then you will quickly see how useful it could be. Even as a casual user looking to just be a little bit healthier, it’s a great way to see how you are doing. Going further though, apps can be downloaded that plug into Health Kit.
Health Kit will really come into its’ own if you have a long term condition such as diabetes. Using an app and even Bluetooth enabled equipment you could automatically log your blood sugar levels and be able to refer to it. An appointment with your doctor could be so much more than just a snapshot on the day, you could show your doctor your gathered data and provide them with a much better insight into how you are doing. Such data is invaluable and you can never have too much information.
Apple have really hit a home run with Health Kit and developers have really knocked it out of the park with the huge array of apps and connected equipment available. You may not have used it but if you have an iPhone I highly recommend you delve into the depths and see how useful it could be to you.