Apple Health vs Google Fit: Which Fitness App Is Better for You

Since Apple Watch’s debut, Apple Health became a vital app for the iOS ecosystem. Over the years, the company has evolved the health tracking capabilities with added functions. Apple’s major competitor, Google, also offers a compelling health tracking app called Google Fit. The app recently went through a major redesign on Android and Android Wear platforms.

For a long time, it was missing from the rival ecosystem, but now it’s available on iOS too. With the help of Android’s open nature and Google Maps integration, the Fit app is full of functions on its native platform. Some of the integration is so seamless that it even managed to beat Samsung Health.

The story is different on iOS, though. On Apple’s platform, one doesn’t get to access the location function or retrieve continuous background activities. Google Fit is slightly hampered down on the front.

In this post, we are going to compare Apple Health to Google Fit to see if Google’s offering is compelling enough for you to make a switch. Let’s dive in.

Cross-Platform Availability

Often you would be in a situation to switch the platforms. And at that time, you would want to carry all the data with you. Here is where Apple Health lags to Google Fit. The lack of cross-platform availability is the biggest disadvantage of Apple ecosystem. The company is trying to improve the situation but its nowhere close to Google or Microsoft.

As a result, Apple Health is only available on iOS and Apple Watch. Google Fit is accessible to Android, iOS, Android Wear, and Apple Watch.

Download Google Fit for iOS

User Interface

Apple is changing quite a few things with the iOS 13. Apple Health app will showcase the favorites data, highlights of the day, and overall walking data on the homepage. Also, it will cover the basics of health and fitness tips backed with detailed analytics.

It’s good to see that Apple is encouraging users to try out health-centric apps from the App Store. The search function lets you go through different activities such as Cycle tracking, Mindfulness, Heart rate, Nutrition, and more.

Tap on the profile icon, and you can view the app related data from the settings menu.

Google is refusing to adopt Apple’s guidelines and has come up with its design language called Material Theme 2.0. The company is aiming to keep the app experience consistent across all the platforms.

The home tab shows the detailed steps and activity data of the day. It also displays the distance covered, number of steps, and the estimated calories burned through the day.

The Journal tab lets you keep track of all the activities of the day. In the profile tab, one can add the activity goals, weight, and height to keep the record.

Tracking Capabilities

As always, both the apps offer basic health tracking capabilities such as steps, distance covered, and a chart showing the data in a week or month.

Interestingly, Apple shows the number of climbed floors and highlights of the day. These are default settings though. You can add more data such as Cycling distance, Body measurements, Mindfulness, Sleeping data, etc. from the search menu.

It won’t be added automatically though. In each category, Apple suggests a list of apps that helps you track the activity and connect it to Apple Health. You can favorite that activity to see the data on the main menu directly.

Google Fit displays the steps, distance, and calories burned through the day. The app also gives something called Heart points to motivate the users, and you earn them after completing the goal of the day. Sadly, there are no live location tracking capabilities as they have on Android.

Google Fit relies on manual input rather than automated functions. You can add offline data such as aerobics, cycling, any sports activity, and more.

Of course, you can connect Google Fit to Apple Health and move all the data from third-party apps as well. But then again, if that’s the use case for you, then why don’t use the Apple Health in the first place?

Accuracy

Tracking capabilities are great, but what about accuracy? Apple Health is built-in and works like a charm in background. You can also use Apple Watch to sync the data between the devices.

Apple Heath also relies on third-party apps to fill up the data. The services like Calm, Headspace, Beddit, Sleep++, and a few others can help you measure the activities in the Apple Health.

Talking about Google Fit, it can directly import the basic data such as steps, and running data from the Apple Health app. I often found iOS killing Google Fit in the background, and as a result, it did lose some of my data.

The problem is more evident on phones with 1GB of RAM. The RAM management is better on iPhone XS/XS Max.

Stay Fit and Healthy

The comparison above denotes that Google Fit shines over Apple Health in cross-platform capabilities. Apple Health enjoys a tight integration of the iOS ecosystem. With the help of third-party services, it really nails the all-in-one health solution for fitness freaks out there.

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