How to monitor your fitness and stay in shape using your Apple gear

It is easy to consider your fitness when you think about managing your overall health, but this is only half the story. Apple makes a product which is supremely placed to help you get fitter and to become more active, the Apple Watch, but you can also use your other Apple products to gain greater control over your health as a whole. We will show you how to use any and all of your Apple devices to manage your health and we will hopefully open your eyes to what is possible.

The key to managing your health is to not spend a lot of time each day doing so, and once you set up your system, you should find the experience seamless. You can use many default Apple apps in ways you may not have considered, but for some, using a third-party app will work much better and save you a lot of time. Either way, you will end up with a system that helps you ensure that you are not missing anything important and it could even save your life one day if done right. Nothing is more important than your health.

A general overview

Apple Health is built in to all iPhones and offers a variety of metrics than can be useful in determining your overall health and fitness. The real beauty, however, comes from understanding just how complete it is and what you can record within the app. You are able to track much more than your vital health stats.

Build an iPhone step tracker

One aspect of fitness that forms an important part of your overall health is the amount you move and the number of steps you take each day. This is not fitness tracking as such, but it is useful to understand and it is easy to use your iPhone as a step tracker as it will likely be with you most of the time.

1 Watch your steps

Go to Settings>Privacy>Motion & Fitness and enable the feature. This will ensure that any steps taken with your iPhone are counted and the results are accurate.

2 Check your data

You can view your steps and your trends in the Apple Health app. The more you do each day the better, but try not to overdo it and cause yourself an injury.

3 The third-party method

Third-party apps, such as StepsApp, will use the motion sensor in the iPhone to calculate your steps. They can also be more motivational and get you walking further.