What you didn’t realise the iPhone’s Health app can do

There is no shortage of activity trackers on the market that can count your steps, the distance you’ve walked or run and the quality of your sleep but many people don’t realise the iPhone can do that using the onboard Health app.

Because of the iPhone’s onboard accelerometer, it can collect all kinds of information.

iPhone owners take their device with them everywhere, including the gym and whenever they head out for a run or walk.

This means the steps, distance travelled, flights of stairs climbed, calories burned and active calories are all recorded and are easily viewed within the Health app which is part of iOS 8.

Data can be viewed on charts to track daily, monthly and yearly progress.

Other information like body measurements, nutrition and sleep can also be aggregated using the Health app.

But even those who have purchased an activity tracker and have downloaded the companion app to their iPhone can also link that information to the Health app as well.

HealthKit is a tool for developers to make their apps link with the Health to provide even deeper and more accurate tracking.

Here are some facts about the Health app that you may not have known.

1. The iPhone can count your steps and tell you the distance walked or ran. When you first open the Health app you can see your steps over the week, month or year, including a daily average.

2. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has a built in barometer that will tell you how many flights of stairs you have climbed? So if you are the type of person that always takes the stairs, make it count by keeping your phone with you.

3. Health app can help save your life. The iPhone now has a Medical ID card that you can fill out with your details that may be needed in an emergency. It can hold information like allergies, medications you are taking, blood type, weight, and emergency contact details. All of that information can be accessed from the Lock Screen.

4. Your iPhone can be your food diary. There are a heap of apps out there that help you record what foods you are eating and their nutritional content. My Fitness Pal even lets you scan bar codes on food items with the camera for even quicker access to the dietary information.

5. All your vital signs information can be aggregated into the Health App? If you have accessories like the Withings Scale, Blood pressure monitors, or heart rate monitors, all of those results can feed into your Health app dashboard to show you correlation with other data points, like physical activity and caloric intake.

6. Your iPhone can help you with your sleep. Most of us use our iPhone alarm clock to wake us up every day, but apps like Sleep Cycle Alarm, or accessories like the Aura Sleep System can help you fall asleep with music and light and then assess the quality of that sleep.