Starting with iOS 9.3, third-party app developers can tap into Apple Watch activity data like move and stand goal progress as well as exercise duration. Developer David Smith has used that new capability to create an alternative dashboard to Apple’s Activity app on iPhone and Apple Watch. The new app is called Activity++ (following Pedometer++ and Sleep++) and it’s out for iPhone and Apple Watch today. Here’s what it offers:
First, there’s a design difference between the Apple Watch complication (watch face widget) set of Apple’s Activity and David Smith’s Activity++ apps.
Apple originally used monochromatic circles for the Activity ring complication for the Utility watch face with watchOS 1, then changed to a colorful Activity ring which is easier to decipher but aesthetically less neutral with watchOS 2. Apple doesn’t offer a way to revert to the monochromatic Activity complication with watchOS 2 and the Utility face (you have to use the Simple watch face for monochrome), so Activity++ addresses that by using a monochromatic complication. You can easily tell the two apart, too, as Activity++ relies on bars versus circles. Just note that top the bar is Move, center bar is Exercise, and bottom bar is Stand and you’ll be rewarded with three solid stripes at the end of the day which looks pretty cool.
Similarly you’ll notice that the language is different and potentially clearer on the large Activity++ complication for the Modular watch face compared to Apple’s Activity complication: David Smith’s reads MOVE, EXERCISE, and STAND; Apple’s reads CAL, MIN, and HOUR for the same goals. The Activity++ glance, which you can access with a swipe up from the watch face, combines graphical and numerical visuals to your Activity data which is appealing for data-focused users.
Back on the iPhone, Activity++ features an alternative dashboard that focuses on daily move, exercise, and stand goal progress. The dashboard will show you each day plus how many calories you burned, how many minutes you exercised, and how many different hours you stood and moved around for at least one minute; streaks for each metric are celebrated by being boxed together and labeled with the number of days it continued.
You can tap any day of the week to view a more detailed graph of each day. This features a slick animation, and opening one graph doesn’t close other graphs so you can compare multiple days.
There’s no landscape view even on the Plus-sized iPhones, though, and like Apple’s Activity app, there’s no 3D Touch options on 6s-series iPhones. You can, however, long-press on any date and jump to that specific date on your calendar to see context about what you scheduled for that day. Similarly, a Notification Center widget would make Activity++ stand out further from Apple’s Activity app, but neither have widgets yet (although I’d bet Activity++ would gain it first).
If you’re looking for insights into your activity behaviors, Activity++ features a statistics view which presents historical bests and a general overview of how you’ve been doing on your move, stand, and exercise goals.
Finally, Activity++ celebrates daily goal completions rather than only awarding 7-day streaks. By default, Activity++ will even allow you to miss one day in between activities to accommodate a rest period without breaking a streak. When you meet a daily activity goal, Activity++ will even explode confetti within the app. The idea here is that it’s okay to take a break during the week and have an off day or alternate workout days, and your achievements should still be celebrated, which is smart.
Overall, the app is a neat, alternative dashboard to Apple’s Activity app if you use the Apple Watch to track your fitness data. I’m personally a big fan of Apple’s Activity app design, but Activity++ has a useful approach to goals and streaks that will be more encouraging and practical for a lot of people.
Activity++ on the Apple Watch does face some noticeable speed issues like most Apple Watch apps (which could be remedied with faster hardware in the future) and I personally prefer Apple’s colorful Activity rings myself, but I can you can use parts of Activity and Activity++ to improve your tracking (I prefer the Activity++ glance, for instance).
Activity++ for iPhone and Apple Watch is available for $2.99 on the App Store.
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Am I the only one who doesn’t like when apps add arbitrary symbols to the end of their names++?
++ isn’t really arbitrary, it has a meaning in programming (increment, or one more).
It’s like calling your programming language C++ because it’s more/better than C.
interesting to know. i don’t think that translates well to most people but it definitely makes more sense now.
Plus the developer has about 8 other apps with ++ at the end of it. Its kinda like his trade mark. When I see the ++ i dow the app is from him and a quality one.
I’ve been thinking about buying an Apple Watch because I’m starting a diet soon. Can anyone tell me if the weight loss tracking is accurate (calorie count)? Heart rate? Also, will I need to carry my iPhone with me when I go jogging? I was thinking that maybe it will make the data more accurate if I carry my iPhone as well???
I just ordered an Apple Watch myself but it hasn’t arrived yet, so I can’t speak from experience but most reviews I’ve seen say the heart rate monitor is near the accuracy of chest-based monitors, especially for cardio activities.
You’ll need to carry your phone if you want to keep track of the course you ran (i.e. map your run), otherwise there are several apps that will use the Watch’s built in sensors to count your steps and estimate the distance you ran. As you pointed out, accuracy is improved if you take your phone with you since it can use GPS data from the phone.
One last tiny tip coming from a fitness junkie: don’t worry too much about your calorie burn or consumption if you’re trying to lose weight. Focus on the quality of your calories more than the quantity. Adding some muscle also does a great job of boosting your metabolism. I’m not saying you have to look like Hulk if you’d rather stay lean but muscle certainly helps with weight loss. (you may or may not have already known that but I felt I should add that just in case)
Hope this helped!
Truly a horrible design. I had to delete it at once.
I guess if people like it, hey, feel free. But I really wish we could stop the praise of mediocre app design. The icon has nothing to do with the application; there is no reference of any sort to celtic knots anywhere other than the icon. The colors are tasteless. The bars are sloppy- can those not even be rounded off? The text in the “cards” is much too close to the sides.
Yes, you *can* do an entire application design via code, but should you? This looks like it could be a useful framework, though for what I’m not entirely sure- it looks like he’s just displaying more or less the same data Apple’s had available for about a year now (I know it hasn’t been available to developers, that only strengthens my point). But yikes man, it looks awful.