Google Fit: Android’s New Health and Fitness Tracking Platform

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Google unveiled Google Fit for Android today at its Google I/O Developers Conference. The new initiative will serve as a platform for health and fitness tracking. 

Google Fit is an open platform that the company has made available to developers starting today. Google will also be releasing an SDK for the platform, which is set to arrive within the next few weeks. 

Google Fit will gather data from your Android smartphone and/or your Android Wear-powered wearable device. The platform will be able to collect information in real-time and give you stats on how to improve your workout or how to improve your eating habits. 

The search giant will be partnering with various companies, including Adidas, Nike, Basis, Motorola, Withings, and more. 

“What we didn’t see from Google today is a dedicated app that collects all your data, like Apple’s Health app. Rather, the Fit initiative is a platform for health device manufacturers trying to make their devices interface with Android. Google product manager Ellie Powers described it as using a single set of APIs for all health products, meaning all devices could technically work with all health/fitness software.”

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The release of Google Fit comes just a few weeks after Apple debuted Health, an app for iOS users, and Health Kit, a platform for developers to integrate their hardware with the app. 

Apple is actually creating its own app, while Google has created a set of APIs for developers to use and integrate into their own apps. Google has positioned Google Fit as a competitor to Apple’s HealthKit, as opposed to the Health app itself. 

Health and HealthKit are set to launch alongside iOS 8 and the long-rumoured health and fitness-based iWatch. 

[via Engadget]

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