Google releases fitness service for Android

Google has placed its fitness service Fit in the Play Store. The app provides users with insight into their sports performance and exercise, and can use the phone to collect data as well as use third-party fitness trackers.

The free app is comparable to Apple’s HealthKit, which is included with the latest version of iOS. From Android 5.0, Fit is available as standard; for users of older Android versions, manual installation is required. The app tracks activity via an Android user’s phone, but makers of fitness trackers and other wearables can also make their equipment suitable for exchanging data with Fit. In addition, Android Wear devices are already supported by default.

As with Apple’s HealthKit, other apps can also exchange data with the app. Users can set which goals they want to set for exercise per day, with Fit keeping users informed of their progress. The data from Fit is synced to Google’s servers, and can be viewed on Android tablets and over the web, although the Fit website is not online at the time of writing.