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Google is reportedly gearing up to launch a health & fitness platform. Known as “Google Fit,” this new offering has techies everywhere curious and excited. Here’s what we know so far about the impending launch of Google Fit.
1. Google Fit Expected to Debut June 26
Learn more about what people expect from Google Fit in the video above.
According to TechCrunch, Google Fit is a “fitness ecosystem” that will debut on June 26. Rather than being a standalone app, TechCrunch reports that Google Fit will be a more cross-platform experience:
“From what we’re hearing, Google Fit will track all sorts of health data, such as weight, heart rate, run times, body-building stats and more. Fit APIs already exist for sensors, data reporting and app history. End users will be able to sync their Google Fit profiles to their Google IDs, which will make their data portable no matter what app or device they’re using. “
2. Google Fit May Work With Android Wear Devices
Check out a demo of Android Wear in the video above.
We’ve talked a lot about the potential of Android Wear over the past few months. Android Wear is the wearable technology version of Android, and it is expected to be used on smartwatches from LG, Motorola, Samsung, and other major tech names. It’s not yet confirmed that Google Fit will play nice with Android Wear smartwatches, but it seems quite likely.
Gizmodo notes:
” So far the upcoming Android Wear devices have shown no signs of any fitness tracking capabilities, but at this stage in the wearable game the lack of any sort of health features feels like a deficiency. It makes perfect sense that Android Wear would also creep into fitness tracker and fitness-tracking-smartwatch territory.”
3. Google Fit Will Compete Against Apple’s iOS 8 HealthKit Offering
Learn more about HealthKit in the video above.
The Telegraph notes that Google Git and Apple’s HealthKit will be hitting the market around the same time. Details about the health-centric offerings from both companies are still a bit light, so it is hard to say definitively which health & fitness tracker has the best features. That being said, it seems like both HealthKit and Google Fit are aiming to provide users with a truly complete picture of their physical health.
The Telegraph compares HealthKit against Google Fit:
“Google Fit, which will launch at the Google I/O developer conference later this month, will aggregate data from health-related apps and popular fitness trackers, such as the FitBit, Jawbone Up and Nike Fuelband, helping users to get a holistic picture of their health…
HealthKit will house healthcare and fitness apps and allow them to communicate with one another. For example, a heart monitoring app and blood pressure tracking app could send information to each other from within HealthKit to develop a more comprehensive picture of your health. This customised data could then be sent to doctor, allowing them to keep an eye on particular changes in your information remotely.”
4. Google Fit Might Also See Competition from Samsung’s Sami
Check out a cool video that will appeal to Google-loving fitness fanatics: a Glass service called Race Yourself.
Even though Samsung mobile devices run on Google’s Android OS, it appears that Google Fit may face some competition from a Samsung biometric data platform called Sami. According to Forbes, Sami is a “data bank” of people’s biometric information. Samsung will allow mobile app developers and researchers to access the data bank, thereby allowing them to “create clever, health-related services.”
5. Google Fit Not Google’s First Health & Fitness Service
Google Fit isn’t Google’s first foray into the fitness sphere. Google introduced Google Health back in 2008, but pulled the plug on the service in 2012. CNET notes that Google Health centered around the digitization of health records. You can learn more about the old Google Health service in the video above.
Forbes notes that there are a lot of complications inherent in the creation of tech-related health services:
“Creating health platforms has been a laborious process for both Google and Apple, sources say. Among the complications: the concern over privacy and how best to process information as sensitive as health data, as well as how to provide valuable feedback without veering into the realm of FDA-regulated diagnosis.”
