The complete guide to the iPhone's Health app

The complete guide to the iPhone's Health app

View and manage all your wellness data in one place with Health.

I complete workouts in an app called 7 Minute Workout, but I also log activities in Argus. My steps get counted with my FitBit, and my heart rate gets tracked in Instant Heart Rate. My data is everywhere -- well it was -- until Health came along.

Health, an app designed by Apple and stocked on iOS 8, finally gives us a way to put data from all kinds of apps in one place.

You'll often see Health in the context calorie-counting and fitness activity-tracking, but the platform is designed to handle much more than that. With the right coaxing, it can help you get a grip on other areas of wellness, such as vitamin intake (for managing deficiencies, for example), blood glucose tracking, sleep, and even vitals like heart rate and blood pressure.

As more of us rely on apps and phone-synced devices to monitor our wellness, Apple wants its users to be able to make sense of the data. And, perhaps one day -- share that data with their physicians.

Build your dashboard

Health is an aggregator designed to collect data, not supply it. Most of the time, the metrics that appear on your dashboard will be based on data supplied by other apps.However, there are two exceptions: steps and flights climbed.

Track steps and flights climbed
Using the motion processor on the 5S, 6, or 6 Plus, Health can keep track of your steps without help from an external app or device, like a FitBit. Same goes for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, both of which can track flights climbed using the built-in barometer.

• To track steps, go to the Health Data tab, then Fitness. Here, go to Flights Climbed and Steps, then enable Show on Dashboard. Those stats will now appear in your Dashboard.

Tracking other apps in Health
This is where the fun begins. In the Health app, check out the Sources tab. If you have Health-compatible apps installed, this is where you give them permission to display their data in Health.

To show data from health and fitness apps in your Health dashboard:

1. Go to Sources, then the app, and enable write and read permissions. Take note of the permission type, like "Active Calories" or "Workouts."
2. Head to the Health Data tab, and find the permission type you noted in the first step, like Active Calories. Within that category, enable Show on Dashboard.
3. Anything tracked in those apps (like a workout in Zova), will now appear on your dashboard.

To find apps compatible with Health, head to the App Store, then go to the Health and Fitness category and look for the section titled Apps for Health.

link:http://www.cnet.com/how-to/apple-health-app-how-to-set-up-import/