FitnessAI, a recently featured Apple ‘App of the Day’, has launched a new feature, BodyScan. BodyScan allows users to perform detailed body fat scans using their iPhone, to receive health insights comparable to medical-grade scans.
Expand Expanding Close
During its WWDC keynote, Apple announced many of the new features being added to the Apple Watch with watchOS 11.
While watchOS 11 may not come with a ton of new features, the updates that are being are some of the most impactful. Check out the video below as we dive into it!
Expand Expanding Close
The Apple Vision Pro is shaping up to have huge potential in the world of computing and entertainment, but could it also hold up as a fitness device?
To find out, I’ve been putting through the works, with Peloton Classes, strength training, boxing, running, yoga, and more. Watch below to see how each of these fitness experiences hold up while having the Vision Pro strapped to your face.
Expand Expanding Close
Deepwater Asset Management last week announced their 2024 predictions, and out of the 13 items included, one that caught our attention was the prediction that Apple would acquire Peloton. Head below for more details.
Expand Expanding Close
Insta360, the popular 360° camera for capturing action shots, is now compatible with Garmin and Apple Watches, allowing users to sync data to their camera footage. Keep reading below the fold for more details.
Expand Expanding Close
Heart rate zones are important for understanding and managing your intensity during a workout or race. Here’s how to edit them on the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra.
Expand Expanding Close
Here is how to create custom workouts on the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra. The ability to create custom workouts is a new feature that has been added to the Apple Workout app during the release of watchOS 9.
Expand Expanding Close
Here is how to use Waypoints on the Apple Watch compass app, which has been updated for the Apple Watch Series 6 and later. Additionally, the Apple Watch Ultra has a new Action Button which can create waypoints as well.
Expand Expanding Close
The Apple AirPods Pro have finally received an update this year with the release of the second generation. There have been a large number of improvements made, including stronger active noise cancellation, an increased battery life, and better sound quality.
But how do the second-generation Apple AirPods Pro hold up for exercise? Read below to to get our review after taking them through over a dozen workouts!
Expand Expanding Close
The Apple Watch Ultra is one of the most exciting new smart watches to be released this year. While it is an extremely nice smart watch, it still is missing a lot of the utility included in most higher end sports watches.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s new watchOS 9 has been released for the Apple Watch Series 4 through Apple Watch Series 8. This is one of the biggest updates ever made to the Apple Watch in terms of new fitness features. Here is a video walk-through with everything you need to know!
Expand Expanding Close
Apple revealed the new iPhone 14, Apple Watch 8, new AirPods Pro 2, and more, but the highlight (at least for me) was the new Apple Watch Ultra.
Expand Expanding Close
Water Lock on the Apple Watch is a feature designed to help you avoid unintended taps on the display when water hits it. While it will turn on automatically when fully immersed in water, you may have to turn it on manually before taking a shower.
Here is how to turn Water Lock on and off with the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra.
Expand Expanding Close
A unique feature on the Apple Watch Ultra is the new emergency siren. When activated, the 80db alarm siren will continuously repeat at regular intervals and can be heard up to 600 feet away. Here are four methods you can use to activate it.
Expand Expanding Close
Is your Apple Watch upside down? Here is how to flip and change the orientation on your Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra.
Expand Expanding Close
Here is how to change bands on the Apple Watch Ultra. Luckily, Apple has one of the most simplistic and easiest-to-use designs for swapping out bands.
Expand Expanding Close
I have tested and reviewed over 50 pieces of home fitness tech this past year. From smart wearables like the Apple Watch, to indoor bikes like Peloton, there are a ton of great options to choose from. With so much to choose from, it can sometimes be hard figuring out which should take a priority.
To help you out, I have created tier list for the best fitness tech in 2022.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple had their big WWDC 2022 keynote today, and in it they revealed tons of new fitness features coming to the Apple Watch. WatchOS 9, which will be released later this year, will include new running metrics, a custom workout builder, triathlete support, sleep phase detection, and more.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple has recently started selling HidrateSpark water bottles within their stores. These smart bottles automatically record your water consumption and track it within an app, which can also be displayed on an Apple Watch.
I put a lot of value on the benefits of staying hydrated and have been happily using HidrateSpark Smart Bottles for several years. For others, the $60-$80 price tag has been harder to justify. The newest bottle, the HidrateSpark TAP, is a much more budget-friendly option – though the savings do come at another cost. Read our review below to learn more.
HidrateSpark TAP, the company’s newer line of smart water bottles, gives a lot of the company’s beloved tech to customers at a much lower price point. There is a great app-watch integration and glowing reminders. Water consumption tracking has been changed here to a simple smart device tap to the bottle via an NFC tag. This replaces the automatic bluetooth synching used by the more expensive HidrateSpark Pro.
| Size/Material Options | Stainless steel 20 oz. Tritan Plastic 24 oz, 32 oz |
| Lid options | Chug, straw |
| Item weight varies by lid type | 20 oz bottle: 393-398g 24 oz bottle: 213-218g 32 oz bottle: 238-243g |
| Item dimensions varies by lid type | 20 oz bottle: 2.99”w x 10.51-10.79” h 24 oz bottle: 2.99”w x 10.51-10.79” h 32 oz bottle: 3.50”w x 10.55-10.83”h |
| Battery | 1 Lithium Metal (included and replaceable) |
| Compatibility | Apple Health Fitbit Garmin Connect Google Fit Under Armor Map My Fitness Withings Health Mate |
The HidrateSpark TAP comes in a variety of colors and sizes. You can choose from a stainless steel version at 20oz, or a Tritan (BPA-free) plastic at 24 or 32oz. I ended up choosing the 24oz plastic since I already own HidrateSpark smart bottles in stainless steel (HidrateSpark Pro) and silicon (HidrateSpark 3). You can read/watch my review on those here.
You can also choose between a chug or straw top. If available, I would suggest getting both tops as the each are useful in different situations. For this review, I went with the straw top, which I find easier to use when running.
I think the design of the 24oz HidrateSpark TAP looks great and is well designed to fit into almost any bottle holder. I had a few issues with the straw coming loose on occasion, but it wasn’t often enough for me to be too annoyed and only takes a few seconds to fix.
At the bottom of the HidrateSpark TAP is a light which you can set to glow throughout the day to remind you to drink more water. The TAP doesn’t connect to the app directly like the PRO (or Apple Water Bottle), so you’ll need to change the settings via buttons on the smart bottle itself.
Since there is no app control, the options here are very straight forward. There are several colors to choose from, and the glow reminders can be set to repeat once per hour for 12 hours on a daily schedule. You can choose to “snooze” an hour, which can extend the schedule a bit if you’d like.
In order for the HidrateSpark TAP to track your water, you’ll need to tap your smart phone to the NFC tag after you finish a bottle.
While this tap only takes a second or two, it feels like a big step back from HidrateSpark’s other smart bottles. I loved the fact that with the other versions, I didn’t have to think about tracking the water. I feel like it is more convenient to just manually track the water on my Apple Watch (with the free HidrateSpark app) than to take out my phone to tap it.
That’s really the only issue I have with the HidrateSpark TAP. Yes, it is a lot cheaper than the PRO, but at the cost of what I feel is its best feature.
Regardless of how I feel about the HidrateSpark TAP, the app itself is great. Here you can see your daily hydration progress, as well as where you should be if you want to stay on track.
If you have friends who also use a HydrateSpark smart bottle, you can add them to see their daily progress as well to create more accountability.
There are badges to earn, monthly challenges to complete, and a very solid tracking system. You can set you daily hydration goal or follow HidrateSparks’ recommendation based on your activity level, weight, and local weather.
You can have all of this connect to Apple Health, FitBit, Garmin, Under Amour, and Health Mate as well which is great.
And best of all is the Apple Watch app integration. This allows you to add a visual reminder of your daily hydration progress to the face of your Apple Watch – likely a big reason Apple is now selling HidrateSpark in their stores.
Subscribe to Connect The Watts for more connected fitness news, updates, tips, and guides
I personally struggle with staying hydrated, and using HidrateSpark Smart Bottles has been a huge help to me for many years now. That said, the feature I enjoy most is having my water consumption tracked automatically. Unfortunately, this is what has been cut from the HidrateSpark TAP to bring its cost down.
Truthfully, tapping the bottle to your phone a few times a day doesn’t take a lot of effort. Maybe I am just spoiled from using HidrateSparks’ more expensive options. Then again, maybe that is what makes the bottle so useful compared to just tracking hydration manually via an app.
It’s a nice bottle at a very budget friendly price. But, if you can swing the cost of the HidrateSpark 3 or PRO versions instead, I strongly suggest doing so.
Suggested articles:
I’ve been spending some time lately testing out the EXR Rowing App, which I can best describe as a “Zwift for Rowers”. EXR is able to connect with a variety of rowers to create an online training platform with an excellent variety of workouts, gamification, and virtual locations. The app is now available on Apple TV, in addition to Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows.
Expand Expanding Close
Eight Sleep, which makes temperature-adjusting smart mattresses and covers, have announced new integrations on Peloton, Apple Health, Oura, Garmin, and others. With the ability to connect these other fitness and health services, you can now get even more insights into how your body recovers.
Expand Expanding Close
Update: The Financial Times now reports that Nike has also discussed an acquisition of Peloton. The report also says: “Other buyers are also likely to emerge, said those briefed on the matter, potentially including Apple and large private equity buyers.”
Peloton’s struggles over the last several months have been well-documented, leading to speculation about a potential acquisition by a Big Tech company. While some investors have called on Peloton to consider a sale to Apple, a new report from The Wall Street Journal says that Amazon is expressing interest in a potential deal.
Read More
The future of personal training is here, and it’s on your iPhone. The Future App is an online personal training service that is designed around both the iPhone and Apple Watch. This review will cover everything you need to know about the Future app and my experience over the past few months.
Expand Expanding Close
Forrest is an intriguing free fitness app for iPhone that lets users turn runs and rides into custom races. And today the app is getting a nice update with Apple Watch support for all the handy features found on the iPhone version like live stats, audio prompts, virtual opponent times, and more.
Expand Expanding Close