Google Fit: Now available on iOS with Apple watch support

Google Fit iOS App

Google Fit is a health and activity tracking application which was first launched for Android and Wear OS back in 2014. The previous Wear OS app was more focused on Google’s watches. Now, more than four years and one design update later Google has made it available for iOS. 

People using Google Fit on Android devices will find the iOS version of this app similar to that of the Android version. Before iOS version of Google Fit was launched there was no other way to get your fit data on iPhone than a special section of the wear OS app on the same.

Google Fit for iOS has a new feature called Journal which allows users to track their daily activities and shows the weekly progress. As Google Fit connects to Apple health it can collect and compare the data synced from other health apps such as Sleep Cycle, Nike Run Club or Headspace app. Google Fit can also be connected with the other third-party apps that are connected to the iPhone.

This iOS app syncs with both the Apple watch and Wear OS watch, so even if you wear any of the two devices, Google Fit will keep track of your workout sessions. It gathers the data of step count, calories, and miles walked and displays it graphically in a detailed way on daily basis.

The design of google fitness app is based on the amount of weekly physical activity for better health results recommended by the American Heart Association and the World Health Organization. The system is based on two key metrics – Move minutes and Heart Point. Both these metrics are represented as rings around the profile image of the user in the Home tab.

Move minutes:

These are earned by doing more activities throughout the day, for example, taking stairs instead of the lift or taking a walk to the nearby stores instead of vehicles.

Heart Point:

Pumping your heart harder by doing intense activities such as running and cycling will give you more health benefits as well as more heart points.

These small and healthier physical activities make you change your daily routine which helps in reducing the heart diseases, improves sleep and increases mental well-being. Google may have taken a while to launch Google Fit on iOS but it is still good for the users who use multiple devices.

Let us know your thoughts and how you find it as compared to other fitness / health apps.

Enjoy YouTube music on your Google Home Devices for free

youtube music for google home

Google has launched YouTube music a free but ad-supported music streaming service for Google home smart speakers and other Google assistant powered speakers. Google has launched this service ahead of Amazon. As Billboard reported, Amazon is planning to launch ad-supported free music streaming service on Echo devices.

Steps to enable Youtube music on your Google Home devices:

Users can follow these simple steps to enable this ad-based YouTube music on their smart speakers:

  • Go to Google Home App
  • Tap on Account Settings
  • Select Music
  • Make YouTube music as your default music provider

You could ask to play a song for party, workout music or music according to your mood and YouTube music will play the perfect station. All you have to do is to say – “Hey Google” and ask for the music

Though it’s a free service but it has few restrictions:

  • Users cannot request a particular song, album, artist, or playlist for on-demand streaming. YouTube music will stream only those songs that are closely related to the album, song or playlist requested.
  • Users cannot repeat the song or skip to the next song more than 6 times per hour.

However, users can change radio stations and can like or dislike the song through voice command by saying “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”. For on-demand streaming, users have to upgrade to YouTube music premium plan.

The $9.99 per month on-demand premium plan offers unlimited skips, song replay, and offline listening. There will be no ads to bother while enjoying your favorite music. YouTube music premium allows users to play music in the background while using other apps or download songs to listen offline.

Initially, YouTube free music service will be available in few countries including U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Netherlands, and Austria. It will be rolled out to other countries very soon.

WhatsApp Business App: Now on iPhone

Whatsapp business app

WhatsApp Business app was announced in September 2017 and it was launched for Android last year. Since its launch, it has been adopted by millions of business owners. Finally, the iOS version of WhatsApp Business app was launched earlier this year.

iOS version of WhatsApp Business app is free to download and has been designed similar to that of Android version. The purpose of this app is, SME business owners can reach out to their customers through smartphones. This app can also be used on desktop computers.

Following are the features:

Business Profile: 

You can create a business profile by selecting a business category. You can give your business description and list other information such as a business address, email address, website, and business hours.

Away Message:

When you are unable to answer the customers, you can set automated replies with the help of this feature. There is an option to customize the Away message wherein you can schedule the messages for a specific time period.

Greeting Message:

You can greet the first time customers with a customized message and to those customers who are not active from the last 14 days. 

Quick Reply:

Quick reply allows you to save and reuse messages which are frequently used. This saves time by enabling you to reply easily to the common questions asked by the customers.

Recipients:

All the above messaging tools – away message, greeting message, and quick reply consist of a feature called as Recipients which allows you to choose the recipients who will receive the message.

Labels:

This feature enables you to organize the chats and contacts by labelling them differently and helps you to find the customers on the basis of labels applied.

WhatsApp Business app is a simple, secure and reliable app for the business owners to connect with their customers. If you use the same mobile number, WhatsApp asks if you want to migrate chat history from WhatsApp messenger to WhatsApp Business App. If you choose to migrate then you will be logged out from WhatsApp messenger app. If you don’t want to migrate chat history you have to use WhatsApp Business app with a different mobile number.

iOS version of WhatsApp Business app is available on the App Store in Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, India, Mexico, U.K, U.S., and very soon company is going to roll out the app in other markets.

Snap Games: Snapchat’s real-time multiplayer gaming platform

Snap has launched its gaming platform Snap Games at Snap Partner Summit in Los Angeles. This platform will allow users to play multiplayer games in real-time while texting and talking with their friends. Such instant games is a huge hit in Asia with platforms like Kakao and Line. Snap games platform is based on PrettyGreat an Australian game studio which was acquired by Snap in 2017. Snap has rolled out the games for both Android and iOS users. 

Snap games will compete with the likes of Facebook Instant games and Apple iMessage games. As there are no in-app purchases in Snap games, so to generate revenue from it Snap has added 6 seconds of un-skippable advertisements to the games. Watching such un-skippable adverts will be irritating for users but these adverts will reward them with power up or points which will help them to stay ahead in their game.

Snap has teamed up with several developers having huge success in mobile and online games including Spry Fox, PikPok, and Zynga and along with these developers, Snap will develop its own games. Following are the games which Snap has debuted with:

  • Bitmoji Party by Snap inc. – Bitmoji party game is similar to the most loved Mario Party game where users can play with 7 friends simultaneously. It includes four fast-paced mini-games: Pool Party, Kick Off, Spin Session, and Zombie Escape. In these games, players can appear in their Bitmoji characters. 
  • Alphabear Hustle by Spry Fox – A fast-paced cooperative word game. Players can work together to spell words, collect bears and build their personal village.
  • C.A.T.S (Crash Arena Turbo Stars) by ZeptoLab – It is a multiplayer racing game. Players can use boosters to race faster or slow down opponents and can collect new vehicles from C.A.T.S universe.
  • Snake Squad by Game Closure – A multiplayer battle royale game. Players can choose their favourite avatar to go onto battle and guide their snakes around the battlefield with the squad and grow larger to eliminate competitors.
  • Tiny Royale by Zynga – Players can play it solo or in a squad. It is a 2 minutes round game where players need to loot and shoot their way to victory.
  • Zombie Rescue Squad by PikPok – Enter the front lines of the zombie apocalypse with friends, rescue survivors from the hungry hoards, and gather as many supplies as you can.

To make Snap games easily accessible Snapchat has provided a rocket ship button to the chat bar, also there is no need to install the games. Users can see which of their friends are playing games and can send them a chat or can talk with them with live voice chat. 

Snapchat is a platform where users visit very frequently and adding games will engage users spending more time on Snapchat. More games will be added down the road.