Jawbone has released two activity trackers up till now, the UP and UP24. They work with the companion applications to provide health and fitness related data to the user. Previously it was not possible to use the Jawbone UP iOS app without having the activity tracker but things are different now since iOS 8 is out and Apple’s health ambitions are out in the open. The new app doesn’t require users to have an activity tracker, it works without the wearable device.
The new Jawbone UP iOS app has support for Apple’s HealthKit platform which is basically a hub for all health and fitness related data collected by apps, and in the future, compatible wearable devices. The new app can send data collected through activity and sleep tracking, as well as information about meals punched in by users, to the native Health app in iOS 8.
Users don’t even need the wearable device for step tracking since the iPhone 5s and its successors come with a motion co-processor that’s more than capable of counting steps.
Not only does the new app allow users to share data with HealthKit, it also uses the Extensibility feature in iOS 8 to let other apps share data with it. Apps like RunKeeper and MyFitnessPal can share data with this app.
The UP app for iOS is available as a free download from the App Store.