Is Apple Health better than Samsung Health?
A smartwatch is a great way to track your health, exercise, and sleep. It is true that Apple Health and Samsung Health offer comprehensive health platforms, but are they so different from each other?
It is very important to have the right apps installed on your phone to connect to your smartwatch and view your data. What is the best app to install on your phone? In both cases, only one app is required.
They are all pre-installed on your phone. Remember, Apple Watches can only be used with iPhones.
Your Galaxy Watch 5 works with your phone when connected to Samsung’s Wear app. Samsung Health is required for all your health and fitness data, and Galaxy Watch 5 users must first install a Samsung Health plug-in if they don’t use Samsung phones.
The Wear app is pre-installed on Samsung phones and you can download it from Google Play on Android devices. As it stands, Apple Health and Apple Fitness are two separate apps, and I’d like Apple to combine them into one. Streamlining would improve efficiency.
A single app, like Samsung Health, makes more sense, but we’ll see how problematic this can be later. It doesn’t take long to connect and set up both smartwatches, but you should pay attention to the Samsung platform once you’ve paired them.
Blood oxygen and stress monitoring are automatically disabled or require activation, as is the always-on screen and stress monitoring. It is essential to set each one individually; once you do this they may not work.
With most Apple Watch features enabled by default, it’s a more user-friendly smartwatch right out of the box, as it’s less complicated to get started.
Apple’s “ring” system has three rings that need to be closed daily so you can meet your exercise goals, which are based on calorie burn, exercise minutes, and standing goals.
There’s a clear visual representation of how far you are from achieving your goals, plus a detailed breakdown of each category is displayed below the ring view. That is amazing.
The Samsung system includes activity/calorie consumption, active time per minute and steps. Instead of circles, they have a heart shape. Counting steps is not essential for Apple.
You’ll find it in the app, but you’ll have to search for it, while Samsung includes it in daily goal setting. I like to track my step count because it’s easy to understand, but I think of calorie burn as a more motivating metric.
Using Apple Fitness on the watch, the Apple Watch visually displays your progress towards your goals with the ring system, while Samsung’s heart system appears on the first tile to the right.
Fitness tracking data
In terms of how the two apps capture data during a workout, their design has some interesting differences. With both smartwatches you can easily track your activity and both have different modes.
It’s equally accurate to track GPS during and after exercise with both smartwatches, and their displays are equally informative. Samsung allows you to use the auto-pause feature while running or walking.
In terms of functionality, the Galaxy Watch 5 offers a lot more information during and after activity, but it’s presented in a cumbersome way.
While the Apple Watch may not display much data right after your workout, you can find what you need quickly and the display is concise.
Both smartwatches automatically sync data to the app, which is consistent between the two and works perfectly on both – but Apple can beat Samsung.
On the Apple Fitness app, the data you need is clearly displayed at the top of each workout. You can immediately see what kind of training you have done, how long you have exercised, how many calories you have burned and what your heart rate is.
In addition to pace, height and split times, you get other information if you have walked or run. To view more details, tap the section and scroll down for GPS location and weather information.
While Samsung Health has a lot of useful information, you have to scroll to access it. In addition to recovery time, it also includes VO2 max, speed, cadence and pacing. You’re left with a long list of items and Samsung doesn’t know how to organize them.
While Samsung Health would compete and beat Apple Fitness if it were more organized, Apple’s app is more attractive, less complex, and requires less effort.
Sleep Tracking
Apple Health, not Apple Fitness, provides sleep data. While the split makes sense when you look at their names, there are more user-friendly options than this.
However, Apple presents the data in a more visually appealing and logical way than Samsung does in its Samsung Health app, which needs to be revised again and become more complex.
Sleep stages, sleep time, and time in bed are all displayed at the top of the page. Your iPhone’s Apple Watch provides more insight the more you wear it and tracks your sleep.
By exploring the rest of the Health app, you should find individual blood oxygen levels and heart rate reports.
When you open the Samsung Health app, you can see how much time you slept at the top, but scroll down to see how many stages were involved.
If you have that feature enabled, this app will also display your blood oxygen level and snore data. There is so much wasted space on the page design, but you can find all the information you want there.
If you had to scroll to see everything, it would be better if you didn’t have to. Should smartwatches be worn at night? With its smooth, curved shape and Sport Loop or Braided Sport Loop strap, I found it very comfortable to wear at night without even realizing I was doing so.
Less comfortable bands are available, such as leather and metal sport bands. The Sport Band doesn’t get hot or sweaty, which takes some getting used to.
While the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is much larger and heavier than the Apple Watch Ultra, I can’t wear it overnight.
While Samsung’s and Apple’s apps mainly focus on daily activities, workouts, and sleep, both apps have plenty of additional features to help you better understand your health.
Smartwatches differ in features; the Galaxy Watch 5 offers stress and body composition measurements, while the Apple Watch offers crash protection and noise level alarms.
With the Apple Health app you discover a lot of information based on your activity, such as how you walk and your body temperature. Over time you will be fascinated to see how your body changes. But you will only want to see the data occasionally.
While Samsung Health is limited to only a few apps and platforms, Apple Health has a better connection with other apps and platforms.
Samsung Health lets you sync with other devices, such as Fitbits, Garmins, and Coro’s watches, using a third-party app called Health Sync.
In addition, it works with the Oura Ring and Withings products, although subscription fees apply. Thanks to Apple’s API program, Apple Health is much more compatible with other devices.
Which is the best to use?
Despite the similarities between Samsung Health and Apple’s Health and Fitness platforms, there are some subtle differences between the two platforms.
The Samsung platform shows more information than Apple, or at least doesn’t hide the information like Apple does, but the platform has become denser and less user-friendly.
Unfortunately, Apple has two apps, which may be the reason for their better design: it spreads data to make it easier to understand.
Apple Health and Fitness apps make it easy to understand your daily activities and exercise. They are perfect for casual or semi-serious athletes and those with special needs, such as those with disabilities.
In addition, Apple Watch is intuitive to use thanks to its accessibility features. While Samsung offers a comprehensive accessibility suite, it doesn’t seem as intuitive as Apple’s.
The connection between the two is powerful. In addition to being a great smartwatch with Apple Watch Series 8, the health and fitness apps are useful, even if the data they provide may need clarification.
WatchOS 9 is an excellent smartwatch for exercise and has great fitness and health features. Samsung Health and Galaxy Watch 5 are close to winners, let down by Wear OS’s quirks and app design.
Our recommendation for a health and fitness-focused phone and smartwatch combo is the Apple Watch and the iPhone, but a Samsung phone and the Galaxy Watch 5 are a close second.
Edited by Prakriti Arora
