Best fitness trackers that sync with Android and iOS

With Smartphones, people’s self monitoring activities are taking a peak. A lot of android and ios users install health tracking apps that help them monitor their daily activities and daily calorie intake and outtake. However, carrying your Smartphone while walking, running or in gym may not be a smart move. If you are unlucky, you will end up dropping your phone or getting it wet. Also, it can be quite distracting and inconvenient to have a big phone in your pocket while you exercise. To solve this issue there are plenty of fitness tracking devices in the market that sync to your PC, android and  iOS.  Here is the list of the best fitness trackers for Android and iOS:

Nike+Fuel Band

Sadly there is nothing much to say about Nike Fuel band except that it looks really cool with black rubber and LED dot matrix display. This is an iphone only tracker and doesn’t monitor many activities such as sleep tracking, calorie input and weight recording.  The fuel band doesn’t ask for your height or weight which is essential if you want to setup a calorie consumption or weight goal. The light colors of the LED tell you how active you are in the day. The color starts at red and as if you have been very active it will turn green. The band is available in different sizes and its battery runs for three days after a full charge. It is priced $149.

Jawbone’s Up Fitness Band

The UP will track your daily activities to determine who much calories you burned during the day. Compared to Nike Fuel Band, the UP has features such as sleep tracking and calorie count.  There is no display to see the progress from the band itself but you can sync it to your Android or iOS app. The apps have lots of features such as record of daily distance traveled and calorie burned, sleep monitoring and recording, barcode scanner which records calories of food consumed, and silent alarm. Up comes in eight different colors- onyx, mint green, light gray, blue, navy blue, red, orange, and hunter green  and three sizes- small, medium and large. The UP has a wraparound design and is made of hypoallergenic TPU rubber and comes with a USB charger.  It is priced at $129.  The negative aspect of UP is that it doesn’t support integration with other devices like weighing scales and heart rate monitors.

Motorola MotoActv

At $249 the MotoActv is one of the most expensive fitness tracker devices in the market and this high price can be justified by its extensive range of features.  This tracker has a GPS, music player and a color screen. MotoActv’s 1.5 inch color touchscreen displays outputs essential information such as calories burnt by daily activities and you can view workouts, music and settings from the screen. Motoactv can be synced with your PC or Mac via a computer application. Initially you will be asked to create a web profile which includes your height, weight, age and sex.  This profile will be used to monitor your calorie consumption and weight changes. The GPS records distance travelled which can be synced with a map via MotoActv’s web application. MotoActv has cool music features such as “fit song” and “performance music”. You can setup one song as “fit song”, a song that energizes and motivates you, and then you can bring that song instantly by touching the lightening icon on the screen. In “performance music”, the device will automatically create playlist of songs based on affect your performance on those songs. To make that playlist MotoActv will monitor your distance, paces, hear rates and calories burnt for each song played. Despite having a touch-screen and GPS, MotoActv will run good for at least three days after a full charge.  MotoActv also has Bluetooth and can sync to Android devices via app.  To get accurate heart rates, you can even integrate any heart rate monitors with this device. The MotoActv is available in 8 and 16 GB ($299) versions an comes with headphones, USB chord and . Motoactv has even been rooted to install android fitness apps like Runkeeper and Endomondo.

Larklife

The Larklife is another wristband tracker which logs meals, workouts, “boost” and sleep and comes with Bluetooth and syncs exclusively with ios phones via an app. The plastic strap has a USB chargeable battery, an LED light indicator and a button. The light blinks when you have slowed down your activity and you can log meal time by pressing the button twice. The plastic band is not well LED signed it feel bulky and doesn’t look as cool as competitors like Nike or Jawbone. On the other hand, the app which it syncs to has excellent interface and excellent. The app collects all the data and categorizes them into meal, workout, boost and sleep. The boost is anything that makes you refreshed such as a short walk. The collected information is displayed in a simple manner in the app. The meal logging is also simplified. Instead of selecting from a long list of foods, you will be given choices such as protein, vegetable, fruit, grain and water.  At $149, Larklife, with average looks and features, feel a bit overpriced. The only strong point to this device is that its “app” simplifies data representation for users.

Fitbit one

Fitbit One is the one of the few fitness trackers that isn’t a wristband. With its removable clip and sleek design, it can be worn on your belt, shirt, pant or anywhere.  It also has a vibrant LED screen which outputs your calorie count and Bluetooth. Fitbit uses accelerometer and altimeter to record your steps distance travelled and calories burn while walking, jogging climbing stairs and such. It will also track your sleep pattern and the quality of sleep you are getting every night. Another cool features “silent alarm”. Fitbit One comes with a soft plastic wristband which can be worn overnight to track sleep and to wake you up in silent mode.  Another great thing is that, unlike Nike Fuel band, Fitbit will store your activity data even when you have not synced it with your iOS for a few days. At $99 Fitbit One blows most of  the competitors out of water.