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Fitness trackers are getting more and more sophisticated. They have great benefits when willing to stay active and fit. For motivation or accountability, Fitness Trackers have the potential to keep you fit.
For convenience, people often want to use them without having to carry their phone? But is it possible, and what are the pros and cons? This is the question we will be answering in this article.
Do you really need to carry a phone when using a fitness tracker?
Simply put, a smartphone is to a fitness tracker what icing is on a cake. It is good to have but not a must-have. You may have several reasons not to carry your smartphone and connect via Bluetooth to your fitness band:
- Freedom is essential and we know that we are all living and sometimes sleeping with our phone. Trying to disconnect and just go for a jog without having to carry your phone may be one of the reasons. You do not have to sacrifice your step counts.
- It is important for children to stay active. A kid fitness tracker is a great way for them to track their activity level but some parent do not want their kids to carry their phone with them all the time. Using a tracker is a great way to make your children feel more responsible about their lifestyle without the need a smartphone.
- The newest smartphones are very expensive. Nobody can deny. If you take your health and fitness seriously without willing to break the bank, it is possible to enjoy the benefits of your fitness tracker without the need to pair it with the latest phone.
- Privacy may also be a legitimate reason not to carry your phone with you at all time.
How to synchronize fitness tracker data without a phone?
Fitness trackers use many sensors and gyroscopes to track the heart rhythm, steps counts, activity patterns, and more. Most of them will synchronize the data they collect via Bluetooth with the companion app of your iOS or Android phones.
It is somehow possible to download the data using an emulator that will turn our PC or Mac computer into an IOS and Android device. Numerous software exists, some of them being free or requiring a couple of dollars per month subscription.
What are the downsides of not using a smartphone with a smartphone
Even if we previously mentioned, it is possible to use a smartwatch without a smartphone, it doesn’t meet this is the best way to make the most of your tracking band. Fitness trackers have been designed to work in pair with a smartphone. Using them independently will inherently impair their many tracking features and functionalities.
Most smartwatches include a built-in memory that will allow storing data for a limited period of time. However, if you wish to check your performance over the long run, it is important to synchronize the data from time to time with a phone and store them in the cloud.
Health Apps. makes the most of the data collected by the fitness trackers. They, for example, offer the possibility to monitor your sleep cycles. But, unfortunately, watching the data on the small display of the smartphone does not allow to make the most of these amazing pieces of technology.
Also, do not expect to receive notifications on your watch without a smartphone.
Some fitness trackers allow controlling smartphone functionalities such as music volume. Without pairing both devices, control will, of course, be lost.
Using a tablet as a good compromise
Being designed to work with a phone, a good compromise is to synchronize the data with an iOS or Android-based tablet. This option can be seen as the ultimate compromise to get the best of the two worlds: Freedom and data synchronization.
Be careful, though, that the activity tracker companion app is also available for tablets. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and could potentially lead to a major disappointment.
To wrap up
Using a fitness tracker without a smartphone is possible, but it doesn’t mean that it is the best thing to do to make the most of them. Their limited memory capacities will limit them to fancy heart monitors or pedometers. An alternative solution is to synchronize the data when possible with a computer or a tablet.
