What is Samsung Health? Samsung’s health and fitness app explained

Samsung Health looks to provide users with valuable insight into their health and fitness, but is it really as good as alternatives from Apple and Google?

We dive into Samsung Health and explore what it can do and, equally as important, what it can’t do compared to popular alternatives. Is it the health monitoring platform for you? Keep reading to find out. 

What is Samsung Health?

Samsung Health is the company’s answer to the likes of Apple Health and Google Fit, which is to say that it’s essentially a health-tracking app that can provide insight into your health and fitness. The idea is to provide you with a holistic view of your health and fitness data, providing a one-stop shop to gain insight into your well-being. 

It’s also the only choice of fitness tracking app if you’re rocking one of Samsung’s wearables, though with availability on both iOS and Android, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

The Samsung Health app isn’t the most in-depth or complex health monitoring app on the market and dedicated sporting professionals may find more useful data elsewhere. However, for the vast majority of users, it provides an easy way to digest your data and maintain a somewhat healthy lifestyle. 

It essentially takes all the data from your connected wearable and delivers it in an intuitive interface, helping you manage everything from everyday fitness to stress and even sleep. It doesn’t simply provide the data though; it analyses the data to give you tips on how to improve, as well as access to fitness coaches, mindful exercises and the like.

There’s also a social element of the app, allowing you to connect with friends and motivate each other to hit your goals. 

What does Samsung Health track?

Samsung Health does a great job at tracking all the basics including workouts, steps, active minutes, heart rate and sleep, giving you a decent insight into your fitness. You’ll be able to view recent exercise activities and dive into data like average pace, heart rate data and more depending on the sport you were undertaking. 

While that’s a great start, specific devices can provide extra data for the app to use.

If you’re using a recent Samsung Galaxy Watch – i.e. the Galaxy Watch 4 or Galaxy Watch 5 – the Health app will also display Sp02 levels, snoring and even ambient noise levels while you sleep. It’ll break that sleep data down into an easy-to-read graph, but it doesn’t stop there.

The key part of Samsung’s sleep-tracking tech is Sleep coaching. The app essentially analyses your sleep data and, after around a week of tracking, it’ll assign you a sleep animal that represents your sleeping habits. It’ll then provide a multi-week coaching program that should help improve your overall quality of sleep, helping you feel well-rested when you wake in the morning. 

There’s also the ability to track more advanced metrics like stress, blood glucose levels, blood pressure and more if you’re rocking a recent Health-compatible wearable. 

Elsewhere, the app has the ability to track weight, water intake and calories, along with cycle tracking for women, though these will have to be entered manually rather than automatically as with most other features. 

Does Samsung Health work with third-party apps?

While Samsung Health initially offered support for third-party apps, that all changed in 2018, removing access to most services with the exceptions of Strava and Technogym. 

It also no longer syncs with other third-party services, blocking the ability for other apps to share health data with Samsung Health. That’s arguably the biggest downfall of Samsung Health, especially compared to Google Fit and Apple Health which welcome third-party app integration with open arms. 

That’s especially the case for dedicated athletes that may want to use more advanced apps like Runkeeper to track workouts. 

So, while the Samsung Health app may provide a decent insight into your health and fitness, it’s tailored more to the general consumer than dedicated sportspeople.