HeartWatch: Heart Rate Tracker 4+

I’ve been using HeartWatch alongside AutoSleep and AutoWake which I bought as a package for about £6. I use these with my Apple watch. I’m very impressed. I don’t write reviews but I feel I should commend this company for their brilliance. The HeartWatch app is better than the Apple built in apps. I particularly like being able to set my exercise zones so an alarm sounds when I exercise too hard or too easy. There is so much information and I’m an information addict! I’d highly recommend this alongside the auto sleep which not only shows how I have slept but more info such as how much sleep debt/credit you have, it seems accurate and I like how it shows your readiness for the day according to your hrv etc, plus the auto wake which is fabulous. Thank you for the best app I’ve ever bought.

So I’m actually finding this a really great app overall. I purchased in a bundle with AutoSleep and am also enjoying that app. So why the 2 star review? Well, there is a huge (actually dangerous) problem with the way it decides what is a good vs bad change in weight. The app automatically classes weight loss as good (green or blue on chart) and weight gain as bad (yellow or red on chart). In case anyone reading this doesn’t get why this is a problem let me tell you how I came to notice this. I have been unwell recently and I lost some weight as a result. I went from a bmi firmly in the healthy range to a bmi in the underweight range. According to heart app this was good! I then put some of the weight back on, bringing me back into healthy range (only just!). This is bad according to the app!? On the plus side it does seem to view rapid weight gain as worse than gradual (I played around adding fake measurements to see how it handled it). Unfortunately as far as I can tell it ALWAYS views weight loss as good regardless of how rapid it is or whether it takes you to a very unhealthily low bmi. Not good guys… fix this! There are people with eating disorders who this bug could have a very detrimental effect on. Will change review when this is sorted.

This is definitely one of the better heart rate apps however it could be better. I think the design of the iPhone app is quite clunky and difficult to navigate. There is a lot of Information displayed here but I think the design makes it difficult to interpret. I think it would be helpful if the app gave you suggestions. I often look at my data and just aren't sure whether it's good or bad. I think the watch app could also be better designed too. What is strange is there doesn't seem to be any simple way of checking your current heart rate. I certainly can't find anything withing the iPhone app. When using the watch app you have you have to make several selections just to take your pulse. My main bug bear however is that you cannot customize your complications. This is such pain for me as the watch face you use dictates what complications you can use. You should be given an option to have the type of complication you like. For example I just want to see what my heart rate is now. This is only available on certain watch faces. I also purchased the sleep app and the same problem is present. Please give the option to customize complications!